Chapter 20 - The One Where Shit Hits the Fan

'Smoke? Where's that coming from?' Izuku wondered. 'Did Todoroki set a tree on fire or something?'

He expanded his search beyond the main buildings and the clearing around them. He saw the group of students he'd left behind with the earthen constructs, now dispersing with the constructs reduced to rubble. A bit farther and he located Todoroki, no sign of fire around him, nor of any emotions that might accompany accidentally setting the forest ablaze.

The chill down his spine intensified. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong.

'Fuck it. Stop screwing around, Izuku.'

He pulled on 'Quick Thinker,' slowing the world to a crawl around him as he poured all of his focus into 'All Sight.' He scanned through everything within range, starting around the camp and working his way outward.

The anticipation solidified into a lead weight in his gut. There. A man, covered head to toe in scar tissue and trailing flames behind him as he sprinted towards the camp. 'Appraisal' identified him as one Touya Todoroki, with a quirk named 'Blueflame.'

…Interesting, but less important than the fact that the man was trying to burn down the forest.

Behind Touya, Izuku saw another man entering into the range of 'All Sight.' Goto Imasuji. Quirk: Muscle Augmentation.

Fire surged in Izuku's chest, blood beginning to boilas he realized what, exactly, was happening.

Villains. Again.

Iona's presence on his shoulder was the only thing that kept him steady. Were it not for her, had she not been there, Touya would already be dead.

But she was, so Izuku forced the rage down, swallowed back the metal taste on his tongue. He could not afford to lose control now. Iona's safety was now at risk—the thought alone nearly consumed him. He had to look further into this situation than simply seeing insects to crush.

He pushed 'Quick Thinker' harder, forcing the world to slow a bit more. Think it through. Analyze before reacting.

The Who was obvious. There was virtually no chance that this wasn't the League of Villains. There was no doubt in Izuku's mind that All For One was behind this.

The Why was less clear. All Might wasn't present, so he couldn't be the target. Maybe 1A? Or perhaps all the students? Shigaraki certainly seemed to have it out for them when he tried to recruit Oni. Something about that theory didn't really sit right with him—why would All For One allow a pathetic child like Shigaraki dictate his movements? Perhaps this was a distraction? Were they trying to draw the attention of the heroes to free up a target elsewhere?

The thought that Iona might be the target had Izuku's jaw clenching so hard that several teeth cracked under the pressure, followed by another rush of anger and dread at the thought of how they might've learned that she was present at the camp in the first place.

Numbers were still unclear. There were at least four villains, with the first two joined by a man named Moonfish and another named Mustard—odd names for them to refer to themselves as but they'd be dead soon, so it didn't matter. But they could have any number of insects at their disposal, not including Noumu, or the cloning quirk they evidently had.

Already the insects were beginning to disperse, so some of them, at least, were targeting the students. That was fine; he'd kill them before any of the students even saw them.

First though, he needed to make sure everyone knew what was happening. Right now he was the only person who knew they were under attack. He'd already delayed too long.

With the world still slowed, he pulled out his phone, sending a message to Nezu.

11:49 [Deku]-

-'S.O.S.'

-'Camp under attack by the League of Villains. Numbers and objective(s) unclear.'

Then, to Rei:

11:49 [Izuku]-

-'S.O.S.'

-'Camp under attack by the League of Villains. Nezu informed.'

-'I will keep them safe.'

Tucking his phone back into 'Hotbar' and ignoring Pixie-Bob who was just beginning to turn towards him, Izuku mapped out the positions of the students and villains. The number of villains was now up to six with the arrival of Gonshiro Arima and Himiko Toga. Only the former's quirk warranted attention.

Touya had almost reached a group of students. Izuku would kill him before anyone even saw the villain, then move on from there. He'd have to find where they were coming from though. He needed to find Kurogiri and-

Iona was in the air, sailing towards Pixie-Bob—hopefully the hero had the reflexes to catch her—and Izuku was rushing outside, pulling on his enhancers as fast as he could. There was a new player on the field.

Shouta's nose wrinkled as the smell of smoke hit him. Great. Just what he needed: one of his students burning down the forest.

He was about to tell Mandalay to call the students back so they could deal with it—and so he could address the matter of Etsumi being allowed to sneak through them so easily—was just turning to her to speak, when he saw her eyes catch on something behind him.

The world seemed to move in slow motion. He saw her eyes go wide, felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and knew for sure that something was coming. He spun around, quirk activating on instinct, when a gust of wind forced him to blink, interrupting him before it could even take effect

When his brain finally caught up, he found a fist inches away from his face, caught by the wrist. He traced the fist back to a pale gray monstrosity, a Noumu, and the hand that caught it back to Etsumi.

Before Shouta could do anything, there was another gust of wind as suddenly the Noumu's other fist was caught by Etsumi. Then Etsumi yanked it in close and headbutted it so hard that Shouta felt it in his bones and the Noumu… melted? It just… collapsed into a puddle of brown sludge.

