As the two combatants came into range of one another, Stain's spare sword came inches away from Tenya's left cheek, his eyes widening as he felt the cold, uncaring steel press against the left side of his face. Moments before it could cut into his skin and draw blood, The Figure punched away the blade, as it was sent flying…. In slow motion.
Both combatants had no idea how that happened nor how that was even possible. From Tenya's point of view, the sword had gained a similar dark-blue aura to his own as it travelled slowly to the ground.
From Stain's point of view, he saw his blade get smacked out of thin air away from Tenya Ida by nothing. If he had tried to go get it, he would've overextended himself, which would've left an opening for his opponent to take advantage of. So, he retreated away from Tenya.
And both had very similar thoughts about the matter, as well.
"What the hell is going on?"
On Tenya's side of things, he didn't much care for the fact that Stain's sword was being launched through the air at less than a kilometre an hour and instead chose to maintain focus on the fight at hand. Stain, now that he had a solid distance away from Tenya, reached for one of his spare knives, then narrowed his eyes, taking this small downtime to observe the situation.
Something that Stain had slowly been starting to figure out was that there was something around Tenya that was protecting him from getting hit. He couldn't see what it was, but it was there. He could feel the movement in the air, but notably, it wasn't another person who told him that it was something rather than someone, which gave him a small insight as to what happened to his Quirk.
He knew a bit about the Ida family due to his research on the late Tensei Ida, formerly known as Ingenium. Every Ida, no matter what, had an engine-based Quirk that allowed the user to go faster than a regular person. The first of these was Tenchi Ida in the mid-21st century, around 2049.
Not once had their Quirks strayed away from that basis. The engines usually came out from large parts of the body, like Tensei's forearms and this boy, Tenya's calves. However, now, something had changed. It was as if the general air around Tenya Ida allowed him to dictate what flew at what speed for what distance, and as he observed with his sword, only in a straight line, almost as if he was using the laws of inertia as a base point for what he was going to do. He had no idea if Tenya knew this, but one thing was clear.
He didn't know how to properly use it.
And so, he was going to use his inexperience with this newfound ability, cut him, and activate Bloodcurdle so that he would be paralyzed. He planned to cut somewhere vital because, as he had learned from his first attempt, his Quirk also seemed to now repel people from him, and violently, as well. Rather than aim for his cheek this time, he was aiming for the neck.
And with that in mind, he lunged.
Once again, The Figure came to Tenya's rescue, as just when Stain had his blade inches from Ida's throat, The Figure punched down on the side of Stain's head. Rather than just knocking him away, however, the punch made Stain bounce off the ground, head first, and ragdoll his body up from the ground, where The Figure slammed him with a powerful blow to the villain's stomach.
Stain's body was enveloped in a blue aura as he was sent flying at easily 60 miles per hour in the direction of the end of the alleyway, embedding him in the wall as Stain spat up a small glob of his own blood.
Off in the corner of Tenya's eye, he saw that the sword no longer had the aura around it and that it had dropped to the ground with an unceremonious thud. That was when Ida started piecing things together, regarding whatever it was that The Figure was doing.
"Whatever it hits seems to either slow down or speed up. The effect is instantaneous, and whatever speed it was supposed to go at gets replaced by whatever this thing puts on it. It's almost as if it's manipulating the speed of whatever it hits. It also only goes in the direction that this thing hits it in. I noticed with the sword that it was only going in a straight line. It wasn't spinning. It wasn't moving in any direction other than straight…. What could that mean?" Ida thought as he looked back over to where Stain was.
Except, he wasn't there. He was gone.
"I'll give you this, Tenya Ida. Whatever ability you've seemed to have awakened… it's quite the powerful one," Stain's voice echoed out from behind him as he felt a sudden pain surge throughout his body. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a knife sticking out of it before it was ripped out by Stain. "But, as it would seem, it doesn't work all the time. You have little control over it, don't you? I guess your Quirk must've… evolved somehow…. Heh, a new power can be good at the moment, but when you don't know how to use it, it becomes your downfall."
