Hey, Author back with another chapter!

First, by popular demand, I won't be using honorifics anymore. Second, you people really can't wait… though to be fair, it's been almost a year already, so yeah, my bad.

Also, I will be reducing the size of chapters in half. I often finish chapters in less than a month, but the editing part… let's just say I'm not a fan. So, in hopes of creating a viable release schedule of at least a chapter a month, I will be making some changes to chapter size.

So now, let's go to the comment section.

Solaris: Yes, she is starting high school all over again. The reason being that now she is attending a hero school, I can't justify putting Artoria in the third year due to the fact she has no experience of being a hero. I also doubt U.A would allow that. As for why she is that old and why she has already been through high school? There are two main reasons, one of convenience and another of narrative. I won't go into details because, one, those are spoilers, and second, with everything I wrote, you could infer both the convenient and the narrative reasons, but I think a lot of people skipped those expositions.

Guest: Morgan's personality is more closely related to her mythical depiction. But she is her character, too, remember, Morgan is no reincarnation. She lived a mostly normal human being life in this world, so she developed her sense of self.

About Toga: I prefer not to make many promises regarding characters I haven't introduced yet. Sincerely, I have to even think about her role in this fic, and yes, Artoria is aging and resembles her lion king form, though she is younger.

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

*Chapter start*

"Okay, class, today we have something a bit special. It was decided that for today's hero trial, you will be supervised by a three-man team comprising me, All Might, and somebody else you will meet later. This time, you will be attempting a rescue trial." The always-tired homeroom teacher, Aizawa, explains with a flat tone.

And as always, the students' chatter increases with every new hero thing they get to do in the U.A.

'A trial of rescue? Wouldn't it be better to have that first? Seems a bit more reasonable than starting with direct combat.'

"Don't get too excited yet. Due to the nature of the trial, wearing your costumes is entirely up to you this time. Many of you probably didn't design them with this kind of task in mind." Picking up a controller on the top of his desk, Aizawa clicks it, revealing a secret compartment in the classroom containing everyone's costumes, much to the marvel of the students. "The test site is quite far from here, so we will take the bus. That's all."

Leaving the students to make their own decisions, Aizawa leaves the classroom presumably to get the bus ready or to go sleep somewhere else, and despite his warnings, everyone in class 1-A decides to pick their costumes except Artoria who lacks one to begin with, and Midoriya whose costume was shredded by Bakugo's explosions.

Finding herself quickly wearing the school's sports gear once more, Artoria was the first to head to the location where they would be taking the bus.

'These student cards are very useful, not only do they work as a display of your student information, they also serve as a mini smart-phone inside the school.'

Artoria says while checking the route to the bus stop.

Arriving earlier than everyone, Artoria approached the relaxed figure of her teacher resting by the side of the bus. "Haven't thought of a costume yet?"

"Why do you assume that? I could just have chosen not to wear it today." Despite the confrontational tone in her voice, Artoria also rests by Aizawa's side.

"Besides the fact that almost everyone always ignores their teacher's warning when it comes to this kind of thing and wears their hero gear anyway? I saw your compartment empty." Understanding the hidden humor tone coming from Artoria, Aizawa says humoristically as well.

"You've got me, though I didn't know teachers had the permission to look into students' things." Artoria replies in surrender.

"You would be surprised by the amount of freedom teachers have at this school, but no, I didn't look into your things. It's just that there is no Record of your compartment being ever filled. Plus, this is the second time in a row that you come to class without even glancing at the changing rooms." Aizawa says with a slight grin.

'Tsk, this guy is annoyingly familiar. Now that I think about it, he reminds me of that guy… what was his name again…? Wait, had I ever known his name?'

While Artoria spaced out trying to remember the specifics of that familiar man, Aizawa asked. "So, what do you think of this school?"

Snapping out of her thoughts, Artoria ponders for a few seconds before asking somewhat disapprovingly. "Is this all necessary? This school seems too unnecessarily grandiose to me."

Snorting as if remembering something funny, Aizawa says. "I used to think like you back when I enrolled here. I didn't have a flash or particular destructive or impactful quirk that would require using any of the installations here." Aizawa then points at his scarf. "But there was a time during my third year when I needed to train with this one here. I've just got it and had no experience using it, and no teacher could teach me something so specific, too. At that time, I just walked into one of the training centers and molded the entire room to my liking. U.A can be extremely extravagant, but it also is the best place in the world to exercise your ideas as a hero, and I fully believe that. Except for building-sized robots, those are a waste of money for sure."

'Quite the selling words.'

"I have to admit too. While I do think this place wastes a lot of money, I also can't deny how impressive it is." Artoria says, revealing a smile.

"Attention, form two lines according to your gender."

Hearing Iida shouting instructions in the distance, Aizawa starts moving. "I'll get the engine running again."

Following Aizawa's suit, Artoria enters the bus to get a seat.

"Oh, Pen-chan, you're already here." The first to enter is Mina, followed by Aoyama, both take their seats by the right of Artoria.

Within a minute, all the seats on the bus became occupied, and Aizawa takes off, surprisingly driving the bus himself.

A few minutes pass as Artoria and Mina engage in their small talk.

"T-That's… s-so? But mine i-isn't…"

Midoriya's inability to form a proper sentence and his nervous shattering interrupts Artoria and Mina's conversation, drawing their attention to the conversation happening in the row in front of them.

"Well, I never see All Might getting hurt after punching people. That's where their likeness ends." Kirishima says, butting in. "But I'm also kinda envious of Midoriya's quirk, which is much flashier than mine that just hardens my skin."

"There is no way." Midoriya refutes with a smile. "I think your quirk is perfect. A quirk that will be useful when you go pro."