Looking up at Etsumi, hoping to find answers or even just have two seconds to catch up and wrap his mind around what was going on, Shouta found himself almost scrambling back at the look on Etsumi's face.

He'd seen Etsumi angry once before, back when he'd—stupidly—insinuated that his sister was abusive, and seeing the normally calm, collected, and generally laid back Etsumi like that had been enough to shake him. But this…

This didn't even compare.

Anger didn't do it justice. Hell, rage and fury didn't even do it. Shouta did not possess the words to describe the look on Etsumi's face, and was not nearly equipped to handle it. He found himself taking a few more steps backwards.

"I'm going to kill him." Etsumi practically growled. "I am going to end him in ways so gruesome that they haven't even been imagined yet."

"What-," Shouta started, pushing past the almost instinctual fear, "what's the situation?"

Etsumi gritted his teeth, eyes darting around like he was looking through the forest. Then he sucked in a breath and, in a voice so loud that Shouta had to slap his hands over his ears, shouted.

"VILLAINS HAVE ENTERED THE FOREST! ALL STUDENTS RETURN TO THE CAMP IMMEDIATELY!"

"Seven- no, eight villains." He continued. "They also have-"

Suddenly Etsumi was gone. A massive thudding impact had Shouta looking over to where Etsumi had another Noumu trapped in his grip. Etsumi's free hand blurred and the Noumu was gone, flying away faster than Shouta could process and leaving its arm behind, melting away like the other one had.

"Noumu and a cloning quirk." Etsumi said. "We need-"

He was interrupted again as two more Noumu appeared, one fist caught in each of his hands. He yanked one in to land another headbutt but this time the Noumu didn't melt. It recoiled, and its body seemed to ripple, then it lashed out with its free hand and Etsumi was knocked back a few feet, then it swung again, joined by the other one and Shouta had to duck as Etsumi was sent flying over him, crashing into the camp building.

Shouta resisted the urge to look back at Etsumi, knowing that if he took his eyes off the Noumu for even a second that it might be the last thing he ever did. He just stayed crouched, grabbing at his capture weapon. He could see the Pussycats in the corner of his eye getting ready to fight. He wasn't sure what they'd be able to do to a pair of Noumu that could toss Etsumi around, but doing nothing wasn't an option.

The two Noumu turned to look at him, but before anyone could move, lightning jolted down Shouta's spine, every danger signal he had going off at once. Etsumi's voice sounded out from behind him, reverberating in the air and making his vision pulse with darkness around the edges with each word.

"Where do you think you're looking?"

Unable to resist the temptation, Shouta looked back. The building was partially collapsed, leaving a huge dust cloud. He could just barely make out a silhouette and a pair of glowing green eyes.

The dust cleared with a massive rush of air, revealing Etsumi, the air about him more dangerous than ever. Rage rolled off of him, almost tangible in the air. Electricity arced all along his body, just like when Bakugou activated One For All. Just looking at him had Shouta tasting metal in the back of his throat.

Shouta blinked and Etsumi was gone. He whipped around to find Etsumi with an arm impaled through the chest of one Noumu and his free hand wrapped around the head of the other. The latter melted as Etsumi crushed its head like it was paper, then with that hand free, he plunged it into the other's chest and ripped it in half, showering himself in the brown sludge.

He let out a breath that seemed to shake the air around them, Shouta's knees going weak just from that simple action.

"Now…" he said, "where are you?"

Izuku was going to kill someone before the day was out, several someones if he could help it. Any of the pathetic little villains he got his hands on, certainly, and especially Shigaraki and Kurogiri if he could find them. They were a priority, and he'd go out of his way to rip them in half. But the one he really wanted was All For One.

Oh, when Izuku got his hands on him… New words would have to be created to describe the pain Izuku would put him through.

Sending a group of worthless insects with less than a handful of noteworthy quirks to threaten them was one thing, and even that was enough to warrant death because it put Iona and Ochako at risk. But to send these Noumu, with enough power packed into them to threaten even him—if just barely—was another matter altogether. That he couldn't even take any quirks from them because they were all clones was just icing on the cake.

Clearly, All For One was not fucking around.

He let out a breath, pulling on 'Quick Thinker' again to slow everything down. He scanned through the forest as fast as he could, keeping an eye out for the Noumu—he counted four- no, five currently headed straight for him—and, more importantly, looking for the portal, or portals, that were bringing them here.

That would be the key to all of this. If he could find a portal, and if he could get his hands on Kurogiri, then he could end this. He could cut them off, stem the flow of villains and Noumu, and send All For One a big "Fuck You" by denying him his main form of transportation.

But how to find it? The approach directions of the Noumu were scattered, and wherever the portals were being created, it was outside of 'All Sight's' effective range, especially out here in the forest where there were no ambient electrical fields to boost the range. He couldn't-

Oh. He could.

