章節 793: 18
11:26 AM, Wednesday(First Reset)
Three.
"If we aren't careful as Pro Heroes, our abilities can easily harm or even kill other people."
Two.
"That said, you students will have plenty of time to learn that control over your next three years at this prestigious school!"
One.
"That journey starts today, with-"
Right on time, the portal materialized before Izuku's waiting eyes. The purple darkness widened further and further until it was big enough for Shigaraki and the Nomu to step through, dozens and dozens of villains walking in behind them.
Thirteen cut herself off short. Aizawa's slouched frame suddenly turned tense and straight, his capture scarf uncurling from his neck. Present Mic's smile fell off his face. Cementoss bent low, his blocky hands within reach of the ground. All Might's powerful blue eyes narrowed.
And Shigaraki grinned, almost feral, severed hand back on his face.
" There you are, All Might! You're a hard fucking guy to find, you know that?!"
"Haha! I have heard that before, yes- mostly from news reporters!" All Might agreed. "But you fellows don't exactly look like the press. So why are you all here-"
"I'm here to kill you, All Might, " Shigaraki interrupted, gleefully honest. "I'm going to fucking rip you apart in front of all of your students, limb from limb, until there is nothing 'peaceful' or 'mighty' left of you. It's going to be awesome ."
The malice was practically tangible in his voice. Izuku couldn't help the shiver that ran down his spine.
"I see!" All Might grinned back, entirely unfazed. "Quite the bold declaration, villain! But can you back it up?"
"You fucking bet I can! Nomu!"
The monster left Shigaraki's side in a blur of black, faster than Izuku's eyes could track-
And then All Might was in front of him, holding the Nomu's massive black fists in place with his palms. His suit was suddenly torn in several places, likely from moving so fast so quickly, and the heroic grin on his face had faded into something more serious.
"...That was quite the reckless attack, there," All Might told his opponent. "Do you not know how to hold back? There are kids right behind me, you know."
The Nomu's beak clacked.
"Hold back? You want me to hold back?" Shigaraki repeated. "Now, why the fuck would I do that? I brought this super OP tank here to end your shitty life- but if I happen to take out some of those worthless NPCs too, well, that's perfect!"
"All of you heroes deserve to die."
All Might threw a mighty punch onto his opponent and it only shifted back a few meters, scarred skin effortlessly absorbing the blow. He landed another blow, then another, and then another, to almost no effect.
The Nomu's attacks were slower than the hero's but just as powerful. Every time the two combatants clashed the air shook and the concrete cracked under their feet, huge gusts of wind rushing out on either side of the collision. It was almost as if they were standing in front of a tornado.
Damn. If Izuku wasn't so terrified, he'd probably be fanboying like hell right now.
"Thirteen, take the students and get out of here," Aizawa's voice cut through his thoughts, firm and grounding. "Present Mic, go with them. Cementoss, All Might, and I'll take care of the villains here."
Thirteen nodded. "Alright."
"Kaminari, use your quirk to push a signal through to the school."
There was no response. Izuku glanced over to see the blonde staring at the approaching villains and frozen in fear, hands trembling at his sides.
"Kaminari!"
Kaminari startled back to reality, fiddling with the device strapped to his costume. "Wh-okay, Aizawa-sensei!"
Aizawa's eyes shone red as he turned back to the villains. Then the hero grimaced after a second, eyes dimming back to black.
"A mutant, huh?"
Fuck. Izuku had really been hoping that his teacher could erase that overpowered shock absorption quirk. Besides that, there was no way for them to help All Might except-
"Okay, let's go!" Thirteen shouted. "Through the gates, students! Hurry!"
-getting all of the students out of his way.
The class rushed to the large doors together, Ochako right at Izuku's side, with Present Mic leading them and Thirteen bringing up the rear. They were almost to the gate when Kurogiri warped in front of them once again, cutting their escape short.
"And where do you think you're going?" A deep voice that sounded almost amused, coming from somewhere deep inside that misty body.
Izuku swiftly stepped in front of the class, his gloved hands reaching out to stop Katsuki and Kirishima before they could move.