Just as Stain was about to lick the knife with Tenya's blood on it, The Figure rushed forward and punched Stain in the face. When the fist collided with Stain, yet again, a blue aura covered him. Instead of going out of the alleyway at ludicrous speeds, this time, he travelled just as slowly as the blade had been going from when it had been punched away.
Clasping his shoulder, Ida watched as the knife that Stain had been holding stabbed through his cheek, ripping the skin, blood gushing from the new wound as it usually would rather than being affected by The Figure's ability.
Blood splattered all over Stain's attire as he shouted in pain. Tenya narrowed his eyes at Stain as he started to walk around him, standing a decent distance away so that he wouldn't be knocked down by Stain's slowly moving body. He observed what was happening, and finally, almost like completing a puzzle, Ida finally understood what his newfound ability could do.
"I think I get it now. Whatever this thing… no… whatever Can't Stop punches, their speed is affected. It either slows down or speeds up, completely bypassing the laws of inertia. No… not that either. It controls the laws of inertia. It manipulates it and bends it to its will," Tenya said as he positioned himself and Can't Stop behind Stain proper, his face looking at Stain's back, all the while Can't Stop floated just in front of Tenya. Stain's head slowly began to turn over his shoulder, eyes widening as nothing but raw, unadulterated hatred filled Tenya's eyes.
"You told me that I should prepare to die, Stain? That's funny. You came close to paralyzing me again, twice, and I have to admit, I was scared. But with this new power. With this new ability…. With my very own Stand…. you never stood a chance against me, did you?" Tenya spat as Can't Stop recoiled back its right arm, lunging toward Stain, as it unleashed a barrage of punches at speeds faster than the human eye could keep track of.
[DEJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJA! DÉJÀ VU!]
With each punch landed, ripples formed across Stain's body. To Stain, it felt like an invisible semi-truck was slamming into him repeatedly over and over again. It hurt. It hurt a lot. He felt bones break, limbs snap, muscles contort and nigh unending pain.
He couldn't see what was attacking him. Just like what had happened back in The League's hideout. Just like what that fake Blackwell had done. He had somehow used some sort of ability that wasn't a Quirk to prevent him from stabbing Shigaraki, to paralyze him and kill him. And it was then that he picked up on something that Tenya Ida had said.
"With his very own Stand… Stand… is that what this new power is called?! Why can't I see it!? This makes no sense! I thought… I thought Quirks were the only kind of powers that someone could have!" Stain thought as the final blow hit him square in the chest, knocking him to the ground. He skidded and stumbled before once again finding himself lying up against the same wall that Tenya Ida had slammed him into at the beginning of their second clash.
His body shook, coughing up blood as Tenya Ida walked toward him, a scowl on his face. The hatred in his eyes seemed to double as he approached. There was confidence in his stride, a bravado unlike anything he had seen from any of his prior opponents. And it scared him to his core.
"Like I told you, Stain. I will kill you. For all of those who've you killed. For all the families you've separated. For my older brother. I would put a stop to your reign of terror. And now… It's time that I end this."
Stain, for the second time in his life, flinched, readying himself to die. The last time he had felt this way was when Knuckle Duster had cornered him during his time as Stendhal. He never thought that the brother of Ingenium would be able to do the same thing. To make him feel the fear of a thousand lions pouring down on him.
And at that moment… he accepted his death. He might not have been able to fulfill his goals, but at least he fell to a worthy opponent. To someone whom he deemed his equal. He was able to keep up with him, something that not even his old friend could do.
And while he was going out in a way that he didn't like, it wasn't as if he felt insulted. He was a little disappointed, sure, but at least he was going to die at the hands of someone with a clear sense of conviction, one that shone brighter than his own.