He would've smirked if the situation wasn't so serious. He'd learned this little trick during the trip to I-Island.

He yanked 'Tempest' into place, then there was a tugging sensation in his gut as the air around him answered to his will. Clouds formed from nothing, quickly thickening into a dark, malevolent mess. The air around him became charged with energy. It wouldn't be long before 'All Sight's' range started to grow.

Izuku ignored the eyes of Eraser and the Pussycats—sans Pixie-Bob who had, wisely, chosen to remain indoors with Iona, and Kouta who had since joined her, and was spawning her earthen constructs as quickly as she could and sending them towards the students—as he suddenly found himself staring down the five Noumu that stood at the edge of the clearing.

One looked identical to the one he'd faced as Oni, Ragdoll, and the remaining four were split two-two between two other types of Noumu. He set part of his focus towards trying to figure out the quirks the two unknown types had. One type had inky black skin and clearly some kind of rebounding or force reflection quirk, as he saw just a minute ago. The other was a sickly gray and gave no obvious clues.

He met the eyes of each Noumu, one at a time, the tension in the air palpable. He could see the rudimentary intelligence and raw hatred burning behind their eyes, but there was something else there too… Something, or more likely someone else was watching through the eyes of the Noumu, he could feel their eyes on him. It wasn't hard to make a guess as to who it was. Mixed in with the tension in the air, he could feel the same bloodlust he'd felt the night of the Hosu incident.

"Bastard." Izuku spat. "I hope you realize that the further this goes, the more gruesome your end will be."

There was a flash of amusement through the bloodlust, and the errant sparks that danced across Izuku's body surged as his anger spiked.

'Stay with Iona, Tamako.' He ordered. 'Keep her safe.'

"I will."

'Whatever you have to do. No limits, no mercy. The only lives that matter now are hers and Ochako's.'

He could feel Tamako's determination as they jumped away.

Izuku let out a breath, letting all the attention he could spare narrow in on the Noumu. It wasn't much; he was spread pretty thin as it was. He was keeping an eye on Iona, another on Ochako, he was watching all the villains within his range, both Noumu and human alike, was scanning everything within range looking for new arrivals and portals, and was working out what quirks had been packed into the unfamiliar Noumu. Already his head was starting to hurt.

He pulled 'Weapon Mastery' into place, feeling the tiny shifts in his muscles as the quirk took hold of him. The tension in the air spiked as the Noumu seemed to notice. They were barely restraining themselves from charging him, which had Izuku wondering what sort of orders they'd been programmed with. Whatever the case, he wouldn't keep them waiting.

The ground beneath him shattered as he moved, hand bladed and ready to impale one of the rebounding Noumu. He needed to see if enough force concentrated in a small enough point could break through.

He never got the chance to find out. An instant before the attack landed, he felt himself slow. He cursed the Ragdoll Noumu, and himself for not going for that one first.

The two gray Noumu charged from either side, fists raised. He let them approach, then at the last second used his flight quirk to move. He forced his arms up to catch them by theirs, then dragged them in closer, guiding their fists and forcing them to hit each other. The instant their fists landed, the Noumu exploded, their top halves reduced to nothing.

'Force multiplication?' Izuku wondered, dipping down to avoid a hit from one of the Rebounders. 'The impact force was very disproportionate to the amount of power behind the fists. Regardless, their attacks are to be avoided at all costs.'

Izuku forced his head to the side to avoid another blow. He was still slowed, and was very quickly growing tired of it.

He slipped around another punch, grabbing the Rebounding Noumu by the throat and driving it into the ground. Then, loosening his hold on his flight quirk, he charged at the Ragdoll, which had backed away to create distance. It charged forth to meet him, driving a fist into his gut as soon as it was close enough. He let it, holding himself still with his flight quirk as the blow overpowered 'Shock Absorption.'

His left arm wrapped around it, trapping the Noumu and pinning its arms between them. His right arm cocked back, then, pushing with his flight quirk, rocketed forwards at somewhere over the speed of sound, reducing the Ragdoll's head to mush.

Finally free of the irritating slowness, he whipped around to drive a bladed hand into the chest of the approaching Rebounder, as he tried to do before. This time the attack landed, but not with the desired effect. The Noumu was merely pushed back instead of impaled, and not even pushed back very far. The shock absorption aspect of the rebounding quirk was more powerful than his own. It couldn't be the same quirk that he had, as that was more shock displacement than absorption and that would hinder the rebounding.

The Noumu's body rippled and twisted as it absorbed the force, then launched towards him an instant later.

'Rebounding quirk can't be easily overpowered.' He noted, grabbing the Noumu by the wrist and directing its fist, backed by the stockpiled force, into the ground. 'There's probably an upper limit, to how much it can take at once if nothing else, just like with "Shock Absorption," and I could probably focus the force into an even smaller point with claws, but I don't have the freedom to test either theory. So I'm limited to just grappling or crushing for now.'