"Back to the school, of course," Izuku answered lightly. "Are you going to stop us?"
"I am," Kurogiri confirmed. "Eliminating you children is the secondary objective of this mission- a 'side quest' if you will. I cannot let any of you leave this facility alive."
The students behind him stiffened in a mix of shock and horror.
"Well that's awfully cruel, isn't it?" Present Mic said. "From what your hand-covered weirdo a boss said, you guys are just here to take out the big guy. What issue do you people have with a couple of kids?"
"Nothing," Kurogiri replied. "But orders are orders and quite frankly, your attempts at stalling are simply a waste of my time."
With that the villain lunged for them, cloudy darkness expanding forward in a mass of mist-
"YEAH!"
-only to be blasted back by a wave of pure sound. Kurogiri's wispy form shrank in with the force of it, his attack completely forced away.
"'Orders are orders', huh? Then I guess you won't have any problems with me kicking your ass!" Present Mic grinned fiercely.
"...A sound quirk?" Kurogiri mused. "How interestin-"
"ROCK ON!"
The second yell threw the villain back again, but this time he recovered from it even faster. The third passed harmlessly through Kurogiri's form without a trace, and the fourth was caught and directed back at Present Mic through a portal- nearly taking out the hero with his own attack.
Present Mic's quirk could affect Kurogiri and buy them time, but it couldn't do any damage since that darkness the villain used to warp people wasn't part of his actual body. To take down Kurogiri, Izuku needed to target his weak spot.
"Todoroki, I need you to freeze only the bottom part of the villain," Izuku said quietly. "Be precise."
Todoroki looked at him for a moment, expression unreadable. Then he threw his right hand forward.
The rush of ice was just as beautiful as it was the last loop, a chilling wave of frost that enveloped Kurogiri in just a second. The villain broke free instantly again, misty darkness bursting outward-
There. A metal brace hidden within the mist, shaped to fit a neck with interesting markings along its side. It was exposed for barely a fraction of a second, but that was more than enough time for Perfect Recall to save its location.
Izuku turned to the scowling boy next to him. "How good's your aim, Katsuki?"
"...Hah? What kind of fucking question is that-"
Izuku poked his shoulder.
There. A metal brace hidden within the mist, shaped to fit a neck with interesting markings along its side.
Izuku handed over one of his hyperdensity seals, and Katsuki's lips stretched into an unsettling grin.
The sharp bang drew Kurogiri's attention, but he was still too slow to react to the explosively propelled, stamp-shaped projectile that slammed into his neck with brutal force. The villain committed the cloud equivalent of a full-body flinch under the blow, glowing yellow eyes going wide.
Gotcha.
"He's not entirely intangible, Sensei!" Izuku called out. "There's something solid you can hit under all of that mist!"
Present Mic flashed a thumbs-up over his shoulder. "Thanks for the assist, little listeners!"
It was a testament to the severity of the situation that neither Present Mic nor Thirteen scolded them for actively attacking a villain.
Kurogiri's eyes landed on Izuku, noticeably warier now. "What a dangerous attack! It's impressive that you children figured out my weakness so soon- I suppose you are the cream of the crop, after all. Especially you there, Midoriya."
"So you're the brains behind this group, Midoriya?"
"It's going to be a shame to kill you-"
"How do you know my name?" Izuku cut him off sharply. "That isn't public information, and no one here has referred to me by name once in the past few minutes that we've been here."
"I'm afraid I cannot tell you that," Kurogiri responded.
They must have hacked into U.A.'s servers, somehow. Either using that same person they currently had jamming communications, or some other technopathy quirk, or maybe even just pure skill. If they bypassed U.A.'s security they would have all the information they needed- including when this field trip would take place, and what all of the students' names and quirks were.
It all made sense.
"They almost never give us straight answers, little listener!" Present Mic said. "Leave that part to the police. Our job, you see, is to save people and CAPTURE THE VILLAINS!"
Amplified to an incredible degree by his quirk and precisely aimed through the directional speaker, Present Mic's voice was an incredibly potent weapon. Faced with the said weapon pointed right at his weak spot, all Kurogiri could do was raise a mass of mist in front of him like a shield to protect himself.
