The Hero & The Demon

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Tomura Shigaraki had arrived well prepared for anything that could be thrown at him.

He had acquired hordes of villains who could take care of anyone who was present, student and hero alike. None of them were All-Might, so all he really needed to do was wear them down and keep them busy. In theory, he didn't even need the others dead. Only occupied.

Sure, Eraserhead holding on for so long was a bit of a surprise, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. The man was impressive in his ability to take on the group of villains by carefully disguising which individual Quirks he was disabling and for how long, but that was something he could manage.

He was trained by Master. There was no way he could possibly fail.

"Twenty-nine seconds." He counted as the hero charged at him. The man was fast, but no faster than Shigaraki was prepared for. If he couldn't handle even a single pro hero, then Master never would have let him leave the hideout.

"So, you're the boss here!"

Look at that, Shigaraki thought. He's not just fast or strong, he's clever. Or at least, he thought he was. That was probably why he wasn't doing anything to disguise the movement of his hair.

"Twenty-four seconds." The hero's scarf lashed out towards him, but Shigaraki dodged and caught it easily. He only used his four fingers, as he didn't want to give away his tricks until the right moment. It would have been oh so satisfying to watch Eraserhead panic when he realised that his main weapon was useless, but Shigaraki had to be patient.

It would be even more satisfying if he made it hurt, after all.

"Twenty seconds." Eraserhead slid low, dodging past several other villains and following the path of his scarf. The material went taut as Eraserhead yanked it forth, pulling Shigaraki along for the ride. "Seventeen seconds."

"What are you babbling about?" Eraserhead asked, though he clearly didn't want an answer. He just wanted Shigaraki to be distracted, even if only for the moment it would take for Eraserhead to ram his elbow into Shigaraki's stomach and cause him to keel over. Though Shigaraki caught the blow with one hand before it reached him, the impact was still strong. He allowed himself to lurch forward to better sell the effect.

Plus, it let the hero see his grin hidden beneath Father's hand.

"It's hard to tell when you're bouncing around, but there are moments where your hair falls over your eyes." Shigaraki noted, just as Eraserhead's hair fell. The faint rustling of its motion was drowned out by another sound – that of disintegrating cloth and cracking skin.

"Every time you finish a given move." He continued, watching as the man's elbow came apart. "Not to mention the fact that your duration is getting shorter and shorter. You're not built for long, drawn-out battles, are you?"

Eraserhead pulled his damaged arm free and leapt back, though damage had already been done. The area Shigaraki had touched was red raw and the bloody musculature was visible beneath horrendously cracked skin. Every moment he stood still, tiny pieces fell off of his arm, ripping it apart even more.

"Despite all that, you still came down here to fight us." Shigaraki waved his arms wide. Eraserhead had done a not insignificant amount of damage to his forces, but there were still plenty of villain left to keep him busy. Or at least, there would be had Shigaraki not been tired of playing these games. "All to keep the students safe, right? I gotta say, Eraserhead, you're pretty cool."

"Cool enough that I'll let you in on a little secret." With one hand, he gave a signal to the lumbering beast behind him. Its expression, as always, was fixed in a bloodthirsty grin. The beaked mouth was filled with visible teeth, though they looked more like raw chunks of ivory from the ground with the way they were sharp and cragged. With its every step forward, the ground shook.

"I'm not the boss here."

"Truer words were never spoken." A new voice, a haunting one that echoed across the facility and sent shivers down the spines of everyone listening spoke up. Shigaraki looked up to see what appeared to be one of the students. Not just any student, in fact, but the one Master was interested in acquiring.

They didn't look terrified like how Shigaraki had expected. Kurogiri had the rest of the class spooked with his warping fun, but this figure was different. Not because of the crown-like spikey hair or the black veins across their body or even the strange eyes that burned with an unholy light.

No, they were of note because they didn't look frightened, nor concerned for the state of their teacher. Their expression didn't even convey a sense of bravado that was customary for heroes who were soon to die to their own foolish actions.

They looked bored.

"What was that, kid?" Shigaraki leered at them. Something about them made his hairs stand on end. It was uncomfortable, but Shigaraki was used to discomfort. It described every aspect of his life. Right now, this child was bothering him. So he would kill them, as was his right. Master taught him it was only right to destroy anything he didn't like. The figure rolled their eyes at him.