"Going pro, huh? But heroics has a lot to do with having the most popularity and flash, and quirk, too. In that case, my navel laser is perfect for when you go pro." Aoyama says confidently.

Patting his shoulder, Mina says, barely containing her laughter. "Yeah, but it would be bad to have your stomach collapsing, too, right? I, on the other hand, think the flashiest quirk is Pen-chan's. When she threw the pitch ball, that bluish glow on her body and the whirlwind around her was so cool."

"Indeed, my quirk can become quite 'flashy' after a certain point, that is, but in my opinion, none can compete with Bakugo's when it comes to attention seeking." Artoria says, entertaining the conversation.

"That's true. When it comes to visuals, Todoroki and Bakugo's are the most impressive." Tsuyo says.

"Tch." Hearing the conversation about him, Bakugo disdains while turning his head.

"Bakugo-kun is always fuming, so he won't be popular." Tsuyo says in response.

"Huh? What did you say bitch? I'll be popular too." With his usual reaction to everything, Bakugo starts cursing.

"Proves my point."

As the conversations progress toward Bakugo's delinquent attitude, Artoria shifts attention somewhere else as suddenly, a discomforting shiver runs through her body.

With narrowed eyes, Artoria looked at every nook and cranny of the bus, worry slowly appearing on her face.

'I'm having a bad feeling all of a sudden.'

Despite being out of the battlefield for almost two decades, her sharp instincts never faded away, as if they were ingrained in her very being. The difference being is that now, in this life, it was never this uncomfortable; it had always been subtle feelings, more like a slight intuition that things might be wrong, but right now…

'I don't like this one bit.'

But no matter where she looked or how much she waited, that ominous feeling never left.

Scene break*

"Okay, everyone, here we are," Aizawa says while leading the class inside the massive dome-shaped structure. Inside several zones with different types of grounds for multiple purposes.

"Amazing." Mina exclaims excitedly.

"This place is so big…" Momo murmured by the side of a quiet Artoria.

Not really caring about the reactions of the students, Artoria calmly walks forward, observing the entirety of the building they've just walked into.

'It has intensified. Something is not right in this place.' Having a single glance at the place, Artoria frowns.

Walking them further down the entrance, Aizawa brings the students to someone wearing a spacesuit.

"Floods, landslides, fires, etc. This is a special training area that I created to simulate all kinds of naturally occurring phenomena, and its name is… The Ultimate Space for Jams!" The woman wearing the space suit proudly talks about her most prized creation.

"Woah, it is the space hero No.13. She is a gentleman hero who focuses her efforts on disaster relief." Midoriya kindly fanboys loudly to everyone, unaware of the person's identity.

Walking past the students who did the favor of introducing 13 to themselves, Aizawa approaches the space hero and speaks to her in whispers. After a few seconds, he distances himself from No.13 with a dissatisfied expression, something that Artoria didn't fail to notice.

'All Might is missing?'

"Okay, guys, before I begin, I want to say…"

Ignoring No.13 words, Artoria sorts her thoughts of the place.

'A massive man-made lake to the east extends to the central area of the dome with some sort of whirlpool in it, a yacht standing near one of the borders of the lake. A water slide filled with boulders simulating a rocky river, falling on top of the lake. To the north, a burning mock city and a hill made of solid stone. And finally to the west a simulated landslide, many forested areas in between them…'

Artoria's attention suddenly turns to her back, where she sees Aizawa closing the only known entrance to the place.

'The gate is now closed… wait, gate?'

Artoria's eyes widened as she remembered all that had happened the last day.

'The reporters broke into the U.A after trying to interview the students about All Might and right, All Might that should be here is not…' Worry blossomed on Artoria's expression as she analyzes the situation they are in. 'We are at least five kilometers away from the main U.A building, probably locked inside a massive metal structure. If someone were to attack us now, supposing they blocked any means of communications, we would have no means to call for help even if we wanted.'

Her eyes wander to the exit once more, wondering if taking a hasty decision right now would work. Maybe if she warns the teacher right now, they will be able to avoid any confrontation, but Artoria knows that is not realistically possible, no one is going to just believe her at this moment.

'Besides, I doubt that causing a commotion would help. Not only that would attract all the attention towards me, but it is very possible that whatever has been planned to happen today could be postponed to another day, either due to my actions or the lack of All Might.' Taking a deep breath, Artoria looks over at the fascinated kids listening to their teacher. 'If this school is getting attacked, it is better to be when I'm here, I guess…'

Steeling her mind, Artoria further rationalizes what is about to happen.

'Their goal? All Might? He was supposed to be here? Are they responsible for his absence, or are they unaware? If they aren't aware of his missing things might get much worse. If David's words are true that man is an absolute monster that could have taken me down even at my peak in my past life, if they are preparing to fight someone like that in such a "small" space filled with kids…'

Sighing at the worst possible outcome that just came to her mind, Artoria walks to Momo and says quietly. "Hey Momo, could you make me a European longsword? The length should be around slightly below my chest height."

Hearing Artoria, Momo nods in confusion, not understanding why Artoria would ask for a sword. "Sure? But why would you need a sword?" Producing the sword for Artoria attracts everyone's attention. Everyone looks at them with eyes and asks why a sword would come out of nowhere.

Not answering Momo's question or everyone's inquisitive gaze, Artoria simply let her screaming instincts guide her eyes to the fountain below.

A dark purple portal forms right at the dome's center in front of an ornamental water fountain.

'I'll give it to them, they are intimidating.'

Following her eyes, Aizawa also looks at the forming portal with frightened eyes as several men exit it.

They look the part, for sure. Given the monstrous appearance of some of them, Artoria would have no problem calling them as such had she met them in her past life.

"Huddle together and don't move. No.13 protects the students." Aizawa shouts at the students and directs his coworker, with panic evident in his voice.

