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A New Existence Chapter 13
🕑 Added 2023-10-11 13:24:00 +0000 UTCAt last, we are at the end of the battle, not the story mind you-just this part of it. I notice a pick-up in readers when the bodies started dropping, but I feel like I have to remind you that this story will have slower moments as it'll get repetitive if I keep throwing Midoriya and company into action set-pieces. I don't have much else to say other than it's hot as hell where I am and that I would love it if you all check out my other 3 stories(technically 2 but 1 has two routes to it). Again, please leave your thoughts in a review and let's get into things.
Chapter 13: Hollow Victory
If Shigaraki had to compare the scene that was happening before him to his last attack in Hosu, he wouldn’t be lying if he said that the latest was the best of the two. From his spot up top, he gazed down into the carnage that was ripping through the place, watched with glee as the villains that he had spent so much time vetting before this operation could even begin were tearing these little hero wannabes a new one.
Even after he picked up the fact that the gas was gone, meaning Mustard was gone, and that Moonfish had also been defeated, he didn't mind as they had gone their jobs while they could, and he now had a field of hero bodies to celebrate on. Made even better since Twice, Mr. Compress, Magne, Muscular and Dabi were all still in play. He might hate that last one, pyromaniac with so sense of respect, but he couldn't deny the results as he and his clones were setting anything and everyone, they could find ablaze, to the point he could pick up hints of burning pork on the smoke that rose from the field.
“I wonder, what will All Might think when he learns of this, that he couldn’t save his precious students yet again.” His smile grew even more as he pictured the face of the number one, he was sure it'd be worse than what he had seen during the U.S.J when they had been forced to flee. Then the smiling moron could take some joy in that they didn't manage to kill anyone, but with this? He hoped it'd make him stop smiling and realize he wasn't there, that nothing would be alright.
“Oh man, I wish I could see that face, I’ll record it and make it my screensaver.” He laughed, as his second-in-command moved a bit closer to him.
“Tomura Shigaraki, we’re on the timer.” Sometimes he wondered what was Kurogiri’s deal. The man barely ever displayed any emotion, he would have thought he would be as excited by their recent successes as he was, yet he was always so calm and collected. Then again, he was a bartender by day, so maybe he had that good a poker face…or poke eyes, whatever you called his face.
“Yeah, yeah, I hear yer.” He replied as he reached for the earpiece he had and connected it to the villains in the field. “Listen up, if you’re not at the evac points in 5 minutes, you’re on your own.” He ended the message, having done what he wished.
Still, with their time fast approaching, he couldn’t help but wonder that perhaps they could have done more as the destruction of the place was mainly the heroes who blew the place to hell for their exams. “We should have brought more people; we could have left this place a pile of rubble and bodies.”
"It couldn't be helped, the selection process took longer than expected, and we only took the best of them." Kurogiri reminded him, as they both had watched over each round of elimination, though there was one girl that showed up and displayed a great degree of skill and bloodlust. Shame she wasn’t what they were looking for as she tried to leave when she learned that weren't aligned with the Hero Killer, her skills were so great that she managed to escape them but he doubted she last long with her injuries, it wasn't like she could go to a hospital either as from what Giran told them, she had an extensive rap sheet and would be arrested on the spot if she tried.
Line Break
With the Nomu temporarily a non-issue at present, the 2ndyear girls rushed forward to help Midoriya up. “Are you alright?” Akemi, a fairly tall girl with brown hair asked as Midoriya got to her feet.
“I’ll live,” She hissed, feeling her side as she turned to her rescuers and recognised them. “You’re from Seiai?”
Intelli took it from there. "We are. We were in the building when the attack happened and have been busy handling things inside ever since." They hoped that the other students were the same, but how confused the situation was, she could only speculate on them and hope for the best.
"Outside isn't much better. It's only thanks to my meta-ability that I managed to fend off that Nomu, which will be coming back." Midoriya replied. She had done a number on the nomu, especially when she realized it didn’t have a healing factor, but that didn’t mean it didn’t give as much as she could.