"Really? That is the best response you can muster?" It sighed lazily. "By the Nine, what is wrong with the villains of this world? Not only are you useless on every conceivable level in battle, but apparently your incompetence there is matched only by your inability to verbally attack as well."

Shigaraki blinked. In all honesty, he was not expecting this. His head tilted.

"You think addressing a child as a child is enough to make them scared?" They asked rhetorically. "No wonder you're not the brains of the operation. The one behind you must have only gotten the position because someone can see his, even if it's not functional. You disappoint me, Tomura Shigaraki. I had hoped to quell his fears, but I find now that I cannot even understand them." The figure shook its head condescendingly.

"You want something to be afraid of?" Shigaraki found himself involuntarily scratching away at his neck. It was a bad habit of his, but one he had no interest in stopping. He needed the outlet for his frustration. "Do you want to die that badly? That can be arranged."

"The meaningless bleating of a sheep does nothing to scare the wolf." The annoying figure replied. "Those are the right creatures, yes? All of your miniscule fauna are the same to me – small souls not worth the effort to recall. At this point, I'm almost inclined to put human beings in that category."

The figure shifted into a low battle stance, readying what appeared to be jet-black swords in each hand. Both blades were held backwards, something that would usually be massively impractical to make use of. Still, Shigaraki knew better than to underestimate someone Master had spoken of. The figure gave a grin that reminded him of his own.

"Go ahead and prove me wrong."

Shigaraki had a large enough party still left that he could afford this little sidequest. He straightened his back and whistled, a signal to call any and all remaining villains to his location. He had no doubt that the kids would have handled some of them, but anything to bolster his forces here would be useful.

Master had given him this task. He would not fail.

Two villains charged forth immediately, not patient enough to await the arrival of reinforcements. They were fast and agile individuals who would have no issue taking down a child on their own. Or so Shigaraki thought. The annoying kid didn't move until one had raised a knife to plunge directly down into their neck.

Then, in one swift moment, they grabbed the villain's arm and twisted it. Their entire body followed the twist. The arm did a one-hundred-and-eighty-degree twist and the child seemed to swing with its motion until they were on the villain's back. They barely had time to look up before one of the swords was plunged through their chest. The child grinned gleefully as the smell of burnt flesh filled the air. The sword seemed to cauterise the wound, but that did nothing for the pain.

The second villain was one with a gas mask-like face who had thrusted a hand out, from which a mouth on the end of a long tube emerged. The child kicked the first villain down to the ground and dispelled one sword. Instead of using that, they simply turned to the side and grabbed at the villain's Quirk.

Then, they pulled.

A long, red and wet tube was violently pulled from the villain's hand, the squelching sound of its grotesque removal being second only to the scream that emerged as the act was done in terms of the visceral quality that pierced the air.

The villain fell painfully to their knees as their Quirk was removed. But the child wasn't done. The same black energy that coursed through its veins found itself wrapped around the mouthy appendage, transforming it into a malformed whip. They struck the villain with it. Once, twice, thrice, and the villain was clearly knocked out.

By the fifth strike, blood was pooling out of them. The child laughed.

"Well, your strange bodies make for fun toys indeed!" They seemed to praise the way people came apart. If they weren't actively against one another, Shigaraki almost might have felt inclined to call them a kindred spirit. "But this really isn't good enough. I was given to understand these were violent killers who could rip someone like him up easily, so long as he was caught. Yet here I am, striding into the midst of battle, and I find nothing but weaklings whose closest approximation to strength is their ability to blather on. Give me a challenge, Tomura Shigaraki!"

Strangely, the figure had referred to itself as 'him' as though it was speaking in the third person, despite pointing to itself with those words. Something clicked in Shigaraki's head.

"A possession Quirk." He said. "That's how you're still alive, even after what Master did to you. Quite the lucky pull of RNG, but-" Shigaraki's eyes widened as, midway through his words, the figure propelled itself towards him.

"Perhaps my verbosity has you confused," It said as its leg launched itself towards him, hoping to shoot a kick right to his torso. "But I did not ask for a conversation." Shigaraki had but a hair's breath to hastily duck, dodging beneath the oncoming attack.

It shattered the floor apart as the impact struck. Sharp fragments of tiles shot up as the figure turned and glared at Shigaraki with one eye. It grinned at him venomously.