"Satoru… I'm sorry… that I couldn't change the world…. I'm sorry that I couldn't keep… my promise to you…"
Just as he was about to resign himself to his fate, out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone. Someone who had been standing just about next to him, just out of Tenya Ida's sight. They were tall, covered in shadow, the only thing noticeable being his inhuman yellow eyes. The figure gave him a large, toothy grin before saying three words. And it was those three words that struck fear into him more than anything Tenya Ida ever said.
"Pit Of Vipers."
"TENYA! MOVE—"
Stain couldn't finish his sentence. Even if Tenya had been moments away from killing him, he was still a child. Even if Stain had resolved to kill Tenya, he had lost the right to when Tenya beat him to a pulp.
His conviction was leagues above Stain's own, and in a weird sort of way, he had earned Stain's respect. So, in a way, he felt obligated to try and warn him.
Unfortunately, he had been far too late.
In a split second, Tenya felt an excruciating pain surge throughout his entire body. He had seen it show up in a flash, a green and purple viper of some kind with a pair of… wings? It had been surrounded by what appeared to be a green aura, not too dissimilar to Can't Stop's aura.
The snake hissed, then straightened out like a spear and travelled toward him at a speed far faster than what Can't Stop could block. As it travelled, its scales changed colour from green and purple to a steely grey, almost like it was changing to match the scenery.
And then, it hit him square in the chest, but it didn't stop there. It kept going all the way through the center of his chest, through his heart, and out of his back. Blood sprayed out of him like a fountain, Tenya's eyes widening as blood shot out of his mouth, falling to the ground in little splatters around him.
Can't Stop flickered in and out of existence before crumbling away into nothingness. Tenya took a step back, but it was more out of muscle reflex than consciousness. The light in Tenya's eyes faded away as the final breath forced itself out of his lungs. Not even a moment afterward, Tenya fell to the ground landing on his back as a pool of blood began to form around him.
A sickly, sadistic laugh filled the alleyway as the figure from the shadows stepped out in full, exposing himself to the light of the moon; all the while, he loomed over Tenya's freshly dead corpse.
The man was tall, around 6 feet tall. They had a slim yet muscular build, like that of an Olympic athlete. He had long, flowing black hair that reached down to the center of his back, giving him an almost effeminate vibe despite his bulging muscles. He was dressed in a dark green crop top with bright yellow snake motifs covering the front that slithered down to reach the end of his shirt.
The crop top had long sleeves that reached down to his wrists, and it also had snake motifs running down the sides of it. Where his exposed midriff had been, two suspender straps were connected, holding up the man's dark purple pants alongside a belt with, yet again, a snake motif as the belt buckle.
Finally, to top it all off, he wore what looked like dark red ankle-high boots. Wing motifs were placed on either side of the boots, and they had platform heels on the back. The man oozed a sadistic yet professional aura—the kind that came off of someone who had been killing for years upon years.
Stain was familiar with that kind of aura. But this? This was something else. This felt old. Ancient, even. The man loomed over Tenya's corpse, an unfeeling shine in his eyes, and yet, somewhere within, there was a hint of both recognition and sadism.
"Ah… isn't that just sad? You were trying to avenge your brother as well, Tenya Ida…." The man purred before approaching Tenya's body. Stain could only watch as the figure straightened out his right hand and stabbed it into the back of Tenya's neck.
What happened next made Stain's skin crawl. The longer the figure had his hand on Tenya's neck, the more shrivelled Tenya appeared to become until his skin lost all colour, and his body appeared mummified. Then, the man huffed, almost disappointed. "I've tasted better…."
Once the figure said that, he kicked the corpse to the side, the now completely bloodless husk of a human body hitting the wall as it crumpled in some vague form of a sideways slouch. The armour around the body's arms slid off, revealing more mummified remains, as the glasses that Tenya had been wearing slid off as well, which were then crushed by the figure.