Keeping hold of its arm, his free hand latched onto its neck and pulled, relieving it of the limb. The remaining arm pulled back and struck him in the chest, right as the other Noumu punched him in the side, the combined force cracking most of his ribs on that side. He ignored both of them, just grabbing the Noumu by the shoulder with his free hand and pulling. A swift yank had the Noumu melting into sludge just as the other landed another hit to his side. His pulverized ribs and hemorrhaging organs confirmed that it had the same combo quirk as the Ragdolls, which probably meant, given how today was going, that the rebounding and combo quirks synchronized well, which was unfortunate.

Whipping around, Izuku caught the Noumu's fist before it could hit him again. He caught the other when it lashed out, and gave it the same treatment as the other Rebounder, this time relieving it of both of its arms before its head.

Spitting out a mouthful of blood from his damaged organs, Izuku took stock of the situation. More villains had appeared, now numbering at twelve, and had started to engage the students. He gritted his teeth. He would go take care of them himself were it not for the four Noumu heading right for him, just seconds away, with a few more emerging from beyond the range of 'All Sight.'

"Eyes up, Eraser." He called out, said man having just been staring at him wide-eyed. "There are more Noumu on the way and twelve villains in the forest. Go help the students. I'll handle the Noumu. Mandalay stays here so I can relay information to you."

Eraser shook his head, snapping out of whatever he was going through. "Right." He gestured to the other heroes. "Let's go!"

They took off into the forest, leaving Izuku alone. With a few seconds to spare, he poured more focus into 'Tempest,' urging the storm to grow quicker. Already his range was beginning to grow, but far too slowly. He needed to end this and he needed to end it now.

"Where are you, Kurogiri?" He muttered. "You've lived far too long."

"Eraserhead!"

Shouta slid to a stop as Mandalay's voice suddenly rang in his head. The others stopped with him. It had barely been a minute since he set off, had something changed?

"Intel from Etsumi." She explained. "Turn 45 degrees to the left and continue. You'll run into Todoroki and someone Etsumi says he won't be able to beat. Split up from the others, they have their own directions."

Shouta nodded, then, seeing that the others were also hearing her, turned and set off.

In the back of his mind, there was the question of how Etsumi knew. How he knew how many villains were present and how he knew where Todoroki was and who he was fighting. He pushed those thoughts aside. There would be plenty of time for questions once this was resolved.

Shouto held up a hand, prompting the others behind him to stop. Something… something was wrong. He wasn't sure what, but there was a… weird sinking feeling in his gut.

He and the others had been heading for the 1B flags, taking a wide route to miss most of the activity that was bound to take place in the center. Their job was to scout out the flag guards and either go for it if they could or circle back and regroup if they couldn't. Hagakure and Kouda were more suited to reconnaissance than outright fighting so the latter was more likely.

They'd made it to their first checkpoint and were about to start sneaking directly towards the flags, but now…

"Something's wrong." He said, explaining the sudden stop.

They didn't question it. Shouji immediately created more eyes and ears on his arms and began moving them about, scanning the area. Kouda whispered to the birds, asking them if there was anyone nearby.

"There." Shouji announced, all of his limbs focused in one direction. "I hear someone. They're coming right for us."

"The birds…" Kouda said. "No, not just them. All the animals are fleeing the area. Something bad is coming. The forest is on fire."

"Behind me." Shouto ordered, turning to face whatever was coming for them. Whatever it was, whoever it was, moving alone and causing this sort of reaction… The feeling in his gut was intensifying.

The others complied immediately, falling into formation behind him. He was glad they'd discussed this beforehand. Not this situation specifically—because Shouto was starting to suspect this wasn't part of the game—but the possibility of a fight at all. Shouto would bear the brunt of it, at least until they could analyze and respond, Shouji and Sero would take up places right behind him, far enough that they wouldn't get caught up in his ice, and Hagakure and Kouda would take up the rear, Kouda because he was the weakest fighter in the group and Hagakure because it afforded her the most freedom to break off and make the most of her stealth.

Shouto raised his right hand, frost building up on his arm as the air cooled. He exhaled, releasing a burst of steam as he used his left side to start regulating his temperature preemptively. He still wasn't totally comfortable with using that side of him, didn't really like it, but couldn't deny the usefulness of it in counteracting the downsides of his right side, and could at least use it for that.

The tension in the air seemed to rise as the temperature plummeted. A thin layer of ice began creeping along the ground from his right foot. Should he coat the forest in ice? Try to hinder the mystery person early? Or should he wait until he knew exactly what was happening?

The ice spread a bit faster. He was very tempted to just freeze the forest. He really didn't like this feeling in his gut, like something bad was about to happen.

Suddenly Shouji shouted out. "They're-!"

"VILLAINS HAVE ENTERED THE FOREST! ALL STUDENTS RETURN TO THE CAMP IMMEDIATELY!"

Shouto startled, looking back towards the camp. That was Etsumi. What-?