"That's more like it." They pounced upon him once more. They hadn't even bothered to conjure weapons this time, instead simply channelling dark power into their arms. Despite their previous speed, however, the punches were coming slow enough for Shigaraki to dodge. Only just barely, unfortunately, but it was still a marked shift from before.

Shigaraki's eyes followed the figure's movements carefully, waiting for an opportunity. It was difficult to manage, but he soon found the moment he was looking for. As the figure went for a blow to the head, Shigaraki grabbed onto their arm with all five fingers.

"Got you." He taunted, watching as the figure's expression fell to a frown. It tried to move, but Shigaraki's grip was combined with his disintegrating touch. It made trying to force one's way out of it rather difficult. He grinned with satisfaction. They had given him quite a scare, but he had passed the quick-time event. Things were back to going his way.

"Challenging enough for you, kid?" He continued. "Wait, that's too obvious, isn't it? How about ant? Something to be crushed beneath my boot without a second thought." He was relishing in this. He still had plenty of time to kill the kid before All-Might would arrive and the real fun began. He could afford a distraction.

Eraserhead was currently pinned down by the Nomu, and the rest of the villains...hadn't arrived at his signal? He looked up, but he didn't see any of his other forces descending upon them. Had the other students really managed to successfully combat all of them? Maybe this freak wasn't the only exceptional force in the hero school. Maybe-

"Hehehe..."

"Hm?" Shigaraki turned his attention back to the freakish brat he still held onto. Their smile had returned. He leaned down. "What's so funny? Are you starting to lose whatever braincells you had left? Going mad?"

"Oh, I know madness very well, Tenko Shimura." The figure spoke in a hushed voice. Shigaraki's eyes widened. No one was supposed to know that name. No one! The Shimura name was dead, he knew that! He knew because-because...argh! Now his head was on fire, but he knew! How could this child know that name?!

"But that is not what I find so amusing." They continued. "I laugh because you think some mere flesh wound will be enough to truly stop me." They rammed their skull right into Shigaraki, forcing him to stagger back. At the same time, they yanked themself loose with enough force that Shigaraki felt the POP of his shoulder dislocating. His arm now hung loosely at his side whilst the freakish brat was free.

He glared. His attack had still done damage – their entire left forearm was little more than bone and a few scraps of flesh still futilely left clinging on. It glanced down at the wound and frowned. Raising the other hand forth, it waved down over the injured area. A black circle appeared at the top of the arm and fell over it. When it was gone, the arm looked fresh – unbroken flesh, no visible muscles or skin. Not even a drop of blood. The only hint that Shigaraki had touched it was the missing patch of the kid's costume. Meanwhile, blood was pouring down from his own head.

"A shame. He worked hard on this design, you know?" The figure said casually, as though they weren't trying to kill each other. "I was rather fond of the look myself. Still, wounding this body whilst I am in command is enough of an accomplishment so far. By the low standards of this world, at least. Bravo, villain. Perhaps this can yet be entertaining after all."

"What..." Shigaraki growled, scratching harshly against the reddening skin of his neck with one hand. "What the hell are you?! This isn't fair, you weren't supposed to be this strong! I'm here to kill the Symbol of Peace, not waste time on you! You were just a bonus objective, not a mini-boss! What are you?!" The figure let out a chuckle and smiled.

"Very well, let's say you've earned an introduction." It spread its arms open wide. When it spoke, the sounds of a thousand voices joined its own in some twisted harmony that both grated the ears and burned the words unforgettably into one's mind.

"I am Kuryo! Child of the Ninth God, Lord of the Void, and the strongest Void Demon to ever exist!" It boasted theatrically. Whilst it seemed distracted by its need to perform, Shigaraki made a signal behind his back with his still functional hand.

"Cool." He said. "Why don't I introduce you to another friend of mine? Meet Nomu." The bird roared and charged from behind, shocking even this self-proclaimed demon and launching it away.

"I'll leave you two to get acquainted."

Kuryo, Lord of the Void and Child of the Ninth God, was unused to being taken by surprise. It was similarly unused to being hit with blows that carried any sort of impact, for such a concept was practically obsolete in their home. It had been a long, long time since they had been with a host, and they had all been accomplished warriors in the past before their meeting. His present host was once the best of them all, but for the moment, he was a child. Only used to casual brawls, not drawn-out battles or intense warfare.