Even then, the vibrations were still visibly affecting his wispy form.
"HOW LONG CAN YOU KEEP THAT UP, VILLAIN?"
It was working!
"Mic-sensei's so cool!" Kirishima marveled. "He's taking on that terrifying guy all by himself-"
"-and he's totally kickin' ass!" Ashido finished.
"He is certainly impressive," Thirteen agreed. "But stay alert, students. We need to evacuate as soon as Mic creates an opening for us."
"Are those strong enough?" Yaoyorozu asked Jirou. The purple-haired girl had new, durable-looking earmuffs over her ears, though there was still a wince on her face.
"Kinda?" Jirou mouthed back. "Thanks, Yaomomo. Holy shit, Mic's quirk is strong..."
Izuku glanced back at the fight to see Present Mic advancing on the villain, triumphant, as Kurogiri shrunk further and further under the onslaught of sound. The villain's eyes were getting lower and lower on his misty form, almost as if he was sinking-
Wait.
Izuku looked down just in time to see a massive portal opening right under their feet, purple darkness stealthily stretching underneath them entirely unnoticed. A split-second of realization before dawning horror set deep into his bones. immediately followed by a wave of dread and utter helplessness.
Fuck.
Izuku opened his mouth. "Ochak-"
11:31 AM, Wednesday(First Reset)
Izuku snapped back into focus at the sensation of freefall, of a plummeting feeling in his stomach and wind rushing by his face. He tucked in on instinct and hit the ground in a roll, mitigating the impact throughout his entire body.
He pushed himself to his feet and stood up.
Fire.
Every building around him was on fire, a bright orange-red coloring his entire field of vision. The heat pressed up against his face and wrapped around his skin. A bead of sweat ran down his forehead.
He hadn't been sent to the shipwreck- this was a completely different part of the USJ. Another carefully created rescue zone- none of the flames were actually spreading to anything else and were instead just burning in place.
But even if it was man-made, Izuku was still trapped in a world on fire.
"Aha, there's one! Finally!"
"That misty fucker actually pulled through, huh."
"Let's burn him up!"
A world on fire filled with villains.
They came from every side, casually stepping through the flaming landscape to surround him. Almost all of them seemed to have some type of heat resistance or fire quirk.
"How much did Shigaraki pay you guys to do this?" Izuku asked. Oddly enough, he didn't feel any fear right now. There was only a strange sort of numbness at the situation before him, at everyone and everything caught under his eyes.
A pause. Then a woman at the front chuckled.
"So you already know the boss's name, huh?" The villain mused. "Didn't think he was that popular. As for how much yen we're getting, well, it's plenty ."
It must've cost a lot to get so many villains in on such a risky plan. For all of his immaturity, Shigaraki seemed to be incredibly well-funded.
"Not that it's gonna matter much to you, kid!" A man jeered. He had a bear mutation that manifested in his face and arms, covering them both in brown fur and extending deadly claws from his hands. "You're about to be dead meat!"
What a useful quirk. Obviously enhanced strength, extra fire resistance, and sharp limbs that were absolutely perfect for removing debris. He would make an excellent rescue hero or firefighter, or be successful in many other types of physically demanding jobs.
But instead, he was using it to kill children for some yen.
Another villain in a ski mask laughed. This voice came from about a meter to the left, marking him as the closest enemy. "Ha! You tell 'em Kuma-"
Izuku twisted into a sprint, within range before the masked man could even react. He feinted at his face and startled arms shot up to block- leaving the villain completely open to the iron-soled boot that struck him between the legs.
Hard.
The villain crumpled to his knees with a scream. Without pause, Izuku laced his fingers together and brought them down on his head to knock him out.
A flash of light lit up at the edge of his vision and he ducked on instinct, a ball of fire flying right over him. He could feel the heat glide along his scalp.
The female villain whistled, a fireball now resting in each of her open palms. "Damn. Now that was ruthless, kid!"