"It's too bad, too…. He had just awakened a Stand and quite the powerful one at that. In a way, we had the same motivation. We both wanted revenge for our brothers. We both wanted to kill the person responsible. It's too bad that he was in my way…. Too bad that the was allied with the person who my Boss wants dead…. He would've been a great addition to Percussores Damnatorum." It was then that his tone of voice shifted from disappointment to sickening glee.
"Oh, the irony. Just as he was about to get his revenge, just as he was on the cusp of claiming what was rightfully his, moments away from completing his goal~! Only for his pathetic life to be snuffed out~! Like water to a flame, it's quite cathartic. Seeing the light fade away from someone's eyes… the thrill of watching another pathetic human die never gets old to me~!"
Stain could only look at the figure in horror. He had no words for this… monster. Not that he had any energy left in his body to speak or even scream—he spent the rest of it trying to warn Tenya and ultimately failing to do so. However, the point was still there. For as much of a "monster" as Stain was told he was, for how much he was portrayed by the media to be a heartless, ruthless killer, deep down, Stain did not enjoy killing heroes. Far from it, actually.
Heroism, no matter what form it might take, was always something that Stain idolized. The only thing he hated about the current heroes was their obsession with popularity and money. The world wasn't black and white; he knew that. Most people with rational brains know it, but even still, they are greedy and only in it for the money…. That was not the mark of a true hero.
Heroes, fundamentally, were meant to swoop in and save the day without any sort of reward issued to them, only taking the reward if it wasn't avoidable—just like All Might. All Might might have been wealthy, but a majority of the money he made he gave out to charity—hell, most of the top ten if you excluded Endeavour, did that as well.
While he was an admitted super fan of All Might, he could see the merit of the other eight heroes in the top ten. He wasn't blind to his obsession with killing every hero who didn't fit his clean-cut world of only altruistic heroes.
He was an idealist. Not an absolutist. He made mistakes. He was human. Not everyone could get it right all the time. When he did make a mistake, he tore himself apart for it. He beat himself up over it. He hated it when he got it wrong, even going out of his way to show up to the funerals of those he mistook as fakes, without the whole Hero Killer Stain get-up, obviously.
That is to say, he wasn't heartless. He had his limits. One of those limits was that he would not, ever, unless push came to shove, harm innocent people, or kill heroes-in-training unless he saw no other way out.
He talked a big game and had made multiple attempts to kill Tenya, but that was primarily to save his own life. Tenya had been serious about ending him, and to an extent, he respected it. That, and he gave him the chance to walk away. Tenya denied his attempt at peace, so he would get his wrath.
Still, now that Tenya was dead, he couldn't help but feel sick. He had never killed a hero student before—never liked hearing about them dying either. So to see one dead, it made his stomach twist and churn with anger and disgust.
So when he looked up to see that monster talk gleefully about murdering Tenya Ida, he felt nothing but bone-chilling fear and pure anger toward him. For such a madman to exist, he couldn't fathom what ran through that man's head.
That, and he was pretty sure that the thing before him wasn't human. The monster that was looming over the now mummified corpse of Tenya Ida was something beyond his comprehension. The way he talked, and the way he carried himself was something that didn't strike him as human.
And then the monster turned to face him.
And it smiled.
"Ah… Akaguro-kun~! What a coincidence! Truly, this was something that I had not planned, and yet, here we are," The monster spoke, a sickly sweet, almost friendly tone in his voice. "Don't look so pale, I won't hurt you. Although, maybe I should get you some kind of medical assistance. After all, you do look a little on the weak side. That brute of a child must have beaten you up pretty badly. Frankly, you should be thanking me. After all, we're allies, are we not?"
Once again, Stain felt a chill go down his spine as he stared up at the monster that he begrudgingly had to acknowledge had saved his life. He had questions. So, so many questions. Like how it knew his name or why it looked at him with the glee that it did. But most of all, he wanted to know what the hell it was talking about.