Seeing that Midoriya was favouring one side, Akemi removed her hand from the area and she saw that her side was cut up badly. “You’re hurt.”
“Just patch me up.” Midoriya didn’t even flinch as the girl inspected it, rather looking through the group for someone who could seal it up before she lost too much blood. “Any of you have a fire quirk?”
The girls looked among themselves for a moment, before the second tallest of them stepped up, a girl with messy dark blue hair and a welding mask and gloves.
“I do, but it’s a blowtorch sort of deal.” Uchiyama demonstrated this to Midoriya by lighting up her fingers, though she hoped that she wouldn't ask her to use it as she might not be capable of manipulating her fire like Burnin or creating massive gales of flame like Endeavour, her flames were precise and incredibly hot.
Alas, she was speaking with someone who spent months held captive by Overhaul, making her concept of what was ‘needless’ pain extremely poor. “Just give me something to bite on.” She picked up a piece of wall, it wasn’t the best thing, but it would do.
“But-” She gave the girl an assuring smile.
“Trust me,” She moved closer to her, resting against the opposite so that she'd have clear access. “I’m used to the pain.” Her statement didn't inspire much confidence in them as they didn't know her full story but knew enough to understand she had suffered greatly.
Uchiyama looked like she wished to refuse, but Intelli shook her head, signing, she agreed. “…Okay.” Kneeling close to her, she took a breath and hoped that she didn’t throw up at what she was about to do as Midoriya put the debris in her mouth and bit down on it.
The next 15 seconds felt like hours for the girl as she activated her quirk and set to work sealing the wound shut, the rest looked away from the quick and brutal job while Midoriya only hissed through the debris, her bite causing the piece of brick to crack but other then that, she remained silent, not so much as a scream.
With that done, she spat out the brick and got up, a hiss to her as she felt the burnt skin stretch but it'll do. They didn't get much time to rest as the area started shaking, a clear sign something was coming. Midoriya didn't need to see it to know it was the Nomu as it burst in through another part of the wall, closer to them. the remains of its trunk posed to fire on them. Midoriya spared Uchiyama a warning, merely grabbing the girl and throwing her aside as she knelt close to the ground right as the blast of water hit it.
It wasn’t as strong as it had been before, partly thanks to Midoriya ripping its trunk off some time ago, but it still felt like someone was throwing sandbags filled to the brim at her, but she remained in her spot. With its attention still on Midoriya, the Nomu didn’t have a chance to react to another hammer strike, this time to the side of the head which knocked its aim off. Yuki didn't stay close to it long, jumping back and was replaced by a maroon-haired girl, Ishizuka, whose claws were fully extended. She clawed the beast across its chest before following this up with a palm strike, with a metal bar shooting out of the centre of her palm at the moment of impact, sending the Nomu backways.
Not deterred by this, the Nomu rushed them again, screaming in a voice that was a horrid mix of man, an elephant and a squirrel, grabbing Ishizuka and slamming her into the ground, robbing her of breath. Before it could add to this and potentially kill her, Horibe and Gorgon had already moved to help as the former turned her arms into tentacles to grab the Nomu and free Ishizuka from its grasp, which Gorgon used as an opening to grab the girl and pull her back to relative safety.
The third follow-up was Midoriya jumping at the Nomu with her arm cocked back, slamming her fist right into its injured face, doing even more damage as she broke whatever bones were still attached to its trunk, it strained in the hold of Horibe's tentacles, but neither girl gave it any quarter as the Seiai tightened her hold while the U.A. student pummelled into it, using her lessons under Rappa to their fullest as she landed quick, powerful blows to every weak point that could normally be found on the human body, its liver, its chest, its neck-even a few hooks to the face thrown in.
All came in in rapid succession before she jumped back from the dazed beast, giving a chance for Motoi to run up, her body completely covered in spike and for a lack of better terms, did a Sonic speed dash on the beast, leaving 9 separate spikes of varying sizes in its body as she lands behind it. those spikes becoming the targets for Yuki to hammer ever deeper into its inhuman body. None of them were happy with this, as while it wasn’t reacting with moans, screams or pleas for mercy, none had ever trained for or wished to do such harm, but were resolved to do so because it was just a mindless monster.