Kuryo had allowed its theatrics to get itself distracted. The cost was flying up into the air towards the roof of the building, and multiple limbs that now bent themselves in ways they weren't supposed to. They sighed.

Resetting bones in the air was always annoying.

Their power – Void Energy, their host had dubbed it with little more than a whispered suggestion – floated its way out of the body and wrapped around their form completely. It reached out, the darkness caressing the body with a million soothing hands, each urging the form not to panic.

Kuryo barely let out a breath as the bones were placed back into their proper places. It had millennia of experience dealing with far worse pains. Still, the fact that this Nomu creature could deal so much damage so quickly was impressive. Nothing else on this world came close.

It didn't give the creature any sort of chance, of course. But it would make things more interesting.

Kuryo shifted the power down to the legs and reshaped it, forming a platform that abruptly stopped their ascent. The legs had been reinforced for such an impact, not that it wouldn't simply heal the body when too much damage was done. None were allowed to harm their host.

"A decent start." Kuryo called out, drawing the villain's attention. They had briefly diverted themselves to the other students. What a pain. They would barely be able to keep this beast distracted, let alone hurt it. And the host would be inconsolable if it allowed any of his comrades to die. Kuryo leapt down and slashed at the villain's back.

Blood tore its way free just as their hand cut through the entire creature. A clean split.

"My turn." Kuryo grinned. The Nomu tried to turn around, but it seemed to be struggling to keep itself in one piece after that attack. Still, it was already healing. What was its power called again? Super Restoration?

"You should know that won't work." Shigaraki taunted as the Nomu finally turned. "Nomu has Hyper Regeneration. The only way you're going to stop it is if you manage to cut it into tiny pieces, not that you'll live long enough to try."

"Right, that." Kuryo said, unbothered. "I was wondering what you did to improve on your theft."

"You're the one who took the body." Shigaraki laughed. "But really, we should be thanking you. We've taken your garbage power and made it into something that'll kill All-Might. Thanks to you, we're unstoppable! Nomu, show him how grateful we are."

"Them." Kuryo corrected as the Nomu tried to slam a punch down. This time, Kuryo was more than ready for the attack. They formed a solid wall in front of the fist, then reshaped it into a spiked shield and rammed it into the creature's hand as it impacted. The beast cried out as its shattered fingers repaired themselves.

It could tank some hits. Kuryo could have some fun here.

"Come on, now." They called out to the beast as though it was a pet. Given the mangled and distorted state of what was left of the soul, it might as well have been. Kuryo stuck to the more mundane way humans saw the world to avoid its revulsion, but a brief glance had already earned these villains its hatred. "Try hitting us again."

The creature roared and began unleashing a flurry of blows. Kuryo smirked as they dodged, weaved and flipped all around each attack with a fluidity that ordinarily would have left the host form with shattered bones and unusable muscles. Their Chrono-Lock was holding, however – every slight injury of motion was reverted as soon as it happened. There wasn't even a loss of the costume this time.

"Is that all?" Kuryo caught one of the blows, causing winds to whip up all around them. "Perhaps I need to show you how it's done!" With their free hand, Kuryo launched a blow into the beast's stomach. The impact tore the flesh open and coated their arm in red, but the beast did not seem perturbed by this.

Its lifeless grin bore down at Kuryo. For the first time since the fight began, a frown slipped onto their face. Their expression softened.

"You can't even feel it, can you?" Kuryo ripped their hand out, splashing the red fluid away onto the ground. Their scowl grew as the creature once more failed to respond, even whilst its new stomach filled in for all to see. Kuryo stepped back.

"I can do nothing for your suffering anymore." They said. They raised their arms into yet another fighting stance, this time angling their body low and allowing lightning to course off of their arms. One of their old favourite styles. "The best I can offer you is an ending. Will you allow me to grant you this?"

The beast let out a roar and charged forwards. Kuryo decided that was answer enough.

With lightning speed that shook the air, Kuryo met the beat before it could take even a few steps forwards. It rushed the creature, stabbing and clawing away with its fists, forcing it back with each impact and tearing through its flesh piece by mangled piece. Their grin grew wide as the creature tried to push them off. Kuryo allowed it, flipping back as the creature tried to knock it to one side.