The monster leaned down and outstretched a hand toward Stain in an offering gesture. "Come now… You are an honorary member of The League of Villains, correct? That means that you're a partner with Damnatio Ad Bestias. Allies look out for other allies, right? So… let's get out of here."
And just before Stain could pass out due to the pain that had been inflicted upon him by the now-deceased Tenya Ida, he saw the makings of a purple, dark, swirling portal appear behind the monster. As the monster picked up a phone and tapped something on the screen before unconsciousness took him.
[XXXX]
!Stand Information Corner!
Stand User: Tenya Ida
Stand Name: Can't Stop
Localized Name: Won't Stop
Appearance: Can't Stop takes the form of a humanoid Stand with a lean physique. It is around the same height as Tenya, and its body is comprised of the same armour that every member of the Ida family wore when they had taken up the mantle of Ingenium, down to the same badge on the outside of its shoulders. Can't Stop's eyes are crimson red in colour, and they always seem to glow with fierce determination. While it wears the same helmet as that of every previous Ingenium, the bottom half of its face is exposed, revealing dark blue skin.
Ability: Can't Stop has the ability to manipulate the law of inertia on anything that it comes into physical contact with. It can only control one object/person at a time, and the effect is instantaneous.
Stand Stats:
Destructive Power: Grade A (Twice as strong as a superhuman, and can become stronger if pushed to its maximum)
Effective Range: Grade D (5 meters)
General Speed: Grade A (Can attack at Hypersonic, massively hypersonic, to potentially speed of light, depending on how hard Tenya pushes Can't Stop)
Persistent use of ability: Grade C (Can only use its ability on one target at a time)
Precision: Grade B (Rarely Misses)
Overall Potential: Grade C
[Status: Utterly Defeated]
[XXXX]
Izuku had left the train about five minutes ago, running as fast as he could, ignoring Gran Torino's orders to stay put. As much as he respected Gran Torino, he couldn't just stand around knowing his friend was probably in a lot of danger right about now, and knowing that Gran Torino was probably in danger as well.
Who could blame him? He knew he was empathetic to a fault and that he had absolutely no self-control when it came to the desire to save those even remotely close to him. But he felt as if he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't at least try.
And as much as he wanted to obey Gran Torino's orders, he just couldn't. There was nothing that Gran Torino could've said to make him sit still. Even if he threatened to send him home early should he leave the train, all Izuku cared about was to go in and make sure that both his current mentor and Ida were safe and sound.
Right now, he had two goals in mind.
Goal number one: Find and check to make sure Gran Torino was all right and that he could handle the strange creature that resembled Nomu that had attacked the train.
Goal number two: Find and locate Ida to make sure he was okay, help him through his time of need, and make sure he didn't do anything stupid.
A part of him felt bad for leaving all those people on that train, but he had other duties to attend to. Besides, before he left he had made sure everyone was alright, including the hero who had been slammed through the wall of the train.
The conductor had told him that it was too dangerous, but Izuku knew it was dangerous. That thing was dangerous, and if it had half of Nomu's abilities, due to him surmising some sort of familial bond between the two monsters, then Gran Torino was going to be in serious trouble.
"No… not just Gran Torino. Everyone in this entire city will be put in danger!" Izuku thought, as a picture of Ida, conflict in his eyes, flashed in Izuku's mind. "Ida will be in danger as well! His internship with Manual is here! Think, Izuku, think! What am I going to do?! What's the best course of action I can take to help these people?! What can I do to help Ida when I find him?!" Izuku thought, panic filling his veins as he turned the corner and cried out for one of his first and best friends.
"TENYA!" Izuku called out, only to be met by absolute chaos. Smoke billowing from buildings, sidewalks cracked, people lying unconscious or worse on the ground, heroes fighting for their lives and rescuing civilians, all the while, two massive, inhuman-like monsters were attacking everything and everyone indiscriminately.