That mindlessness made it extremely resistant to their assault as despite taking enough damage to kill most people, it merely screamed and tore itself free of the tentacles binding it, knocking Yuki aside and dashing for its mission: Midoriya.
Used to its single-minded drive to capture her, no doubt its masters had realized she was there and were eager to get their hands on her, she ducked underneath its lunge and socked it right in the face, sending it tumbling into the wall. Still, despite the injuries, despite the pain it must have been feeling, despite the fact she just broke its jaw-it still got up.
While the rest had been stumped if not a little intimidated by this feat of unending persistence, Midoriya was used to feeling like this, she had felt this ever since all those around her got quirks, she didn’t and they decided she wasn’t worth being treated as a person. Because of that, she was able to see a silver lining in this mad drive for her. If it wasn’t going to even acknowledge the others unless they actively tried to stop it, why not use that against it?
"Monocle girl!" Midoriya yelled at the girl, guessing she was the leader of them, once she had her attention, she ran up to her. "I have an idea." Intelli didn't know what she was cooking up, but that look in her eye wasn't something she could just ignore. But with the Nomu rising, they'll need time.
"Distract the beast, ladies." Once more, they looked at her in confusion for a moment but followed her orders nevertheless.
"Yes, mam." They moved as one, attacking the beast using several plans and combos that had come up with during their close to 2 years together as hero students. As they did so, Midoriya quickly gave the older girl a run-down of her plan, with Intelli remaining silent till the end when Midoriya finished.
Even without her tea boast, which had faded, she was still incredibly intelligent, so she thought about it for a moment before speaking. "It's possible, but incredibly risky." There was a thud and scream as they turned to see Gorgon, now with less hair as the Nomu had torn the air she had been using to try and restrain it. It was a miracle it didn't pull out the roots.
"I don't think we have much choice on that," Midoriya noted as the group were visibly struggling to keep the monster at bay, despite its growing list of injuries.
"…You're right. Ladies pull back, we're leaving!" Intelli stood to her full height.
“What, but mam-!” She didn’t let them question it, it sounded odd, it sounded cowardly, but they needed to do this if they wanted to put this beast down for good.
"No buts, we have our role in this, but that'll need prep time." She spared Midoriya a look before nodding as she led the group away, down the corridor they had come from. Midoriya took a breath and steadied herself. She wasn't in the best shape and had recently had someone close a wound on her side via a blow torch but she was also incredibly pissed. That the situation, at the death, at this beast, and at the implication that if the League realized she was there, there was a chance they were after her child as well and come hell or high water.
Anyone that threatened her blessing would have their liver ripped out and fed to them.
“That’s right, you monster…you want me, don’t you?” She asked, alone, she didn’t even bother trying to hide her bloodlust as the beast roared at her, which she met with a wicked smile full of white teeth.
“Then come get me!” She charged it, she needed to buy the others time, but that didn't mean she had to play nice she dodged its swing for her and punched it in the jaw again, doing more damage as it went from being broken to now barely handing on as it now couldn't even speak. But she didn't give it even a moment to process this as she clocked it in the nose, her fist coming away bloody.
Line Break
A few minutes later, Intelli hid as she and the rest of the girls waited for the Nomu to arrive. Having picked a small meeting hall as the site for their trap. “Is everything prepared?”
“To a tee, how long do you wait?” Her pink-haired assistant, Nagato replied but before she could speak, she and the rest of them felt a distance rumbling.
“Not long.” She replied right as the double doors leading into the room burst open, one of them flying off its hinges as Nomu’s body crashed into the room, sliding to a stop close to the middle, leaving a trail of blood in its wake as Midoriya walked in, looking far worse for wear as she leaned against the broken door frame. Intelli didn’t wait.