"What is that? Is this like the training pattern that we faced at the entrance exam?" Kirishima asks, still not understanding the gravity of the situation.

"Don't move. Those guys are not part of the training, they are true villains." Snapping out the students who were still failing to comprehend the situation, Aizawa faces the small army gathering below.

As the last villain exits the purple portal, it shrinks, taking the form of a man covered in dark purple mist. "Eraser Head and No.13… according to the teacher schedule we procured yesterday, all Might was supposed to be here, and yet…"

'Dammit.'

"So they are the ones behind yesterday's incident." Aizawa mutters.

"Where is he…" A man with dirty blue hair, with many white-gloved hands holding onto several parts of his body, especially his head and neck area, says while walking in front of the entire villain group.

'This guy… he is the problem.'

As her eyes locks onto the man's appearance, Artoria instantly recognises the origin of her extreme unease.

'This man… he might be… my most dangerous foe yet.'

"I wonder… if we kill every single one of his students… will he show up… ALL MIGHT."

*Scene break*

"Oh, now you come to school, huh?" Power Loader says sarcastically.

"I couldn't miss the school call for help, especially after it was attacked." The redhead boy replies cheaply.

"Really? So, could you heed my call for help and come back to have your classes, Mr. Hero?" Once again, sarcasm is laced in the tech hero's voice.

"Hahaha…" Opting not to make promises, Shirou only laughs awkwardly.

Looking into the boy's eyes for a few seconds, Power Loader sighs. "Well… I'm sure the other teachers already had a piece with you, saying anything more would just be us repeating ourselves… but Shirou… well you know it already, so let's get to business."

Stopping mid-lecture Power Loader just resigns he knows that the boy already heard from god and the world about how his heroic tendencies are running the normal life that a high school boy should have and recognizing that he decides to not say anything more, more so they are not even that close to be having those kinds of conversations Shirou is just one of the many students that never even touched the supporters facility room.

'I just feel like a failure of a teacher for doing so.'

Shirou just shrugs off and approaches his teacher, commanding a few robots bringing the U.A main gate to a massive crafting table.

Examining it just by eye, the gate seems completely fine, which proves that whoever did this didn't go with the brute force route. To begin with, not many people could do that in the world, designed by Power Loader and being one and a half meters of a metal alloy especially designed by him, not even Shirou could destroy the gate even if he were to apply the maximum possible amount of reinforcement to his body.

"So what do we have here?" Shirou asks without using what he was brought here to use, yet sometimes asking what you are looking for before searching gets you a long way.

"The gate was rooted out of its position by some not completely known means." Directing Shirou with his hand, Power Loader points at two specific parts of the gate, which were dusty and oddly missing parts. "To be honest, the gate itself only serves as a form of intimidation tactic, The U.A walls aren't even that high to begin with; a lot of people can just jump or climb it with no problems."

"And that's why someone blowing the door out of its hinges is a serious problem." It is more like a threat than an actual offense.

"Correct, but that doesn't change the fact that whoever did this is a dangerous individual. In this country, there are no known individuals who are capable of destroying the door in this way." Bringing Shirou to look closer at the damaged parts of the gate, Power Loader says. "Whoever did this disconnected the metal gate from its root. Due to the nature of the gate, it stays hidden inside the wall or the ground the majority of the time, This guy recognized that and just destroyed the borders of the visible gate and then toppled down allowing everyone's passage."

Shirou nods at Power Loader's words and places his hands on the dusted part of the gate and immediately frowns.

'Nothing?'

"What is it?" Power Loader asks, sensing Shirou's confusion.

Using structural analysis once more, Shirou tries to decipher any useful information, but no matter how much he tries, he gets nothing as if whatever destroyed the gate reduced the damaged part to nothing.

'But structural analysis doesn't care about that. The whole object is still here. I would still be able to see its story.'

Shirou says with a frown. "I got nothing. Whatever quirk did this is also blocking me from getting any useful information."

"Tsk." Power Loader clicks his tongue in annoyance.

While looking intensely at the gate, trying to figure out how he failed, something clicks in his mind.

'Maybe…'

With the thought set in mind, Shirou brings his hands to the gate once more, but this time, he looks for something else instead of how it was damaged.

Smiling slightly at the confirmation of his hypothesis, Shirou says. "Sometimes, a change in perspective is all that you need."

"Were you able to find something?" Power Loader asks excitedly

"Tenko Shimura, that is the name." Shirou says with a smirk while enjoying the reaction of his teacher. "It is not that uncommon, really. Some people just have some kind of ritual before doing something of importance; others do disdainful ones like in this case. Before destroying the gate, Shimura lightly tapped it a few times in scorn."

"Are you sure that is the name?" Power Loader asks while typing the name on his phone.

"There have been only seven people in the last ten years that touched the gate, only one yesterday, but I admit that could also have been a journalist. It is better to have a name, nonetheless." Shirou says with a shrug.

"Okay then. Send the name to the principal, maybe we ca-"

"ATTENTION=ATTENTION"

"SECURITY LEVEL 5 HAS BEEN BREACHED!"

"STUDENTS, PLEASE EVACUATE PROMPTLY"

Both Power Loader and Shirou's eyes widen at the sudden announcement. In all U.A.'s history, there has never been a security breach of level 5.

"Level 5? What is happening?" Power Loader speaks, frightened.

'A security breach of that level… that means that a significant portion of the student body is in danger or that the U.A defense system has been bypassed.'

After a few repetitions, a new announcement is made directly by the school's principal.

"Attention all school staff of group H, dispatch to exit C."

Within a second, Shirou sprints out of the room, leaving Power Loader behind. Not even a minute later, he reaches exit C just in time to meet with the Recovery Girl being carried by a U.A medical carry robot. By their side, lying on the ground, a blue-haired student wearing glasses frantically gasps for air.