And they too, both resembled Nomu from the USJ. One of them looked exactly like the Nomu from the USJ if you discounted the top of its head being completely lopped off and replaced with a brain, while the other was a gross yellowish colour with a pair of wings and a gas mask.
"No way…! What the hell is going on here?!" Izuku thought as, once again, his eyes widened. Manual, who was busy helping put out a fire, seemed to be fretting over something. Something that drove more concern from Izuku.
"Tenya! Where the hell are you?!" Manual called out, only to curse under his breath. "How could he run off at a time like this?!" Manual shouted, looking from place to place as Izuku swallowed down the building fear in his stomach.
"Manual, Ida's interner, is calling out for him? But why? Why would he have to do that…. Unless… no, why would he do something stupid like that?! There's no way Ida would be dumb enough to…. To…." Izuku closed his eyes and made a swift heel turn to run down an opposite street.
"Of course! What am I thinking?! I already knew this! Ida interned with Manual to get to The Hero Killer because he was spotted in Hosu! With all this chaos going on, Ida would assume that The Hero Killer would be taking advantage of it and going after other heroes! And since he has a grudge against The Hero Killer… he's gone to hunt him down without Manual knowing!"
Turning a corner, he narrowed his eyes, activating Full Cowl, which, thanks to his training with Gran Torino, he had just about fully mastered, to increase his movement speed. And as he ran to search for Ida and The Hero Killer, he did some mental gymnastics.
"I might be overthinking this, but a lot of things have made me have to do some extra mental work over these last few months. I've got no real evidence that this is the case, but I'll be damned if it isn't just a coincidence! Nomu look-a-likes pop up in the city around the same time as The Hero Killer. It's the perfect storm to drum up some wanton chaos. Nomu worked with The League of Villains and was their strongest heavy-hitter during the USJ, strong enough to go toe-to-toe with a weakened, heavily injured All Might. The fact that more of them showed up here, in Hosu, means the League of Villains has something to do with what's going on."
Izuku turned another corner, bouncing off of a wall as he jumped from place to place, picking up speed and momentum, all the while listening for noises that didn't match with the current environment. Keeping an ear out for Ida's voice.
"I may be the only one in the whole city uneasy about this, probably because no one else is aware of The League of Villains due to their recent spiral in popularity on internet forums that I've been using in conjunction with Sakunami-san on info for those Stand Bullets. Seeing as they are only limited to online forums, not many people would come to this conclusion. However, the idea of The League and Stain working together… scares me to the core. Especially because The League was powerful enough to hire a Stand User on their side back at the USJ. At least, according to Kujo-kun, anyway. If they could get Stain to join them… then I don't doubt for a second that these villains might become the bane of our existence in the months to come!"
Izuku leapt around another corner and narrowed his eyes as something caught his eye. A small glint of something reflective. And it was there that Izuku knew that he had found Ida because only his suit would make that gleam.
"I was right, he found The Hero Killer!"
Izuku whipped around the corner and was prepared for the fight of his life! He was prepared to fight The Hero Killer Stain and was determined to make sure that Ida and himself would get out of this alive. He didn't plan on capturing The Hero Killer or going on a prolonged fight with the villain. He planned to scoop up Ida and get them out of there before any more harm could be done.
At least, that was the plan.
His plan came to a screeching halt as he had to stop dead in his tracks. Because the person in the alleyway was not The Hero Killer. The person in question was a tall, looming figure wearing what could only be called a mishmash of fashion and design. He stood stock still, hand—no, claw reached out to swat him away like a fly. The force of the impact was so great that when he hit the wall of the building, he could've sworn he felt at least two of his ribs break on impact alone, let alone what the hit to the chest caused.
Behind the figure was a dark, swirling portal that Izuku recognized to belong to the villain Kurogiri. What he saw enter it shocked him just as much, that being The Hero Killer. Granted, he was being lifted through it by what appeared to be two arms belonging to an orange-suited man, but that was not what he was paying attention to. It was the fact that he was right. The League of Villains was working together with The Hero Killer.