"Now!" Before the Nomu, which looked even worse than before, could even get up, Motoi came in from the top in another Sonic Speed dash, she might have been small but gravity and momentum were her friend as she crashed into the Nomu, spinning as much as she could to bury as many spikes into its body as she could, tearing flesh and bone in equal measure before she left off. With dozens of spikes sticking out of it, the beast found a few amount of its muscles torn or otherwise compromised but it still tried to get up and might have if that was their only attack.
Jumping on top of the beast, each girl held a piece of rebar of varying lengths they scavenged from the damaged walls and ceiling. Every single one of them was held them like daggers, swords or even spears if the length permitted it, it didn't matter-what did matter was the fact each of their points was glowing hot with heat as Uchiyama had heated them close to their melting points.
With no hesitation, they impaled the beast as if it were a Roman dictator, 9 heated pieces of steel stabbed into the beast's body, muscle, bones, and organs, all were targeted and most were hit. When they pulled back, the Nomu was less of a threat, and more a grotesque mess of flesh and bone, its body beaten, broken and bent in all manners of ways. It wasn't a pretty sight, and they were the reason it was like this.
While they took a moment to process this, as monster or not, this was brutal, Midoriya had no such need. She had seen this before, caused this before, and felt at nothing and at worse, a sick joy ala what she did to Chrono and Overhaul. Because of that, she just picked up a piece of heated rebar, walked up to the suffering Nomu that despite the odds, was still trying to get up, and drove it through its skull, brain and out the back. Its body spasmed for a moment, and its unfocused eyes gained just a little bit of humanity, but then they fell back and its body stilled.
Midoriya had witnessed its first emotion of the fight, the first true feelings from the beast she had just played a role in murdering, and to her shock, it didn’t look at her with shock, fear or even rage.
It was…relief.
Filing that away for when she could contact Curious and find out more about what Nomu were, she turned to the girls, the adrenaline rush still keeping her on her feet after her tiring and painful fight with the thing to even get it there.
“Thanks for that, I don’t know what I would have done without your help.” She thanked them as the situation moved on.
"We're heroes, it wouldn't be right if we didn't assist," Intelli replied, smiling as she offered a hand to the younger girl to help her up.
“I like to think you did so because you’re good people,” Midoriya took it, surprising the girl with how strong her grip was as she got up. “Midoriya Izuku.” She just realized that she didn’t know any of their names, well it was time to correct that.
“Intelli Saiko.” The 2nd year introduced herself, feeling some relief in her as she might have lost against Yaoyorozu, but she still managed to lead her friends out one hell, defeating a Nomu in the process.
“Uchiyama Inca” The girl who had cauterised her wound stepped up, flipping the welding mask up so that they could speak face to face.
“Motoi Rose” The little Spike girl was next before the rest did the same in introduced themselves. As they did, they left the hall behind, none wishing to remain in the same space as the monster's corpse longer than they needed to. Getting back to the place where they had met up, they looked out at the field and saw that it was still a mess, though if Intelli wasn’t seeing things, she could see that the students and heroes seemed to be gaining ground in some spots.
“What now?” Parks, with her mask for the cold hanging from her neck, asked her. Looking around, she saw that they were looking at her for guidance, even Midoriya.
Turning back to the scene, she analysed when she saw and tried to create a plan of attack around that, one that had room for error and improvising as if nothing else, Yaoyorozu showed her she couldn’t account for everything. “There are still villains to worry about, we’re not done yet.” She might have been scared, she might have wanted to cry at all the destruction and death she could see, but even from here-but, she wouldn't. Not till all her friends made it through this hell so that they could cry together, have a slumber party and watch British YouTubers tear apart shitty teen rom-coms.
With that thought, that goal in mind for after this, she couldn’t help but smile like a smug little bitch. “You heard her, ladies. No rest for the wicked it seems.”
“Your orders?” Midoriya of all people asked. She might have far more experience in battling in these kinds of situations, but she wasn’t foolish enough to compare fighting to the death and brutally maiming your foes to hero work.
"Here's the idea."