There was a surge of heat from where he was just looking and without even thinking Shouto released the tension in his quirk and sent ice out towards it. He turned back and got a glance of a dark figure before a mountain of ice blocked them from view.

"Did you get him?" Sero asked.

Shouto didn't answer. He'd like to think he got whoever it was with how much ice he was looking at, but the feeling in his gut hadn't abated.

"Up there!" Shouji shouted, pointing up.

Following his gaze, Shouto saw the figure, a man by the looks of it. Even at this distance he could see the scars marring the man's face. He was draped across one of the chunks of ice like he was lounging, completely at ease.

"And here I thought I'd be able to blindside you." The man called out, voice dripping with amusement. "I was so looking forward to gloating to your charred remains. But you kiddies are better than I was expecting. Yueii really doesn't mess around, does it?"

"Not to worry though." He continued, blue flames springing up across his body. The sinking feeling suddenly intensified, then man's expression darkening with something that sent a shiver down Shouto's spine. "I'll snuff you all out soon enough."

The man exploded into a blue inferno that began consuming the ice far faster than should've been possible. Just how hot were those flames?

"Get out of here," Shouto ordered. "All of you."

"We're not leaving you." Shouji argued. "Not against that."

"None of you can touch him. Those flames will burn you to a crisp. And it'll be easier for me if I don't have to worry about accidentally freezing you."

A sudden surge of flame forced Shouto to throw up an ice wall in front of them, which immediately began shrinking under the heat.

"Go! Get Eraserhead or Etsumi. I'll keep him here until then."

They only hesitated another moment before Shouji turned away, pulling the others along with him. Shouto would've let out a sigh of relief if he weren't so focused on the villain, standing in the middle of a raging inferno and staring at him in a way that told him he didn't even care about the others running away.

Bringing a hand up, Shouto focused, and the temperature plummeted even with the flames roaring around him. Thrusting his hand out, he unleashed a wave of ice, much more widespread than the glacier, going for area and intensity rather than outright volume, very much like what he did during the first battle trial against Etsumi. A wave of pure cold swept the area, coating everything in a thin layer of ice and snuffing out some of the flames.

It wasn't very effective, particularly against the villain who was still surrounded by an inferno and now looked more than a little smug. But the point of the attack wasn't to have immediate effects, especially since he could now counter his weakness to the cold. He didn't have to freeze everything with the first wave.

Taking a deep breath and pouring more focus into the attack, Shouto unleashed another wave, and another. He worked it into a steady tempo, in time with his heartbeat, unleashing wave after wave of cold, each one coating everything in another thin layer of ice and putting out more flames, at least those on the outskirts. It wasn't enough to put out the source.

He let out the held breath when he got a handle on it, the attack becoming almost automatic and no longer needing all of his focus. And not a moment too soon. He threw up another, larger, ice wall to block the wave of fire barreling towards him. It melted even quicker, and Shouto was forced to put up another barely a second later.

"Crafty little shit, aren't you!?" The villain shouted out, charging right through the wall. More flames already surging towards him.

Shouto put up another wall, closer this time, and devoted some focus to maintaining it, repairing it as quickly as it melted. It bought him some time, but didn't leave him much focus to work with. It would have to be enough.

Realizing that he couldn't break through this wall as easily as the others, the villain tried to circle around, only barely slowed by the built up ice and continuous waves of cold. The instant he came into view Shouto slammed his palm down and unleashed a wave of ice, far more concentrated than the glacier, like what he used in the sports festival against Etsumi. It had been strong enough then to pierce Etsumi's flesh, which meant it should be more than enough for the villain, provided it actually reached him, of course.

He knew it was strong enough to kill, certainly would've killed anyone who wasn't Etsumi that day. He also knew that he probably shouldn't be fighting to kill, that that wasn't how a hero should fight. But he wasn't sure if he could afford to do anything less than fight to kill, not with the villain doing the same.

The ice almost, almost, caught the villain unaware, piercing straight through the inferno and forcing him to jump out of its path. The flames surged again, but Shouto was determined not to give him an opportunity. Small flames began breaking out over his left side as he doubled down, letting out wave after wave, in time with the widespread attacks.

It forced the villain onto the backfoot, leaving him no time to do anything but deal with the onslaught. His flames were intense, but between the constant waves of cold eating away at them and the focused attacks piercing through, he was being forced to dodge more often than not. All the same though, Shouto quickly realized that this was not sustainable. It had only been a few minutes but already he could feel the beginnings of a splitting headache, and he was out of breath like he'd run a marathon, despite not moving an inch since the fight began.

He needed to end it. Now.

He halted the onslaught, but didn't give the villain even a second before he let loose another glacier. He knew it wouldn't work against the villain, he just needed a few seconds to focus.

Stopping everything else, Shouto crouched and put everything he had into his right side, pushing it further than he'd ever had a reason to before. The temperature dropped so far so fast that his left side burst into flames almost entirely on reflex, and even still his fingers and toes went numb.