"Shirou? Good, go to classroom 2-D and pick up Midnight. After that, go to the U.S.J building, you don't need to wait for us." Recovery Girl says while attending to the student on the ground who almost fainted.

"Wait, what is happening? Are they attacking the U.S.J? I can go the-"

"BOOOOOMM"

Interrupting his words, a loud sonic boom just passes by them as cracks appear on the ground seemingly out of nowhere. Barely recomposing himself, Shirou turns to look in the direction of the running blur, almost unable to catch the man's figure before he disappears on a tree line, knocking several of them down as he moves through them.

"Don't worry, kid, just hurry up with Midnight."

With a last glance in the direction the man disappeared, Shirou makes a relieved expression before darting back to the school.

'If that man is going, then everything should be fine.'

*Scene break*

"Teacher, what happened to the U.A sensors?" Momo hurriedly asks No.13

"We have them, but… they somehow got through it." No.13 says unsure.

"At a time when we are isolated from the main school sector… they must have a solid objective and carefully planned an ambush here." Aizawa says before turning to No.13. "No.13, do the evacuation procedure and try to contact the school. These villains have a way of going through the sensors, they must have someone with a quirk for that. Kaminari, you try to interfere with that or contact the school on your own."

"Are you going to fight them alone?" Seeing Aizawa ready to jump down, Midoriya asks worriedly. "There are too many of them. Even if you were to erase all their quirk, you would still have to fight them on your ow-"

"Midoriya a hero always has more than one trick up their sleeves." Saying so, Aizawa jumps down while saying. "No.13 I'm countin-"

But before he can get far, he is pushed back up by his scarf, roughly landing back to the start of a flight of stairs.

With an angry expression, he immediately turns around and shouts at the culprit, abandoning any kind of formality or respect. "What do you think you are doing?"

In complete inexpressiveness, Artoria calmly walks to the man, shouting.

"Slap"

Slapping Aizawa's face in front of all the students, Artoria says. "Have you calmed down, you moron? Have you already forgotten that they have a teleporter? Are you going down there and fighting alone against people who were ready to fight All Might? And then what? Leave us here to be picked one by one by the purple mist guy."

Without waiting for a response, Artoria passes the man as a bluish glow and whirlwinds circle her figure. In a practiced motion, Artoria brings her sword up to the left side of her head with both hands, and following her movements massive amount of wind garther around her sword.

"SLASH"

"Crumble"

With a single downward slash, Artoria unleashes an enormous amount of cutting wind at the only staircase leading to them, sending pieces of raw concrete flying everywhere, especially at the villains in front of her.

In panic and trying not to get crushed to death, the villains scatter in all directions.

With the obliteration of the terrain in front of her, smoke rises, obstructing the view of the villains.

'We lost eye contact. They might try to send the mist guy…'

"Aizawa, if the purple mist starts to appear, erase it, better yet, if you can make an encirclement to capture him here. If he gets to us and you are not ready, we die." With a commanding voice, Artoria orders her teacher around before turning to Todoroki.

"Todoroki, they might have ranged quirks. At the border of the platform, create ice walls curved inwards at the top, giving spacings of one meter between each one. Their width should be two meters, four meters tall, do it as thick as you can, do what is best possible with the previous dimensions in mind."

Unknowing if the reason why her orders sound so compelling to him is due to the absolute display of strength that she just showed or not, Todoroki nods his head and gets to work while their smokescreen is still up.

"After that, walk five meters back and make several more ice structures with the same configurations as the previous one. Just reduce the height to one and a half meters, and we will use them as barricades." Giving her last order to Todoroki, Artoria turns to look at the rest of the students, especially Momo.

"Nobody here knows how to fight in large groups or against them. As much as you feel like you need to, don't use your quirks unless you absolutely need it or if it only affects you, like Kirishima hardening. Any kind of quirk that may disturb the flow of the battlefield or affect others is prohibited and unnecessary." Looking at Momo, Artoria says. "Momo, make pikes for everyone to use. If they somehow get to us and pass the first ice walls, then we will use the pikes under the cover of the secondary ice barriers. Maintain focus, and everyone with ranged attacks or quirk should go to the first defenses to help keep any villain getting close to us away."

"Weapons? To the students?" In a startled tone of voice, No.13 says.

Retorting Artoria says. "Those villains' intentions are pretty clear, don't you think? Kill every single one of us. I'm not asking them to kill, just giving them better tools to not die."

Just as Artoria finishes her last set of instructions to the students, a purple mist starts to appear right in the middle of the students, propelling many of them to jump out of the way.

"What?"

"Wait, that guy is here."

"Aizawa-sensei"

But just as the purple portal begins to form, it disappears. Turning to look at Aizawa, Artoria nods in confirmation before saying to No.13, remembering her quirk. "Professor 13, they've probably locked the exit gate somehow. See if you can break it apart."

Turning her attention to Iida, Artoria says. "Iida, you are our fastest. Once we have a clear path out, you will have to rush back to the U.A to inform them and get help, okay?"

"Umm? Yes…" Despite feeling conflicted, Iida replies.

Seeing the dust settling down and the sound of approaching enemies, Artoria walks to their defense frontline to check the situation below. "I'm sorry for my previous action."

Despite having Artoria stop by his side and apologize, Aizawa didn't take his eyes off the villains mobilizing below. "You were right, that's all. But we will still have a conversation after this."

Recognizing the intent of Artoria's previous action and the inappropriateness of the moment, Aizawa chooses not to bring the topic up. "But you also know they've come prepared to fight All Might… if whatever they have come to us, the students will easily get picked."