Line Break
“Yao-momo!” Yaoyorozu looked up from the person she had been treating, to see two of her classmates approaching, along with a small group of their own. To her relief, both were still alive, but their resident brainwasher did walk with his right arm held to his chest. Leaving Jiro to be the one to be waving at her, looking just as dirty, exhausted and relieved as she did.
Handing over her first aide duties to someone else, she got up and ran up to them, wrapping them both in a hug that could have been stronger if she wasn't aware of Shinso's broken arm. “Jiro, Shinso! Are you two alright?” Looking them over closely, she couldn’t see anything too serious.
Jiro waved it off with a smile, even if she had been at half-strength thanks to one of her amps getting destroyed in the first part of the exam. “We’re live, by some miracle.” The rest of their group, about 34 strong with 7 of them being students like themselves, joined up with them in the clearing that they had taken as their rest point.
Finding a place to sit, Shinso let out a tried grunt as he finally sat his ass down, lowering his persona cords so he could breathe better, he’ll have to get the support guys back at U.A. to modify that part of it. upon taking his seat, someone from Yaoyorozu’s group walked up to him, with some bandages that the raven-haired recommendation’s student had made. “Let me.”
“Thanks,” He nodded as he let his arm swing back to his side, cursing under his breath at the jolt that he sent up. Looking around, he saw that the place was as dreary as the warehouse district they had left behind. Only now he could make out more bodies, they had been moved, but they were visible even if they had gone out of their way to cover them up.
Just like Hosu, things had gone to shit and he wasn’t good enough to stop it.
Shaking his head to clear such thoughts, his gaze turned to his classmate, who was lying on the ground, his hero costume's top part gone and his side and left arm above the elbow were wrapped up in thick bandages. “What the hell happened here? We saw the gas clearing up but had to fight just to get here.”
“We fought against the villain that was the cause of it, he’s restrained.” Yaoyorozu gestured towards the rear, where they had what looked to be some kid tied up, he would feel a bit of pity for him, but if the asshole was a part of this, then he deserves everything coming to him. especially if they hadn’t been wrong when they heard gunshots.
“Clearly.” He sarcastically replied but pointed at the downed Aoyama with his good hand. “But then, what happened with Aoyama?”
“The fiend had a revolver; I took a bullet in my effort to defeat him.” Both he and Jiro looked at him with wide eyes as Yaoyorozu turned to glare at the blonde, walking over to scold him yet again.
“Which was incredibly idiotic, he could have just as easily shot you in the chest or head!” Aoyama laughed a little at that, before wincing when his side started to hurt.
“It wasn’t the best plan, I admit.” Aoyama might feel like shit at the moment, but he’ll do it again in a heartbeat. He couldn’t…couldn’t just let the villain get away with this, let him hurt others. Wasn’t that what being a hero meant? Saving people?
Line Break
“It’s nearly time, Tomura Shigaraki.” Kurogiri reminded his leader, with the villain pulling out a burner phone and seeing that his second was right, his fine time was over.
"I hear you, get ready for our departure. It sucks we gotta leave but we can't stay too long else the domain starts acting buggy." He replied as he turned his back on the field to walk off.
“As you-!” Whatever Kurogiri was going to say in response was dropped as the man rushed forward, his hand up and creating a portal.
“Die!” That portal saved his master from the attack from Bakugo, who had jetted up as fast as he could and nearly took them both out with that. Tomura had just turned back to face him when the winds around the two villains picked up, lifting them off their feet as they turned their gaze to see a furious Yoarashi.
"You're not getting away, that easily, League of Villains. You're going to pay for what you've done!" They had been smart, not being at the very top of the stadium where he had been searching, but he found them nonetheless.
"Didn't think they'd have the time to come after us." Shigaraki glared at the two hero wannabes, having to reach out and turn them both to dust, but this cyclone was keeping him back. Lucky for them, Kurogiri was a master of what he did as when Bakugo tried to hit them with a blast in their vulnerable state, the warp gate user was able to create one in front of Bakugo, directing his blast to strike him in the back much like he had done to Thirteen a few months before.