The glacier broke apart, blue flames tearing straight through it. The villain came into view, his expression more dangerous than ever, hand already raised and flames already surging.

Shouto let out a breath that had the ground before him freezing. He took all the built up tension and forced it out. Unleashed it.

"Flash Freeze." He whispered.

The world went white. Quicker than he could blink, everything was coated in a thick layer of ice. Not even the moisture in the air had been spared, now drifting to the ground as snowflakes. It was like a blizzard had blown through.

Where the villain had stood there was now just an ice sculpture, arm still outstretched towards him.

Shouto fell backwards, unable to support his own weight anymore as a wave of exhaustion hit him. He gasped for breath, his heart beating painfully fast in his chest and his right side almost entirely numb. But despite all that, despite his exhaustion and the situation as a whole, part of him was almost excited.

To know just how far he could push his right side, how far it could go…

He knew, in theory, what his left side could be capable of, seeing what his father had done with his own flames, but his mother never had any reason to push her quirk like this. It was exciting to see that it could stand on equal ground.

A deep cracking noise pulled him from his thoughts. The frozen form of the villain now had a crack splitting it down the middle, with flames spilling out from within. It shattered a second later, revealing the villain. There was no longer any amusement present in his expression. It had gone straight past murderous and right to manic rage.

His flames surged again, and Shouto raised his arm, ready to put whatever he had left into defending himself, unsure how much that would actually be.

The flames raced towards him. Shouto pushed at his quirk to put up another wall.

Only, nothing happened.

Before he could even begin to panic over the lack of ice to defend himself, he noticed the flames sputtering and dying before the could reach him. It wasn't until he saw the villain suddenly wrapped in white that he realized what happened.

With the villain in the grip of his capture weapon, Aizawa heaved the man towards him, right into his fist, delivering a gut punch that had Shouto wincing at the force of it. He looked ready to do it again, already pulling his fist back for another, when the villain suddenly melted into brown sludge. Shouto couldn't even bring himself to question it, too exhausted to think that much.

"Todoroki!" Aizawa called, running towards him and somehow managing not to slip on the ice. "Are you injured?"

Shouto, still breathless, shook his head. "The others?" He managed to ask between gasps.

"They're fine, regrouping with some of the other students." He reached down to offer Shouto a hand. "Can you walk? There are other villains still standing that need to be dealt with."

Shouto took the hand, letting Aizawa haul him to his feet. He swallowed, and tried to work the numbness from his limbs, before nodding. "Let's go."

Momo held her staff in place, leveled at the forest where the 1B students had attacked from, and just now retreated into, on guard and ready for another attempt. In her left arm she focused on the creation of another set of flashbangs, held just on the verge of actually being created, ready to deploy at a moment's notice.

"We're clear." Jirou suddenly announced. "They're not just pulling back to get us to lower our guard, they're leaving to regroup entirely."

Momo nodded, finally relaxing. "Then we have some time to reset before the next attack."

She set to work creating traps to replace the ones that had gone off. Different ones this time, just in case the attackers had the sense to communicate with the rest of their class.

"Ashido, good work countering Bondo." Momo said as she moved. "Same to you Aoyama, keeping Yanagi occupied."

The two of them were almost perfect counters to Bondo and Yanagi, particularly Ashido, her acid neutralizing Bondo's adhesive before it could cause any issues. Monoma and Kendo had been more troublesome to deal with, but with their other two teammates rendered ineffective and with Jirou keeping Awase at a distance, the entire fight was essentially a stalemate. Kendo obviously had seen that and made the decision to withdraw. It was good in the short term but now they knew exactly who was guarding the 1A flags and could rearrange their members to counter them.

No matter. They would just have to prepare as best they could. Between her littering the area with traps and Jirou giving them advanced notice, they wouldn't be caught off guard, at least. Though, she did regret not asking Todoroki to stay behind to help guard the flags, his ice would've been a tremendous advantage.

"Hey!" Kirishima called out. "One of the flags is missing!"

"What?" Momo whipped around to look. Sure enough, there were only two flags. "When did that happen?"

"Obviously some time during the fight. There were definitely three there right before."

Her brow furrowed as she tried to figure out what happened. "You don't think Yanagi managed to grab it, do you?"

"I wouldn't think so." Jirou shook her head. "Aoyama was really keeping the pressure up, and I don't think her range is that far… Maybe Monoma? Could he have copied her quirk?"

Momo shifted, thinking. "He was certainly closer than she was, and admittedly I was pressuring him far less than Aoyama was Yanagi. I was mostly reacting to what he did rather than being proactive. But he was switching quirks so much. I thought he could only use three at a time, and that the oldest quirk was cancelled out when he switched."

"Is it three or four?"

"I'm… not sure."

"Well however it happened, it's not like we can do anything about it now." Ashido said. "We'll just have to hope that our attackers can make up for it."

"Agreed. And in the meantime we can tighten our defenses around our remaining two. On that thought, Ashido, can you-?"