Nodding, Artoria says. "I know that, but there is strength in numbers, and it is better to be in a more easily defensible position. If things escalate, we will have a more easily sustainable and direct chain of command to the rest of the students here, besides the closest exit is right behind us. And the heroic sacrifice type doesn't suit you."

Looking at the villains miserably falling to reach them at the top, Artoria then says. "We have the best possible defensive position in this situation. If the students don't break formation and slowly retreat, we might make it without casualties."

Slightly stunned by Artoria's choice of words, Aizawa turns to look at her with an expression indicating many questions.

Turning her attention away from the main villain force, Artoria looks at the other sectors of the U.S.J and notices several more dozens of enemies congregating to the main villain force.

"Tsk, it seems like they were here for quite a while." Aizawa also noticing the increasing number of villains coming to them from all over the dome.

'This mist guy… does he even have a limitation to where he could create portals? Or was he able to come to the U.S.J from yesterday's breach? And how long have they been planning this?'

"It seems there is a spy or multiple. It is impossible to organize this magnitude of ambush with just a day's worth of time. Yesterday's breach was probably a distraction to get that mist guy in the U.S.J without anyone noticing." Aizawa muses.

"Yeah… most likely." Artoria says while glancing at the students.

'The students are the most likely group to possess a spy. The teachers are probably picked by hand by the principal or the faculty, and the school staff mostly comprises robots. The students are the only group unverified and large enough to go past the U.A. 's screening system, otherwise, the school itself is in cahoots with the villains… but that doesn't matter for now, nor is it something that I should worry about now or in the future. '

"CLINK"

"CLINK"

"PANG"

Several unidentified projectiles interrupt Artoria by banging on the first ice wall created by Todoroki. Taking a closer look, she notices that most of them didn't even take a piece of the ice wall, only being rebounded by it.

"Horns, bones, hardened hair… It seems they can afford to invade the U.A but can't make a trip out of the country to rob some guns." Artoria comments sarcastcly.

"That's the quirk mentality. Most villains nowadays think their quirks are good enough for the job. That kind of thinking may be successful here in Japan or maybe even in the UK, countries that have strict gun control. Such thinking would only lead to their deaths in countries like America." Aizawa says plainly, repelling another attempt to get in by the mist guy.

"Are your eyes getting sore?" Artoria asks, noticing the man's eyes slowly drying, even with the low usage of his quirk.

"As long as it keeps like this, I can go for another hour, long enough for the school to come to our rescue, but… I doubt they will give us enough time." Aizawa replies while pointing in the distance.

Not even needing him to point, Artoria already had her eyes on the hulking figure leaving the main group of villains. With a completely monstrous appearance, reaching over three meters tall, the man distancing himself from his group has dark blue skin bordering on black with several cut-like scars deep enough to nearly decapitate someone of normal stature, a yellow bird's beak replaces his mouth, and his most grotesque characteristic is his exposed brain directly connected to his eyes in some twisted version of the human anatomy.

"The guy with creepy hands all over seems to be the one in command." Aizawa comments, seeing the white-haired leader speak to the hulking monster.

"Yeah… that guy worri-"

Having distanced himself enough from his leader, the blue hulk jumps into the air with such strength that the nearby villains are ragdolled into the air by him.

Uncaring for the damage he caused to his allies, the monstrous man ascends to the air, reaching his peak almost at the top of the dome before descending unnaturally fast, directly at the group of students.

"Dammit, No.13." In desperation, Aizawa shouts at No.13 to no avail, as by the time No.13 would react to the threat, they would already be gone.

With only a moment to think, Artoria says with a frown. "Make sure no villains get to the students."

"Wait, what are yo-"

"BOOM"

Not having time to talk about it, Artoria jumps into the air to meet the blue monster.

'I will have to stop him before he gets to the kids.'

As the two near each other in mid-air, Artoria turns her sword, bringing the flat side of her blade up to the front, intending to swat him away from the students' path.

'There should be no problems as long as I send him to the landslide sector of the dome. After that, I'll have to worry about their leader getting to the kids.'

With a swing of her sword, Artoria bats away at the blue monster rib, but…

"Wh-cough" As if hitting a wall, Artoria's attack completely stopped, not affecting the man. Contrary to her, the man, using all his weight, crashes right onto her chest, taking all the air out of her lungs.

Having the air knocked out of her lungs from the surprisingly powerful attack, Artoria almost blacked out for a moment. In a split second decision, Artoria, using all her remaining strength, grabs onto the man's arm as a wind current formed around them.

"BOOM"

"CRACK"

Somehow, being able to redirect the monstrous man. They crash by the side of the entrance platform, taking a huge chunk of it before falling on the small wooded area by the side of the platform.

"Cough, Cough." Coughing out the blow she just took, Artoria turns to look at the hulking man already up from their fall.

'It felt like I just hit a wall, that guy's body didn't even flinch from my attack. Although I didn't go all out, the fact that I did zero damage is worrysome.'

While Artoria spent the past seconds reliving the past clash, the blue villain gets up and turns around, preparing to jump after the students once more.

"No, you won't." Dashing towards the blue man, Artoria grabs a hold of his leg right after he jumps, surprising her.

'So effortless?'

Taking advantage of the moment, Artoria swings the man around, tossing him to the ground a few meters away from her. "I won't let you get to them."

Getting up once more, the blue monster finally turns to look at Artoria with unfocused eyes.

"You… you aren't even conscious, are you?" Asking the man, Artoria receives no response other than a continuous stare.

As if understanding that to accomplish his goal, he would have to pass through Artoria, the man turns his attention to the girl speaking to him, ready to pounce at any moment.

"A massive, insane man coming to kill me in the woods… where had I seen this before?" Forgoing the creeping sense of deja vu, Artoria prepares for the oncoming beast. Cracking the ground and sending dirt into the air, the blue villain sprints at full speed towards her.