Cursing from the force of his attack, Bakugo remained on his feet. He had gone through hell training his quirk, and he'll be damned if he was taken out by it. besides, he had already had a good warm-up just to get here, till that Magne chick had run off and vanished. “I’m going to pack you back, asshole for all the crap you’re pulled.” He growled at them, thinking of a way he could handle that warp gate user, he was one of the most dangerous League members, if they could capture him, it'll seriously screw with the hand bastard's plans.
“You think you can take me on?” Shigaraki asked, wondering if this kid was insane, a moron or some combination of the two. He struggled against the back alley grunts he picked for the U.S.J., what made him think he could take on the End-game boss? Turning his head to Kurogiri, he nodded as they didn't have time for this.
Seeing that, the warp gate user created a portal close to his master and another next to the wind user that was trapping them. Before the boy could react, Shigaraki was already reaching his hand through it.
‘Crap!’ The boy didn't know what his quirk was, but he wasn't about to let him touch him as he pulled back as far as he could, with the villain's fingers grazing his school's cap that sat on his head, that brief contact being enough to start the decaying process was the fabric grew old and worn on his hard as if it had aged 1000 years in an instant.
“Keep your eye on them!” Bakugo's shout brought him out on that shock, but it had been enough as his control over his body still wasn't at its normal levels, so with him paying more attention to preventing his death, his control over the tornado kept the villains trapped weakened.
“Get back here!” Bakugo wasn't about to let them escape and fired on them with AP shots, but the two dodged his attacks, with the warp gate user merely opening a portal to keep him at bay. Bakugo knew he was pinned, as he couldn’t get close enough to strike in close quarters thanks to those damn portals. Pausing his attack, he saw that Yoarashi was back in action, but now the villains held onto the floor, keeping them rooting till Kurogiri opened a portal above them, before letting the rising air throw them into it, quickly closing it.
And like that, they made another escape.
It wasn’t just them, as around the UJS, the remaining villains still able to flee did do, rushing towards portals that appeared seemingly at random. Of those that retreated would include Dabi, Mr. Compress, Twice, Magne and Muscular along with over 100 villains. 40 of them had been fleeing when they had been buried under a glacier, courtesy of Todoroki, who dragged himself out into the field despite the fact his muscles still felt like slime. However, not a single person thought about the outcome as a victory as students and heroes alike could see nothing but the bodies, the blood, and the death that had occurred while they were unable to stop it.
This would be the situation that Mera would call in once the jamming would vanish, learning that help had already been sent 10 minutes prior due to concerns that they seemingly went dark for no reason.
Line Break
“Move the wounded to the tents!”
“Bodies that can be identified are to be go tent 2-4! Those that can’t go to tents 6-10!”
“Hurry up with the round-up, the transport will be here soon!”
“I need some help over here!”
“What did I say, keep the damn press back!”
Not even 12 minutes after the villains retreated, the place was swarming with police, firefighters medical staff and additional heroes who helped with the wounded, tended to the bodies of the fallen, put out the many fires still raging or dragged out villains that had been defeated or left behind. Moonfish was kept wrapped up as they found him, kept under guard by 4 heavily armed cops who seemed a hair's breadth away from just shooting him. Mustard was escorted out with nothing but the rope that Yaoyorozu had made to restrain him, the boy getting nothing but ugly looks from whatever student saw him as he was taken away.
The press had been on their heels, most likely betting that so much law enforcement heading to a location meant a juicy story and they were right, and now the stadium's parking and even the fields around it were filled with news teams, vans and reporters. It was only through direct threat from law enforcement that a couple of helicopters hadn't yet appeared but the students didn't think that would last long and frankly, just about all of them were in no mood to deal with them and their questions about this hell they had been forced to trek through.
Midoriya walked through the spot where all the injured had been gathered for the ambulances to collect and transport to local hospitals, but with how many bodies she was seeing, she knew they'd need at least a dozen to get this done anytime soon. She had been with them but insisted she was fine to walk and the EMTs had been too preoccupied dealing with those who couldn't raise any more of a fuss than a stink eye. With her with Eri, who had rushed her as soon as she saw her. Izuku was just happy she was unharmed, having found a place to hide with Seung and others. But now she was asking for something she wasn’t so sure about.