As they were in the air, Kuryo summoned several spheres of energy above their head. Upon landing, each one was fired with precise blows into the torso. Heart, lungs, kidneys – any internal organ Kuryo could remember the pathetic humans held onto. They would honour their word and kill the beast, but it needed to be a patient death. The kind afforded to a warrior on the battlefield.

There was simply no joy in anything else.

Kuryo was no killer, but the soul was the only form of life that held any meaning to it. The conscious energy that defined a creature was the only thing that mattered, not the physical form. Thus, Kuryo hardly cared that the impacts of its own fists were breaking their body apart. The hands were now largely skeletal with only chunks of muscle fibres keeping them moving. They simply forced more power out to wrap it around the area.

Their hands emerged. Clawed and sharp, with energy that could not be contained by feeble flesh. Kuryo lifted them gleefully. They looked back to the beast, only to see it gone.

It emerged a moment later with a sharp kick delivered right into their head. Kuryo was flung back, groaning. The shock was enough to keep them from immediately countering with another attack, and that opening was all the beast needed to leap upon it.

Fists beat against their head and torso like the beating of a mighty drum. Kuryo tried to use the Chrono-Lock to avoid the damage, but there was only so much that could be done to avert this. Affecting the self was easy. Affecting that which acted against the self was harder. Kuryo's powers allowed it to bypass the normal rules of reality by not being perceived as present.

Adding strength, making things that shouldn't have been, discharging energy that emerged from no matter. These were all things that were easy to apply to the self, so long as that self limited its interaction with the rest of the world. Constructs could be as large and intricate as they wanted, until something touched them, whereupon reality was forced to acknowledge its presence. Weight and gravity became factors. Balancing that and maintaining structure became a challenge.

The Chrono-Lock was much the same – when the body was not actively being interacted with, resetting it to a previous state was a simple task. Kuryo needed little energy to expend on such a thing. Movements that would otherwise be impossible could be corrected trivially.

But a being capable of delivering such an intense amount of force at a rapid pace was more than the Chrono-Lock was designed for. It would take far too much energy to reset these wounds whilst they were being made. Kuryo cried out.

They felt the host's fear from deep within. They had been put asleep, but this could wake them.

That could not be allowed.

"ENOUGH!" Kuryo roared. Their voice was accompanied by an explosive burst of energy so massive that it shattered right through the roof of the facility. A star of darkness shielded itself around the body. It burned furiously, but it also kept the impacts from growing. Kuryo allowed the body to take in some breaths as it floated upwards.

The initial burst had already burnt away the Nomu's face and arms. The thing flailed around like a headless chicken. Survival instincts overpowered its commands, and it began scrambling away. It was not dead, and would regenerate quickly if Kuryo did not stop it.

With a wave of one hand, Kuryo took control of the shattered fragments of the roof. Glass and metal chunks flung themselves into the Nomu's stumps. It had no mouth anymore, but Kuryo knew it was screaming regardless as its regeneration took shape around jagged and fractured elements.

That was enough that it found itself coughing up blood by the time the head grew back. Still, not good enough. The dark star receded somewhat around Kuryo, but it kept the energy fully encompassing their form. They were a walking pitch-black void, illuminated only by golden daggers of eyes that glared at all they surveyed.

Their true form was emerging around the shell.

One arm extended. A blast of energy was fired. There was no fanfare as the Nomu was disintegrated in its entirety, every inch of its massive body replaced with not even ash, but sheer nothingness. All beholding the sight watched with dreadful awe. This power was nothing they could comprehend.

None of them were ready.

Beneath the veil of darkness, the body was practically burnt beyond recognition. Blood was pooling out from every hole, and the bones held within shook with even the slightest of motion. This would take a long time to fix. Kuryo had tried to warn the host that they were not ready for this. They could not save him from everything, not when they weren't prepared to even face him when he was so ignorant of their old selves.

The soul was a power of pure consciousness. Pure emotion and thought, without any other possible constraints that held it back. As such, the state of the soul affected the power it possessed. Its relationships, its intentions, its thoughts towards that which was around it. All of these things changed how the power worked.

Void Demons were entities that functioned the same way. Alignment with a soul meant benefit for all. However, contention between the two bred hostility that acted against their abilities. As the host tried to use Kuryo's strength, it burnt away at him, for it was not ready to be embraced. As Kuryo tried to use the host's body, it broke apart, unprepared for the reality of its situation.