Meeting his advance, Artoria also rushes directly to him as if to collide with him again, but at the last second, instead of fighting against his brute strength with her own, Artoria dodges low, avoiding the villain's wide left punch.

'Now let's test that invulnerability.'

Using a small portion of her energy, Artoria cuts high, aiming for the blue monster's armpit. The sword finds its mark on the villain's skin, but…

"Barely any effect, huh…" Not distraught by the failure of her attack, Artoria continues her momentum forward avoiding a backhand attack coming her way.

"You aren't natural, are you? Looking at your degenerated appearance, I wouldn't put my money on you being a normal-born human. Perhaps your leader's lab rat?" Artoria says condescendingly but gets no response from the man other than a punch to the face.

Swiftly dodging the attack, Artoria concludes her thoughts on the man.

'No, he is not insane, just programmed. He might have been someone, but whatever was done to him erased that person. He was taught to recognize speech since their leader communicated with him with words, but he has no response from me. A powerful tool but…'

"You are an incompetent fighter." Easily dodging a flurry of attacks from the man, Artoria comments casually. Despite the colossal weight of every single one of his attacks, easily uprooting trees and creating massive craters with just the wind pressure alone, none of that mattered as not a single attack could capture her.

'By taking away his free will and ability of critical thought, his fighting style only amounts to a kid randomly throwing punches.'

"No matter how long we fight, I feel no sense of threat from you… and since our first bout, you've found yourself unable to display that same level of strength." To demonstrate her point, Artoria stretches her hand, catching the incoming punch with ease. Taking a step back, Artoria tries unsuccessfully to twist the villain's wrist, much to her disappointment.

"I see." Avoiding a second punch, Artoria keeps her grip firmly on the other man's hand. "Despite the fact, I can't hurt or force you to do anything, you still can't overpower me."

"Quirks sure are hard to account for." Figuring out the blue beast quirk, Artoria tightens her grip and launches the villain to where they were supposed to be from the beginning. Throwing him a straight line, Artoria uses the blue villain to carve a way through the forest straight into the landslide section of the U.S.J, creating a hole in the wall containing the landslide, crashing an entire section of the U.S.J on top of the villain.

Landing right beside the rubble, Artoria confidently dodges a punch coming from below the ground. "No wonder it felt like hitting a wall. Your quirk gives you some energy-reducing or absorption effect, doesn't it? It was rather easy to figure out. The moment I was unable to twist your arm, it gave me all the information I needed. Damage nullification does not give you the ability to resist torsion, but… I doubt you are even listening to me now."

'If he is not immune to damage unlike someone else and just has a high resistance to impacts or just immunity to it… then I can fight my way around it.'

"Now, let's see how far that quirk of yours can actually go." Uncaring of the uneven terrain of the landslide zone, Artoria dashes at the villain, knowing of the lack of intelligence of her opponent. Artoria once again dukes under the villain's open swing of his arm, but instead of cutting up at his armpit, Artoria aims at his calf, directly at the tendon.

"SLASH"

With a burst of strength, the ground explodes under the pressure of Artoria's power. With a single diagonal cut of her sword, Artoria servers the villain Achilles' tendon, sending him crashing to the ground.

Flickering the blood on her blade, Artoria murmurs. "There was way less resistance there… but this guy's skin is still tough."

"GRUMBLE"

"CRACK CRACK"

"What is this?" Hearing the sound of something heavy crushing through itself and the cracking of bones, Artoria looked at the villain rising from the ground as his cut tendon reattaches itself through a newly formed wall of muscles.

"Regeneration, too?" With a surprised face, Artoria comments, before dodging an attempt to grab from the villain.

'Force absorption, super strength, and regeneration. Is that the total number of quirks he has? Well, either way, that confirms that this guy isn't normal. The maximum number of quirks someone can be born with is two. Of the millions of children born every year, that rule has yet to be broken… but now I see why they were confident in fighting All MIght even if it is unfounded… after al'

"That guy is supposed to be stronger than me." With a sudden burst of speed, Artoria rams her shoulder right at the villain's gut to no direct effect.

"But now I see where all that energy went." Seeing the insane villain's muscles ripple as the energy of her shoulder bash travels through his body, Artoria smiles as she dodges a significantly faster and more powerful blow than any before it.

'His body stores the energy of any attack inflicted on him on his muscles and then releases it through his attacks, that was the reason why I was able to cut his calf much easier than his armpit… seeing as not only the form of energy delivery is different to what he was projected to take but also I directly cuted an area with very little muscle. Knowing that it might be possible to overwhelm his muscles' abilities to hold energy.'

Rising her sword into a stance, Artoria unknowingly smiles with confidence. "But I'm not All Might, am I?"

The blue villain charges at her once more, and in response, a simple sidestep, allowing the man to pass, followed by an overhead swing of her sword cutting down at the villain's back. But despite its simplicity, an overwhelming amount of cutting force hits the blue beast's back, leaving a deep red cut.

"You might be able to take a good beating from fists… but that's not the way I fight." Artoria flickers the blood on her sword once more as the wound on the villain instantly regenerates once more.

'That regeneration of yours is problematic, though.'

With an almost bored expression, Artoria watches as the villain approaches her with the same pattern as before, and with the same response as before she casually dodges the punch aimed at her head followed by a cut at the villain's exposed back, but instead of stopping there, Artoria follows through, dodging a backhand attack from the villain and cutting his exposed chest.

"SLASH"

Blood gushes from the new wound, seeding red everywhere. Nimbly dodging the red streaks of blood falling in her direction, Artoria repositioned her sword, adding a second cut to the villain's chest and leaving him with an X mark before disengaging with a leap, retreating several meters back.