“But I have to, momma.” Eri tugged at her arm.
"You don't have to do anything, Blessing. It's not your job to tend to the wounded." She tried to dissuade her but if there was one thing that Eri had picked up from her since they walked out of Overhaul’s compound, it was a sense of compassion and desire to aid those in need.
“But,” Eri started, paused but gathered herself once more. “But I want to. Momma always says helping people is good, so why not now?”
"Look at you, using my own words against me," Midoriya muttered, but her response held no resentment, quite the opposite as she tried to remain stern with her. "Alright, Blessing. But only as much as you can manage, no more than that.” Eri, happy that she agreed, didn't argue this as Midoriya led her to where an EMT was treating someone who had taken a shard of metal to the gut.
She tapped his shoulder to get his attention. “Excuse me, might my daughter help you with this?”
“What? How the he-ck could a kid do?” The EMT changed his language mid-sentence when she smiled at him, her teeth being closer to a jaw's open jaws than anything else at that moment before he could say what he was originally going to.
“Just watch,” She placed Eri down but kept a hand on her shoulder, a reminder that she was with her. “Remember, it’s your gift. You control it, Eri. It doesn’t control you.”
Eri, despite wanting to do this, was still nervous. But she resolved to do her best, and recalling all the lessons she had gone through on how to control her gift, she placed a hand on the wounded H.U.C. person. Her horn, which was a bit larger than normal, began to glow as she kept the damn in check, only letting out a little through the gate she had built into it.
This bright light drew eyes from others, and to their amazement, they watched as the man's wound slowly healed, and reversed out of existence. It wasn't even 20 seconds before the man's groans fell silent as he looked at his own body in shock. When Eri finished, he felt his stomach and side, and no matter what he did, he felt fine. “Holy-I…I’m fine again.” Turning to the little girl who had done this, he could only give a silent thanks as Izuku quickly scoped up her daughter and carried her to another person.
“Let’s move on, little one.” Hearing this, EMTs and injured people started calling out to them for assistance, for help which made Eri extremely nervous as she had never been great with so many eyes on her, but Iuzku's presence kept her calm and grounded as they found their next patient, a hero student whose arm was badly crushed, debris it seemed. After that it was a hero teacher close to death from a severe head wound, then another student.
This went on 9 more times, till Eri was sweaty, her horn nearly gone. Izuku knew that their next person would be their last, and when she approached the two, she was surprised to see that beside Gang Orca, whose arms and wounds had been seen by a professional, were the girls from Seiai, all sitting around one of their number.
“Motoi, what is goodness happened?” Midoriya asked her, her eyes shooting to her right leg, or what was left of it as below the shin, it was gone. Crudely wrapped in her coat while the EMTs worked to remove that and replace it with actual gauze.
Motoi turned to her, her face sweaty and pained but she still smiled. “A villain with a bladed tail was attacking, it jumped to save someone else but my leg wasn’t so lucky.” They had split up as Intelli advised, and each moved to a place where they would offer the most help. And it worked out well enough, she had made sure to consider their skills and if not for that last-minute fluke, she would be fine as she was trying to tell the rest of the girls.
Gang Orca didn’t even wait for her to turn to him, but his eyes still bore into her. “Help her. I’ll wait.” Izuku felt her respect for the man rise even higher than it had been previously.
"Okay, Mr. Whale." However, she couldn't quite hide her chuckle as Eri referred to him in such a childish way, with the man looking confused by that but keeping whatever issues he had with it to himself as Eri used the last of her strength to restore Motoi's leg.
"That's enough, Blessing." Izuku picked Eri into her arms, the little girl trying to struggle but being exhausted, she couldn't put up much of a fight.
“But momma, I can still help.” She smiled as her daughter’s eyes struggled to remain open.
"You've done more than enough, Eri. But you have limits." She reminded her, a glance around daring anyone to try and refute that point, but none were dumb enough.