A simple emitter quirk that produced flames from the user's hands. Her fire seemed to be above average in temperature among quirks of the type, though still far lower than Endeavor. It had taken less than a second for her to conjure up another projectile after that first attack. Yet again, countless usages in various jobs or hero work.
But instead, she was using it to kill children for some yen.
"No wonder that weirdo sent so many of us!"
Izuku rushed her.
Her right arm thrust forward in response, hand curling in like a newbie baseball pitcher. Izuku read the trajectory before the fireball even left her palm and twisted to avoid it without breaking stride.
It would take her too much time to create more fire on her right hand after that miss, so she was going to attack with her left next.
He threw his last seal. It zipped through the air before striking the back of her left hand at the perfect angle, knocking her flaming palm up, up, and into her own jaw.
The villain reeled away with a shout, in obvious pain but not visibly burnt in the slightest. So that was the limit of her heat resistance.
"What the fuck -"
Izuku's gauntlet slammed into the exact same place on her jaw and sent her flying backward against the concrete. She rolled to a stop a few meters away, unconscious.
Loud footsteps beat against the ground and Izuku whirled around just in time to see two massive paws aimed at his face. He crossed his arms to block on reflex, sharp claws screeching harshly off his metal-covered forearms.
The bear man- named Kuma by the ski mask guy- laughed harshly. "Did those two dumbasses really just get taken down by a kid? Let me guess, your gonna try and beat me down the same way, huh?"
Izuku kicked at the villain's ankle in response, earning a satisfying hiss. Then he threw all of his weight into a punch at the villain's solar plexus-
Kuma caught the blow effortlessly in a large paw, bear features twisting into something that resembled a grin. Fuck. "Ha, I barely even felt that one! You don't even have a strength mutation, do ya kid?"
The backhand struck Izuku across the face with the force of a train, knocking him clean off his feet and up into the air. The world spun for a dizzying second before he hit the ground in a painful tumble of limbs.
Izuku blinked away at the stars floating in his vision and pushed himself to his feet. The bodysuit helped absorb the impact on the rest of his body, but that one blow to the head had almost given him a concussion.
"Do you even have a physical quirk?" The villain wondered. "I didn't see you use any shit against those two either. Are we not good enough for your quirk, huh?"
We?
Someone suddenly grabbed him from behind, roughly holding his arms against his back. Izuku struggled on instinct, stomping hard on the new villain's foot, but their grip didn't budge an inch.
"Gotcha, kiddo!"
Another man stepped up next to Kuma, this one wearing an odd-looking dragon mask over the top half of his face. Two fangs were visible over his exposed mouth.
Kuma laughed at Izuku's obvious surprise. "What, did ya think the rest of us were gonna come at you one by one? You kicked that guy over there in the balls without even hesitating - we're not gonna line up for you like dominos. Though, I could kill you by myself if I wanted to, of course."
"A-Are you sure about that?" Izuku tried to taunt. "You seem to need a lot of help, actually."
"Pretty sure," Kuma replied, not pausing in advance toward Izuku.
Immobile as he was, a single slash from those claws would probably rip Izuku's face apart.
Izuku reached out blindly behind him, fingers grasping for contact. It took a desperate second of useless fumbling before he finally felt the warm skin of his captor's wrist-
Pain.
Izuku's vision went white for a moment. He felt like he was on fire as a sharp sting ran through his entire body. His mind stilted as it was forced to memorize the sensation before he toppled to the ground, completely numb.
-and then the iron-tight hold on him was suddenly gone, a chilling scream sounding right next to Izuku's ear.
Izuku grit his teeth in and threw his elbow back into the villain's stomach, creating distance. Then he whirled around to knock him out with a hastily thrown left hook, perfect form wavering the slightest bit as he regained his composure.
Electrocution fucking hurt.
Izuku glanced back to see the dragon-masked villain open his mouth wide. Flames spewed out in a scorching stream as Izuku leaped to the side, burning the ground where he just was.
An emitter that let the user breathe out flames. Decent range, with far more intense heat than the fireball woman. Speaking of heat, Izuku thought as he wiped a hand across his sweat-covered face, if he fought in an area covered in fire much longer he was probably going to collapse. He could already feel his stamina draining away faster than normal.