'No apparent drawback to his regeneration… it might be better just to ignore him and deal with the other villains…'

"But I doubt this monster would be able to differentiate a foe from an ally. fighting near them would most definitely kill most of them… hero society is tough, isn't it?" Artoria murmured, almost regretting the fact that in today's society, law enforcement can't just kill criminals under a higher authority.

'I don't see any signals that the students are still in the dome. If Aizawa did everything correctly, they would already be far away… It might be better to retreat for now.''

As she gets ready to leave sudden chill sufocates her body and mind completely freezing her body until whatever caused it is solved, indeed a sensation long forgotten, after living almost two decades in peace, a jolt of power courses through her body, adrenaline shoots through the roof, her eyes widen and every muscle on her body tenses as her sword cracks under her grip.

With only an instant to process what is happening, Artoria gives in to her first impulse, an unprecedented amount of energy courses through her as a bluish glow envelopes her body and sword, twisting her upper-body Artoria swings her sword at the presence threatening her from behind, without even looking at what it is, Artoria's sword tears through the air creating a deafening sound as if a hurricane follows its path.

Finding its target, the sword cuts through without stopping or mercy.

"Huh…" On a second instant though, Artoria face pales as she recognizes what she has just done, watching as the villain's leader flies through the air, his arms gone, his body torn and twisted as it continually spun inside the a rampant whirlwind, carrying him dozens of meters into the air before dissipating, letting the man hopelessly fall to the ground.

Artoria's eyes lock into the fallen villain's eyes, they tremble in incomprehension and pain. What has been done sets into Artoria, just as the man's eyes lose focus. By his side, the same purple mist, previously dispersed by the winds of Artoria's attack, congregates once more.

"Wha-"

"NOMU." While scrambling to get his leader's body into the darkness of his quirk, the mist villain screams.

Overwhelmed by the scene in front of her, Artoria fails to react in time as the now-named blue villain comes from behind. After receiving a punch straight to her head from the Nomu's massive fist, Artoria is sent flying away, all the way from the landslide zone to the center of the dome, crashing through the same water fountain from where the villains first appeared.

"Arrg." With a clouded mind, Artoria struggles to get up from the rubble created by her crashing. She tries to look around, but the dizziness in her mind prevents her from properly understanding her surroundings. The spinning world around her is only made worse when a streak of red covers half of her vision.

Somehow, using her almost broken sword as support, Artoria stood up with wavering steps.

"Huhhhh…" Exhaling heavily, the grip on the sword tightens, her steps become clear, and her eyes focus. A low grunt of anger follows. "How pathetic."

'I've grown weaker.'

A single moment was all that she needed to recover from the surprise attack, but that feat of fast recovery wasn't enough to make her feel better about her situation.

Cleaning the blood falling on her eye, Artoria lifted her head and pushed her messy hair to the side. "I've grown used to peace, it seems."

"BOOOOOM"

Landing a few meters away from Artoria, Nomu sprints not a second later, aiming to finish the job given to him.

With a slightly expressionless face, Artoria murmured. "It seems I need to reconstruct my conviction."

*Scene break*

"Wha-what happened?" Aizawa turns to look at the number one hero, choosing not to comment on his stuttering. Replying in a low and slightly scared voice. "A villain and Artoria fought."

"I see." Looking down at the situation below, All Might struggles to see how a fight between only two people could end like this.

Jumping down from the demolished staircase, All Might approaches the epicenter of what could only be described as hell with hesitant steps. Craters and huge fissures scattered all around painted the new scenery of the U.S.J undeniably, a battle of extraordinary proportions happened just here. Still, just that is not enough to make him the hero greatest hesitate.

Even for him, someone with a near-bottomless amount of experience in heroism, the scene in front of him is unsettling.

Red, if there was a word to describe what was in front of him, was red. Almost everywhere red. Blood paints the ground, blood almost everywhere your eyes land, followed by a gruesome assortment of dismembered limbs and decapitated heads.

Walking carefully to not step on something that he recognizes as someone's lung, All Might muses slightly creeped out and finally understanding Aizawa's words. "They seem to be all from the same person."

Keeping that piece of information in his mind, All MIght reaches the heart of the carnage and silently observes the bloodied figure standing in front of him.

Standing in front of a disfigured corpse of the nomu covered from head to toe in blood, Artoria turns to look at All Might, solemnly looking at her.

Bridging the small gap in between them, All Might reaches with his hand towards Artoria's shoulder and asks, not caring about his now bloodied hand. "Are you okay?"

Despite being disgusted and slightly scared by what he sees in front of him, All Might still chooses to try to talk to his student. "I'm fine."

Turning to look at the fallen body, All MIght notice the resemblance in stature and proportions to all the limbs lying around them. Instantly realizing the crux of the matter.

Slowly, All Might conjures the words he wishes to speak. "Don't worry, young Artoria. The school will be on your side… no, I will be on your side no matter what."

Without a change of expression, Artoria said while pointing at the nomu. "Your help is appreciated but unnecessary. It is not dead."

"It? It isn't?" Asked, surprised. All Might turns to look at the disfigured person on the ground.

"As you can see, this guy has some kind of regeneration quirk, I just cut him down enough to exhaust it. And if you are wondering, he possesses no consciousness, so you don't have to worry about him feeling any pain, or that's what I think; he may be able to feel it, though. He just doesn't have any means to express it within him. He may be only called a human in genetics if even that survived."

"He…" Not knowing what to say, the blond hero just looks at the unmoving monster on the ground.