“She’s right, little one.” Eri turned her head to Mr. Whale, who looked a lot more huggable name, she wondered if she could get a stuffed version of him. "You've done a lot of good here, take pride in that."
“Certainly, saved us some work, wouldn’t mind having her join us in the field when she’s of age!” The EMT joked as Midoriya bid the girls farewell and went to the side, taking a seat by the wall as she took a breather and let the tension bleed out from his body. Her shoulders drooped as Eri fell asleep in her arms. Soon enough she was joined by Intelli and Shishikura, the Shiketsu student having just handed over all the Nomu he had captured to the police while Intelli rushes a cold cup of water instead of tea.
“How bad was it?” Shishikura opened up the conversation, the boy just as drained as the two of them.
“My teacher, she…” Intelli’s hands shook as she tried to drink her water, most of it just falling onto her lap. “She didn’t make it. I was there for her, till she passed.”
Midoriya reached a hand for her, placing it on her lap. “I’m sorry.”
Intelli appreciated the gesture, even if it didn’t help her with this crushing pain in her chest. “She went out protecting people, she was smiling because of it…I suppose she took comfort in that.” Her teacher was many things, but she was caring, she was kind. The kind of person she wished to be one day, now she’ll never be able to tell her that she made it.
Shishikura took a breath, removing his school’s cap. “9 of my classmates were injured, but thankfully-nothing a week or two in the hospital won’t fix.” He was grateful for that, so much so that he bowed low to Kirishima when he saw him as he played a role in ensuring that he wouldn't be attending any funerals for his classmates.
“8 from my class, Hagakure was the worst.” Midoriya finished the group as Intelli turned her eye to her.
“The invisible girl?” She nodded, having seen the girl being taken off. The EMTs struggled to handle her till another arrived who could see infrared.
“She was burned pretty bad by one of the villains, being invisible is making it a challenge for them to treat her.” She knew that Recovery Girl worked for U.A. hopefully, she’ll be making the rounds with all those injured.
“Just 6 injuries from my class, excluding Motoi of course.” Those hurt had been those who had split from them during the first part of the exam and had managed to make it to the second part. She hadn't been close with them, but she liked to think there was no tension between them either. After that, the trio fell into silence as they watched as more bodies were recovered and laid out, tapes, capes, clothing-anything that could be used to cover up their faces and bodies if the chosen material could.
A ways away, Todoroki, now more mobile, approached Yoarashi who sat by himself, his back to the recovery operation. Hearing him approach, the taller boy turned to him, but offered no spite or dismissal, not wishing to repeat his earlier failings, and just lacking the drive to even attempt it if he did. “I’m sorry, I do recall meeting you at the recommendation’s exam, but I don’t recall much, because...” The dual quirk user took a breath, leaning against the wall to collect himself.
“Because I wasn’t really seeing you, I just saw my goal, by obsession with my father that other stuff just faded into the background.” Thinking back on it, his hatred for the man was just proof that he controlled him. sure, he never used his fire, but he was slowly shaping himself into him. A man fueled by nothing but hate who didn’t care for others.
"No, it was my fault for taking it so personally, we barely knew each other back then, and still don't know much," Yoarashi replied, just wanting this day to end but alas, he knew this was no nightmare.
"If you don't mind me asking, why do you hate my father so much?" Todoroki asked him, curious as he'd never met someone who actively bad-mouthed his father, at least to his face.
“You really want to hear it?” When Todoroki nodded, Yoarashi signed before he started to explain it to him.
Line Break
And with that, we've come to the end of the Provisional License Assault arc, with the League walking away with their 3rd victory against hero society, a third time they managed to slip through the fingers of the pros and cops, the third time they used to add more cracks to this era of peace as sure, the first time they 'fled' from All Might, but the fact he didn't stop them then and there was a mark on his record. And now, they've managed to attack and escape by targeting spots All Might wasn't present for-making others look bad.
Now, if you have any thoughts about this, please leave comments about it, I love reading them and seeing all the theories and takes on my work.