He needed to hurry up.
Izuku watched the villain's mouth open again, shoulders rising and chest expanding with the breath, and rolled out of the way of another blast. He picked up his fallen seal as he stood and launched it with all of his might. The stamp-shaped projectile struck the villain dead-center in the middle of his forehead and he fell like a sack of bricks.
Kuma lunged at him while he was distracted, extended claws just barely missing his eyes. Izuku ducked and weaved under the following swipes, carefully dodging the attacks he could and blocking the ones that he couldn't. His gauntlets held up against the villain's claws, but the force of each blow still shook his entire body.
And then the bear man finally made a mistake, paws curling in for a swing that was just a bit too wide. Izuku seized the opening to step in close and grab the villain's face in his gloved palm.
Real bears had big, thick fur coats and several layers of insulating fat, so electricity wasn't very effective on their bodies. But their faces were a different story- their supersensitive lips, nose, and tongue took a sudden shock as a very unpleasant occurrence.
Izuku's glove activated, electricity glowing a bright, beautiful blue as Kuma's eyes widened. He let out a deep sigh as the bear villain finally collapsed, his heart racing in his chest.
Slow, deliberate footsteps sounded behind him. Izuku whirled around, hands raised up for another opponent- only to see a familiar dual-haired boy blinking back at him.
"Todoroki?"
"Midoriya," Todoroki returned. His face appeared just as expressionless as usual, despite the fact that they were in an active villain attack. His eyes swept over the clearing, glancing at all of the unconscious villains strewn about, before looking back at Izuku.
"...I see you've dealt with things over here."
"I have," Izuku agreed. "What about you, Todoroki? Are you injured?"
Todoroki shook his head. "No. None of the opponents here provided me with any challenge."
"Of course they didn't," Izuku muttered, glad for it yet slightly bitter all the same.
11:37 AM, Wednesday(First Reset)
By the time they made it back to the plaza together, the battle there was over.
The entire plaza was a mess, formerly pristine concrete now filled with cracks and craters. Dozens of unconscious villains were laid out around these ruined areas, some of them trapped in various blocky-looking constructions.
In a place like this, Cementoss seemed to be practically unstoppable.
Aizawa had Shigaraki roughly pressed into the ground, eyes gleaming red behind his golden goggles. The hero's elbow was partially decayed again, but it didn't seem as serious.
Kurogiri was similarly held down near the plaza steps, Present Mic keeping a tight hold on the villain's metal brace as Thirteen and a couple of students watched on. The purple darkness had receded so much that Kurogiri's form seemed almost humanoid.
And at the center of it all All Might was beaming wide, his fist raised high into the air. The Nomu was gone, probably through that new hole in the glass ceiling.
The numbness in Izuku's chest finally fled, washed away completely by the pure, endless relief settling in its place. He almost fell to his knees with the force of it.
They'd won. They'd really, actually won.
12:01 AM, Wednesday(First Reset)
With the help of the Pro Heroes, the rest of the students made their way back to the plaza. Kaminari was finally able to contact the school, and Nezu was swiftly informed of how everything went down. Both Kurogiri and Shigaraki were taken away.
Recovery Girl arrived almost immediately to check everyone over. Most of the students were exhausted and bruised in places, but no one had any serious injuries except Yaoyorozu- who had her broken left arm held in a self-made sling. It turned out that she was the one that had been warped to the shipwreck in Izuku's stead.
She had found a way out without having to kill all of the villains there. She really was brilliant.
He was not.
His memory was a terribly cruel thing. As soon as the adrenaline faded, as soon as he knew that everybody was okay, the choice he made on that ship was free to come rushing back in perfect clarity.
He flicked on the circular device on his removed gauntlet, held it over the edge, and let go.
Even if he had erased it from the timeline, the fact didn't change that Izuku consciously drowned a bunch of living, breathing humans to survive. He had seen a whole sixteen villains in the water, and there had likely been more of them around the ship.