"VILLAINS HAVE ENTERED THE FOREST! ALL STUDENTS RETURN TO THE CAMP IMMEDIATELY!"

Momo jolted. She noticed Jirou clamping her hands over her ears.

That was Etsumi, and that message…

Just then, a smell hit Momo's nose. It was sweet. Too sweet, like rotting fruit. She wrinkled her nose, and was about to mention it when she noticed a purple haze creeping along the ground.

Her eyes widened. There were villains in the forest, and now there was some sort of gas encroaching. They were under attack.

"Everyone gather round!" She called out, focusing on her creation. The others rushed over to her, something about the situation or her tone leaving no room for questions.

She lifted her shirt and five gas masks spilled out onto the ground. "Put them on. Now."

They did, just in time for the gas to surge and for Jirou's head to whip around just before a voice sounded out.

"Oh, clever little hero students, aren't you?"

A masked figure appeared from behind the tree. The gas seemed to be pouring off of their frame. Already it was thick enough that she could just barely make them out.

"Look at you all…" He said—based on the voice it was definitely a man. "So-"

"Aoyama! Kirishima!" Momo shouted, focusing on a new creation. If the villain was going to try to monologue, then she wasn't going to waste the opportunity.

The pair responded immediately, Aoyama firing off a laser as Kirishima hardened and charged in. The gas must've been partially negating the laser though, as it didn't hit with nearly the force it should've, barely even knocking the villain off balance as it struck his shoulder. Aoyama kept up the pressure though, and must've upped the power as subsequent hits landed with more force.

"Bastards!" The villain shouted. "You-!"

His words cut off as Kirishima's hardened fist struck him in the gut, knocking the air out of him. He managed to remain upright, trying to back away, but Kirishima stayed on him, pummeling him.

"Kirishima! Back!" She shouted as she noticed the villain's arm coming up, holding a very distinctive shape, just in time for her creation to finish.

Kirishima retreated immediately, already wary of the gun in the villain's hands and bringing his arms up to shield his face and the gas mask protecting it. Yaoyorozu lifted a gun of her own, taking aim and pulling the trigger, launching a net towards the villain.

It struck just as he pulled the trigger, knocking his shot off target, sending it harmlessly into the ground. He fell to the ground, tangled in the metal mesh that she knew no ordinary person could break through. A press of a button on the net launcher sent electricity arcing down the connecting cable and into the net, making the villain thrash and spasm wildly on the ground. Immediately she noticed the gas starting to thin out.

"That'll keep him down for a while." She said, dropping the launcher. "Kirishima, take his mask, or break it. It could just be for show but if he's not immune to his own quirk then that'll keep him from using it if he does get free. And toss his gun away too."

She turned to Jirou, who had her eyes closed and jacks in the ground, listening.

"Anything?"

"People are fighting." She said. "I can hear Bakugou's explosions, Todoroki's ice, and Etsumi… Etsumi's fighting something big. Every hit is like an explosion."

Momo nodded. "We'll head to the closest fight that isn't Etsumi. He can handle himself, and we'd only be a hinderance to him. We're better off regrouping with the others."

She looked around at the others and saw them nod in agreement. Kirishima dropped the ruined remains of the villain's mask.

She nodded again, looking back at Jirou. "Lead the way."

Kyoka listened carefully, sorting out the cacophony into individual sounds and voices.

There was Etsumi, with the easily recognizable sound of metal cables pulling and stretching, the rasp of his scales on the ground, and the world-shaking impacts as he fought whatever he was fighting.

Bakugou was similarly easy to pick out, with the clap of his explosions. It sounded like he was fighting a real maniac with all the shouting.

There was Todoroki, with the cracking of his ice and the crackling and popping of burning wood.

There were voices too. She tried to piece them together, pick out which was closest.

"Are you a follower of Stain or something?"

"Oh Heavenly Father, bear witness, as I show you the strength of your creation."

"HAHAHA! YES! Show me BLOOD!"

"Awase!"

There! That one.

Kyoka's eyes snapped open, turning in the direction of Monoma's voice.

"This way!" She called out, taking off running, the others right behind her.

Katsuki narrowed his eyes. Something was wrong.

He'd gone off on his own when the game started, knowing he'd be better off. No teammates meant no one else to worry about, no need for coordination, and fewer variables in a fight. And even if it meant the fights were harder, that was just fine with him. He'd welcome a difficult fight, a chance to push himself to be better.

He'd set off on a wide arc towards 1B's flags, hoping to avoid the chaos that was sure to unfold in the middle, and maybe to catch anyone from 1B trying to do the same. But now…

Something was… off.

The forest was silent. Unnaturally so. No birds—not even any rustling leaves. It was just… still.

His palms itched, already damp with sweat, like how they would get when he was preparing for a fight, setting off tiny explosions to build up sweat. Even One For All, always warm and steady in his core, felt… agitated.