However, while that was a revelation in itself. Another revelation came when he looked up at the figure. He was greeted with two very inhuman, very vicious, and very deadly eyes. "Ah… Midoriya Izuku~! It's quite a treat to meet you here! Who could've guessed that the ninth holder of One For All would come walking right into our hands~!"
Izuku felt his blood run cold, as his breathing turned from slightly quickened due to the shock of being hit to an outright panic-attack level pace as the man bore down on him with a sinister smile, all the while his eyes gleamed with sinister intentions.
This, mixed with the utter euphoria in his tone of voice, made alarm bells ring in Izuku's head. What also made Izuku's head ring with alarm bells was the fact that this man knew about One For All.
"How?! How does he know?! All Might said that only a few people knew of his Quirk?! So how could this random villain know of it?!" Izuku thought, panic flowing through his veins as the man's expression burned into his subconscious. Once he got out of this, he had to tell All Might immediately. If his secret was out to a villain, then All Might would want to know.
And while the knowledge of One For All being in the hands of a villain was bad enough already. What he saw next was even worse.
What went from concern then to alarm transformed into pure horror and disgust as his eyes trailed to what could only be described to be a mummy wearing Tenya's hero costume, along with a hole the size of a 500 yen coin in the center of his chest, along with the shattered remains of Tenya's glasses.
The horror and disgust turned to anger as Izuku's eyes gained a dangerous gleam. Activating Full Cowl, Izuku leapt up from his spot against the wall, completely ignoring the broken ribs, charging toward the villain that he assumed killed his friend, cocking back a fist to slam it into the bastard's lower jaw, only for the figure to completely disappear, before a pain unlike any he had felt before surged throughout his body.
Izuku came crashing down to the floor, Full Cowl deactivating as a sinister laugh rippled throughout the alleyway. "Ah~! How sad! You must've cared for that brat, didn't you, Midoriya Izuku?" The villain taunted, Izuku coughing up his left lung, bent over the ground on his knees, a few droplets of blood being mixed into the saliva that came out of the boy's mouth.
The villain loomed over his shoulder, grabbing him by the tuft of his hair and lifting him off the ground as he dangled uselessly in the air, back to the villain as he let out a small, sinister chuckle. "Oh, but who am I kidding? Of course, you cared for him! He was your classmate, your friend even! Why would you not care about him dying? I should've expected this reaction out of you! And what's better is that the plan worked! Not that I had one in the beginning, but seeing that phone of his, I knew I could call two of the most powerful students of Class 1 – A to this very location! And finish them off for good! Isn't that right, Shoto Todoroki?"
Izuku hadn't realized it, but at the mouth of the alleyway, Shoto stood, eyes wide, as he wore his revamped hero costume: a blue tracksuit with brown gear-like rings wrapping around the base of his shoulders, along with a tactical-styled belt and black combat boots. Izuku's eyes trailed over to the mouth of the alleyway as he saw the downright mortified expression on the half-and-half teen's face.
"T-Todoroki-Kun…?" Izuku rasped as he coughed yet again. Izuku had no idea what the extent of the damage was in his body, and right now, he wasn't all too caring about that. Anger still flowed through his body at the knowledge that Ida was dead, killed by the villain who had so thoroughly defeated him, while the same villain had him in his grasp.
He wanted to lash out, to somehow find a way out of the horrid situation he was in right now, but with how weak he was beginning to feel, he knew that it was impossible.
"Midoriya…. Ida…?" Shoto murmured as rage flowed from the young teen's eyes. "You… you bastard!" Shoto hollered, fire dancing across his left side, as the villain tossed Izuku to the left, making him hit another wall face first, knocking him to the ground. A torrent of brilliant orange flame washed over the alleyway, just barely missing Izuku and grazing Ida's mummified corpse. Izuku slowly tried to get up, but the damage done to his ribs was enough to make him stay on the ground, coughing up more blood as his pupils shrank.