If those villains were no longer dead, did the fact that Izuku killed them even matter? They were effectively only dead in Izuku's mind and memories, after all. If he told someone everything and they believed him, they probably wouldn't consider the villains dead. But since Izuku himself had experienced the event, he felt like he had killed them.
Killed. He had killed people. Was he a murderer?
The law wouldn't say so. Three fifteen-year-olds up against over a dozen villains in an unexpected attack was clear self-defense. He had also passed that safety course before even being allowed access to the electricity function on his gauntlets.
And Izuku knew that heroes sometimes needed to use lethal force in desperate situations.
But the disturbing part was that in all of his emotions over this, there wasn't an ounce of regret. He absolutely hated the fact that he had caused deaths when his entire purpose and very drive was to save and was sad that was forced to make the decision to do so.
But flicking through the memory once, twice, thrice, and four times, Izuku still couldn't think of a single other choice he could have made. There was no other way to defeat all of those villains with the equipment, body, and skills that he had, even taking into account Ashido and Kirishima's abilities.
So Izuku felt absolutely no regret over killing the villains, because he would make the exact same choice again if he had to.
Did that make him a monster?
Izuku looked down at his gloved hands. It probably-
"Izuku-kun!"
The familiar voice snapped him out of his thoughts. He glanced over to see Ochako run up to him.
Her hair was messy and dusty and her bodysuit was scuffed and damaged in several places, just like before. But this time her eyes were adorably bright in her helmet, and there was a tired yet happy smile stretched across her face.
Izuku's heart caught in his chest.
Auburn-brown eyes scanned him back merrily. "You're okay, Izuku-kun! I was super worried about it all from what you told me, but it looks like everything went well!"
Izuku smiled back, already feeling lighter. "Yeah, it did. How was the Ruins Zone?"
"Pretty annoying," Ochako said. "But that was more 'cause of Blasty over there-"
"Fuck you too, Round-Face!"
"-than the actual villains," Ochako continued, ignoring the shout. "Where were you sent?"
"Some place made for fire rescue," Izuku answered. "It was a bit tough, but I managed."
Ochako smiled at that. "That's good."
They watched Recovery Girl fret over the other students for a while, kindly speeding up their healing and handing out cute bandages. The heroes weren't exempt, either- Aizawa and Thirteen were promptly dragged over for a checkup as well when they got too close to the older woman.
"Hey, Izuku-kun, can I borrow your notebook?"
Izuku blinked, pulling out his treasured notebook from its place in his costume and handing it over to her. "Sure, but why?"
Ochako grinned. "You'll see."
She rushed over to the heroes, so excited her boots were practically floating off the ground, and eventually came to a stop in front of Thirteen. Oh, of course- she wanted an autograph.
Ochako gushed to Thirteen for almost a minute, hands gesturing wildly as she spoke. The rescue hero looked more and more flustered the longer it continued.
Then Ochako skipped back to him, precious prize in hand, and proudly shoved the notebook in his face.
There were two autographs on the page.
Izuku's eyes went wide. He looked up at Ochako to see her beaming from ear to ear.
"I promised, didn't I?"
Izuku felt a warm laugh tumble from his lips. "Yeah, yeah I guess you did."
"Thanks, Ochako."
"Anytime, Izuku-kun."
Notes:
And that ends the USJ Arc!
I was expecting this to take more loops, but logically Izuku should only need a single try if he can successfully get more Heroes there- which he did. Shigaraki, Nomu, and Kurogiri are the only threats in the attack, with the remaining villains being literal fodder for fifteen-year-olds.
The Nomu issue is solved instantly with All Might being there(who is not super low on time now) and with Cementoss's probably ridiculous crowd control abilities(underrated as fuck hero, btw) Aizawa is free to focus on nullifying and beating up Shigaraki. Kurogiri is the biggest issue here, but if you think about it the poor guy is literally fighting a 1 v 22 before the warp. The result is probably the best USJ situation Izuku could get, though unfortunately, he's gotten some new trauma in the process.
I sure hope that nothing else bad happens and that they all get to have a nice, normal school year...
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票