Still, Kuryo had power enough to see the boy's fears crushed.

"Hear me, allies of Kage Sekai." Their voice came out with more echoing choir than ever before. The song of the Void was laced within every word. "You need not be afraid. There is no cause to cower before the weak. I am here, and thus you are safe. I am here, and thus they are nothing. All of you, depart. I shall handle the rest."

There was a pause as the words rang out. Then, with some hesitance, the students began swiftly moving up towards the staircase. Some of the villains were beginning to rise from Aizawa's attacks earlier at this point. As the man of mist returned to Shigaraki's side and the masterminds backed away, eager to avoid the threat before them, some of the others remained keen on fighting. One raised a hand up at the retreating students.

Gin Dangan. Kury had seen this one before.

They allowed their aura to take on a humanoid shape and appeared before the man. Without waiting to see his reaction, it ripped his arm off of his body and tossed it aside, then kicked him back towards the others. Some looked horrified, others enraged, but one thing was clear.

This would not be enough for them to back down. If they didn't stop, the host would still be afraid. He didn't want to die, and so Kuryo had to make sure that nothing could kill him.

Kuryo was not a killer, but the soul was all that mattered.

Destroying flesh would be meaningless.

Sora Kinzoku had recovered just about enough to take a few steps of her own when Kage – or Kuryo or whatever the hell that was – disintegrated someone. There weren't even any ashes left over when it was done. Simply the absence of a presence that once was.

The entity made some kind of speech, though Sora tried to not to listen. For some reason, its words resonated in her mind and gave her a headache. Each syllable pulsed against the inside of her skull, as though it was playing in surround sound within her mind.

"Did...did Kage just..." She tried to speak, but a combination of disorientation from her overextending her Quirk and the sheer disbelief at the things she had witnessed left her unable to finish the sentence. To her left side, Deku was watching on in abject horror. To her right, Tsuyu wasn't looking at all.

"Come on. Ribbit." She said, her voice low and quiet. "We need to get out of here. There's no time to worry about what's going on. The villains are distracted and everyone's safe. I don't like this any more than you do, but we can't stay."

"R-right." Deku forced himself to snap back into reality and turned, walking forward. Sora similarly found herself suddenly filled with new focus, but she lacked the sense to move in the proper direction.

Not whilst her friend was gone. When she turned back to look at the black mass of monstrosity that he had become, Sora could feel his pain.

She didn't know how she could, but it was there. She felt how harshly that power burnt against his skin, how much the weight of it all was pressing against his bones. She could practically taste the blood in her own mouth.

"Goddammit, buddy." She whispered to herself. "Looks like I've got to save you again." She turned and began moving down the staircase, forcing herself forward through her own lethargy and pain. As she moved down, she found herself growing just a little stronger. Each step was just a little easier.

"Sora, wait!" Deku tried to follow her. "W-we can't even get close, and you don't know what he could-" She turned and looked at him. Something about her eyes seemed to make him hesitate. She tried a weak smile.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." She said with far more confidence than she felt. "But someone has to make sure he is, too. Aizawa's Quirk isn't going to work on him, so I have to try something. There's no way I'm leaving without him."

"What do you...?" Deku trailed off as he looked across at the battlefield. Aizawa was glaring as hard as he could at Kage, but nothing was changing. The man was trying to back away as he did so, clutching one arm that hung loosely with his other hand. He was in no state to fight, and his power wouldn't help.

The good news for Sora was that meant he wouldn't be able to stop her.

"Then let me come with you!" Izuku pleaded. Sora went to protest, but he continued. "Sora, you can barely walk! And whatever Kage is now, it-it... if it tries to fight you, then it could kill you!" He cried. Sora shook her head gently.

"I know Kage won't do that."

"And what if that's not Kage right now?" Deku countered. Sora didn't know to explain any more properly that she was equally sure that she would not die. It was just a gut feeling, nothing she could justify. Just like how she felt strongly that she had to save Kage, even though she wasn't even sure what he needed saving from. "My Quirk might be our only chance, I'm as strong as-!" He cut himself off, but Sora nodded. She knew what he meant to say.

"Fine. How could I turn down help?" She shrugged. "Just don't swing your fists unless there's no other option. I'm sure we can get through to him." They continued down the stairs. As Sora looked down to see pools of blood staining the once pristine floor of the USJ, a disturbing thought popped into her mind.