"He is probably some kind of lab experiment. I counted at least three different kinds of quirks, one was some kind of impact absorption. No matter how much strength I put into my attacks, I couldn't make him even flinch. His second quirk is regeneration, all wounds I inflicted on him regenerate immediately. The third was a body-strengthening quirk. While he wasn't as physically capable as me, he was quite powerful, had I not been here and he was to rampage around the students… well I guess you know what could have happened." Artoria explains with a flat tone of voice.

After a long pause, All MIght says."I-It's… well… for now, let's get out of the U.S.J. You probably want to get yourself cleaned." Turning his uncomfortable eyes away from the fallen villain, All Might looks at the distant zones of the U.S.J. "Aizawa-sensei said there were many more villains scattered around here. For now, I will go take care of them. Can you go up, on your own?"

"I'm not hurt, so yes." Without looking back, Artoria walked away from the carnage she created toward the dome's exit.

"Take care, young Artoria. Once I'm finished here, I will accompany you through the following procedures." Looking at the lonely back of the bloodied girl, a deep, unsettled look surfaces.

"What a great teacher I am." As anger and self-loathing settle in his heart, All Might can only help clean up what is left of the villains for now.

Reaching the exit to the U.S.J, Artoria stops in front of Aizawa and several U.A robots by his side, holding an assortment of supplies.

"Artoria… clean yourself first. You don't look very presentable right now." Hesitantly, Aizawa stops Artoria from leaving the building while looking at her bloodied self with complicated feelings.

'Truly worlds apart. Back in my past life, people seeing me covered in blood and gore would start to chant and sing my name. A hero they would call me… not a single time I exited the battlefield clean nor would my knights… but now… they look at me like I'm a monster, well… maybe I am. I don't know many people willing to go to such lengths for anything, even back then.'

"Okay." Agreeing with the teacher and not wanting to get out in such a condition herself, Artoria waited as the robots set up a small medical camp around her.

Picking one towel provided by the robots, Aizawa brings it to Artoria as he says. "I'll be waiting outside to take you to the nearest changing room once you get the excess blood off yourself. There you can get a bath and a new change of clothes." With a slightly worried expression, the man adds. "After that, we will need to talk with the police… thanks to you, no one got hurt but…"

Seeing Aizawa's glance at the scene below, Artoria says. "It's okay, I understand."

Allowing the teacher to relax, Artoria accepts the towel and starts the progress to clean her bloodied hair.

"I will be waiting for you outside when you are done and…" Clearly hesitant to say his next words, Aizawa stumbles on his words for a few seconds before sighing. Putting a hand on the less bloodied part of her shoulder, Aizawa says with his utmost sincerity. "And thank you for everything… I won't pretend to think I know what you are feeling right now. This sort of thing wasn't supposed to be your responsibility… I just hope that knowing that you saved everyone's skin today can help you somehow."

Looking at the hand on her shoulder, Artoria let a small sigh escape from her lips before coming up with a forced smile. "Thank you, Aizawa-sensei."

"And one more thing. The school will make sure you get out of this intact and without attracting much attention." With his last words said, Aizawa leaves the U.S.J, leaving Artoria in the care of the robots.

Nodding at Aizawa's words, Artoria lifts her towel and starts to get the excess blood from her face and hair. Lifting her blood-covered hair, with the help of a nearby robot with a mirror, Artoria examines her face, looking for the place she was punched beforehand, and her immediately eyes lock onto a small cut above her eye inflicted to her when the nomu punched her in the face.

"This will heal in about an hour or less." Artoria said after seeing the wound healing at a visible speed.

"Sigh…"

'Things will get complicated now. I may get away with doing that to the nomu, but that other guy, the leader of the villains, is either dead or crippled for life. If I don't tell the police and they discover that I killed him, I might be charged with homicide and omission, but if I do tell them, I pretty much confess to accidentally killing him. It would be self-defense, though. Either way, it is going to be annoying to deal with on my own, especially in a foreign country, but I also don't have anyone else to help me with that either, well, other than the school.'

"I just hope the school does actually offer some help…" Having finished cleaning her face, Artoria mutters to herself. "I will need to talk to Ector too… wait, if I go to the police station, would they ask about my parentage? That would be even more annoying. Hopefully not, technically, by western standards, I'm an adult already."

"Umm… miss, do you need som-"

Almost ready to reassure whoever that was, Artoria froze for a second. After all, the sound of that voice was… familiar to her, so much so that her heart entered a beating frenzy just from hearing it.

With an almost broken mechanical turn of her head, Artoria excitedly brings her eyes to look at the source of the voice.

A boy, looking to be around the same age as her with bright golden eyes and an incredible unmistakable red hair. His eyes lock with hers with an unreadable stare that stretches for unending seconds..

Returning hesitantly, Artoria saw her reflection, with blood still on her face and hair holding a bloodied towel. Artoria stays completely still, her body showing no emotion whatsoever, but her eyes...

Only her eyes seem to react, showing a myriad of emotions from shock, uncertainty, hope, sadness, confusion, longing, and many more. She tries to open her mouth to say something, but the words get caught in her throat. Fear sets in her eyes as all the other emotions intensify, unable to even articulate a thought. All she can do is wait for the initiative of the man in front of her, her heart beating violently with the mere thought of his words not corresponding with her expectations.

"S-Saber…"

*Chapter end*

Finally, it happened. Will people get off my back now that I gave them what they wanted? Probably not, but here we are.

This chapter marks the end of this initial part of the story, focusing on the introduction of characters and the environment they are in. Yes, I know it took a while, but I do think that was necessary. I might not be the best writer, but I try to write the characters the closest possible to what they are in their original stories, and that takes time to set up.

I genuinely don't think Artoria would ever participate in most things related to the hero society. That's why I had to get a few anchors to bind her to it, in this case, the League of Villains. In the next chapter, I will discuss more about the next steps for Artoria, along with a bit of Shirou and Artoria moments.