"Blood… I'm… coughing up blood…. I must've been... internally injured from that attack…! Just how strong is this guy?!" Izuku thought as the flames died down, Shoto breathing heavily on the other side of the alleyway, as the man, now burnt to a crisp, stood stock still in the alleyway. When Izuku saw that, he for sure thought the man was dead. And while the thought of Shoto killing someone was downright mortifying, at the very least, Ida would've been avenged.
Only for his skin and eyes to start growing back as if nothing had happened at all.
Both Shoto and Izuku stared in abstract horror as the monster laughed uproariously and slowly began to retake his form. Of course, he was left with no clothes, so it revealed everything that had been hiding underneath what it had been wearing. The monster was ripped, built like an Olympic bodybuilder, his skin paler than what could be considered normal, all the way down to every last inch of him. The monster had no shame to show it all, and it made the mood incredibly uncomfortable.
"I knew that Endeavour and his spawn were going to be here! It only made sense, especially if anything revolving around The Hero Killer had anything to do with it. After all, Endeavour has been actively hunting The Hero Killer for quite some time now! He made it public that he was, and who could blame him?! For a man who so thoroughly slandered him, of course, He who was being slandered would want to kill him, right?!" The monster ranted, the portal of Kurogiri having been long gone, meaning that the villain had no intentions of leaving, as a wave of dread washed over the whole of the alleyway.
Both Shoto and Izuku stared at him with terror written all over their faces as the inhuman monstrosity that was… whoever this guy had been, faced them down with nothing but glee strewn across his face. It was a twisted, sickening face that even if the vilest of humanity saw it, they too would shrivel their faces in disgust at just how unabashedly monstrous this thing was.
"Now~! I'll take my next step for revenge! I will kill two of the strongest members of Class 1 – A! One, who is related to a bastard, and the other, who is directly connected with my current nemesis and target! Ha~! This is so fulfilling~!" The monster said, a bright, demonic smile spreading across his face, only for it to drop, replaced by one of annoyance, as he placed a finger to his ear. There was a moment of silence before he cursed and then hissed. "It would seem my fun is being put to an end…. I can't disobey orders. Oh well, we'll meet again, Izuku Midoriya and Shoto Todoroki… and I hope it will be very, very soon~!"
And with that, the monster jumped from where he stood, leaving cracks in the floor, shaking Shoto off of his feet and on his ass, as both Izuku and Shoto watched the man leap from wall to wall before heading atop the rooftops to go… wherever it was he was heading.
Izuku could do nothing but lay on the floor, a wave of dread washing over him. He could do nothing but cower in fear at the sight of that… of that thing and wait for him to do something. If it hadn't been for Shoto, he was pretty sure in the fact that he would've died.
And even then… even with Shoto's intervention, his body was too broken to run away. That thing was moments away from killing them both before he was called away by someone whom he deemed to be his superior.
And if something that strong had a Boss… that meant that whoever this Boss was had to have been a million times stronger…. And if that was the case….
"I… was going to…. Die…." Izuku thought, his consciousness weighing, his eyes barely staying open due to the lingering smell of burning flesh. Once the smell faded, he felt a cold chill wash over him. He could vaguely make out Shoto's voice before yet another pain filled his chest. Before his vision started to go dark, he coughed up another glob of blood, and then, due to the immense heaviness, his eyelids felt, he shut his eyes.
One moment, Izuku remembered narrowly losing consciousness. The next, he heard Gran Torino's voice, and finally, he heard police and ambulance sirens. And after all of that, after all the racket was done, he slipped into a sleep-like state, still able to hear all the voices, indiscriminate as they might've been, flow from one ear and out the other.
And then… There was nothing.
On May 7th, 2123, at 10:35 pm in Hosu City…
Ida Tenya, friend, son, and younger brother….
Has Died.
-To Be Continued-