Blood had metal in it. She could absorb metal and transmute it. She hadn't really experimented with that beyond her wings. It had been too long since she had ever tried to use her full Quirk, but...

She needed more iron in her blood, right? That was how her condition worked? What if she could take it in just by reversing how she brought it out?

It was a desperate move, and most likely a stupid one, but such defined today.

She took a deep breath and willed it forth. She honestly didn't expect it to work, but the pillars dug their way out of her skin and the red liquid flowed immediately towards her and slammed into them. She gritted her teeth. This wasn't like absorbing already refined metals like the robots at the entrance exam.

This hurt.

"AAAAAAHHHHH!" She screamed out. The last of the blood drops flowed into her. The pillars were now a deep crimson red as opposed to their natural steely colour. She nearly fell onto her knees as they rammed back into her, but she found her strength and steadied herself.

When she returned to standing, she ran. She had never felt so energised, and she knew exactly where she had to direct it.

"Sora?" Kage's voice started to come through the otherworldly echo the other figure was making. Body parts had been separated and spread around across the grounds, and so many bodies were lying with lifeless eyes. Deku hesitated as he saw it, but Sora didn't care.

She could see Kage's expression through the darkness. He was more scared than anyone else here.

"Yeah, it's me!" She stopped just in front of him. Technically just in front of and below him, as the darkness had made him float into the air, but it was good enough. "I'm right here. Here to help you, just like always."

"You..." Kage's voice changed as he tried to speak. The expression on the mask of darkness covering the face changed. "You should not be here. You are not needed at this time. We are saving you. Please, Sora Kinzoku, move aside."

"Who are you?!" Deku yelled, his voice angrier than she had ever heard it. "What have you done with Kage? We know this isn't him!" He was already in a fighting stance, his fists clenched. Sora didn't think he had even realised it.

"I do not repeat myself, Izuku Midoriya." The foreign invader to Kage's body replied. "You are an ally, and a trusted one at that. Please do not be difficult, and save yourself." Sora actually let out a laugh at that.

"You obviously don't know him very well if you think he'll do that." Sora walked closer, jerking a thumb at Deku casually as she did so. "But I know you know me, right? I heard you in my head. You were that voice at the entrance exam, weren't you? And the one from that dream." She didn't realise how she hadn't recognised them before now. The figure nodded.

"I-I am."

"Then you know that normally I'd love to go ahead and save myself from danger." She explained. "Because if you've been in my head, you understand what kind of person I am. I'm selfish, I'm cowardly, and I'm nowhere near as strong as he is, let alone you."

"You're not-!" Kage's voice tried to protest before being silenced once again. The figure shook its head. The darkness was starting to slip away from its grasp. "Why are you saying this? Begone! You are wasting time!"

"I'm telling you who I am so you'll understand," She yelled out. "That I can't live the life I want without my friends by my side! That I've spent so much time just trying to live, that it took until meeting you for me to learn I needed to live for something!" Wings burst out of her back, and recklessly she flung herself to Kage.

She didn't care about the damage. She didn't care about the burns. She flung her arms around him.

"THAT I'M NOT LEAVING YOU, DARREN!" She screamed, knowing he would have to hear her now. "I don't care if it's demons or villains or any other crap, I am NOT LETTING GO! I care about you, and I'm going to save you no matter what!" She glared at the darkness surrounding them.

"SO SHUT UP AND GIVE ME MY FRIEND BACK!"

Her cry was the final push. A red flame erupted from Kage, lighting up the whole USJ and causing the darkening void to vanish. Kage's arms fell around Sora's back as the two suddenly fell down onto the ground. It was rough. Harsh. More than a little painful.

Sora didn't care. That maddening demon was gone. She looked at Kage's face, and she saw her friend. He was hurt worse than she had ever seen, but somehow, despite the pain, he found it in himself to smile.

"Sora...my hero..."

AN: Wow. Can you believe Sora was almost only in chapter ten? Holy hells, what a world that would've been. We'll still have a few loose ends to tie up in the next chapter, but I think that marks a pretty strong conclusion to the USJ arc of the story. I've been considering taking a break from this story for a little bit – not too long, don't worry – when it's all done and dusted, but we'll see. I hope to catch you all next time!