Something… Something was coming.

"VILLAINS HAVE ENTERED THE FOREST! ALL STUDENTS RETURN TO THE CAMP IMMEDIATELY!"

Katsuki flinched at the sudden noise piercing through the silence. He turned towards where the voice had come from. How were there villains here? Wasn't the whole point of coming to the camp instead of just training at Yueii that it was secluded and secret?

Katsuki's fists clenched, and he was just about to dip into the power of One For All when a piercing pain in his skull practically forced him to whip around, already lowered into a partial crouch, hands popping at his sides. He wasn't alone.

A low chuckle confirmed it, followed by a hulking, hooded figure emerging from the trees.

"You've got some good instincts, kid. Looks like I got lucky."

He raised a fist, and Katsuki could see his skin twitching and bulging, like the muscles were squirming underneath.

"You're not the one I wanted to see, of course. But you should make for a good warm up."

Suddenly the air around Katsuki turned staticky, sticky. It had a lead weight settling in his stomach. It was like when Etsumi fought Shinsou during the sports festival, though not nearly as intense.

"He's the only reason I even joined these idiots in the first place." He continued. "It would've been great if All Might was here too; I've always wanted a go at him. But even he doesn't have the same edge, the same look in his eye. No, that Etsumi is a monster. It'll be a perfect fight."

"But…" he continued, and now his entire form was bulging beneath the cloak he wore, "there's nothing wrong with a little buildup before the main event."

"So come on!" He yelled, hood slipping off to reveal a scarred face, stretched by a manic smile. "Show me something good! Show me-!"

Twin explosions propelled Katsuki forwards. There wasn't time to listen to monologuing, and something in his gut told him that this villain was someone he needed to catch off guard.

The explosions were perfectly aimed, putting him just behind and above the villain. He put his hands together, aimed at the villain, and unleashed an explosion that he hoped would incapacitate the man.

The explosion propelled Katsuki up into the trees. Not missing a beat, he dipped into the power of One For All, just a trickle, and let it envelop his body. He twisted in midair, landing feet first on the side of a tree and immediately kicking off. He bounced from tree to tree, using the opportunity to observe the villain.

The explosion did nothing more than remove the hooded cloak the villain wore, exposing a brutish physique that was covered in exposed muscle fibers, which were barely even singed where the explosion hit. As he watched, the muscles continued to twist and grow. Clearly, the man had some kind of muscle growth quirk. It gave him increased durability at minimum, probably enhanced strength too.

Katsuki grimaced as he came to a stop, empowered hands easily digging into the tree bark to anchor him. He would have to up the power significantly to deal with this, which would be hell on his long-term endurance. But he could already tell that this villain wasn't someone he could afford to take lightly, and he didn't have time to play it safe.

He raised an arm, surging with lightning as he dipped further into One For All's power, gritting his teeth as his muscles immediately started to ache and burn. A moment later his palm began to sizzle and smoke.

One of the things he'd learned about One For All was that it strengthened his original quirk, and by a lot. Something about the massive amount of energy stored within boosted his explosions to something far beyond what he'd been able to do before. In the beginning it was hard to use the two quirks simultaneously, virtually impossible, and even now he could only just barely manage with One For All at the lowest output. With the level of power he was using now, there was no hope of controlling the strength of the explosion.

Heat poured from his hand, followed by a massive explosion that shook him to his core, and what seemed like the entire forest along with him. It seemed less like an explosion and more a wave of pure heat and pressure, bathing the area in flame. Right away he could tell that he'd hurt himself, pain lanced up his arm, starting at his wrist. He'd probably fractured something, or worse, which meant that limb was useless for the rest of the fight if he didn't want to completely destroy it.

He kicked off, bouncing through the trees again. As soon as the smoke cleared enough to see that the villain was still standing—Katsuki cursed at the sight, he could see charred muscle fibers but still—he upped the power just slightly and launched towards him. Spinning through the air, he cracked the heel of his foot across the man's head, then lowered the power to set off another explosion that boosted him back up into the trees, just in time to avoid the hand that swiped towards him.

The smoke cleared away fully a few seconds later, revealing a slightly charred and definitely angrier but otherwise unharmed villain. Katsuki grimaced again. Definitely increased durability. That kick would've caved in the skull of a normal person, not to mention the explosions. This was not going to be a fun fight.

"Little shit." The villain growled, expression angry but the manic light in his eyes more intense than before. Either he was having fun or couldn't wait to tear Katsuki in half. Possibly both.

"The fuck are you doing up there?" He growled. "How am I supposed to beat the shit out of you if you're way up there?"

He suddenly charged forwards, far faster than someone of his size had any right to—All Might and Etsumi were exceptions to that rule, naturally—and bashed his shoulder into the base of the tree Katsuki was hanging from. It lurched, then began to fall, forcing Katsuki to kick off and cling to a different one.

The villain didn't stop, barely even slowed down, just charged right for the new tree, knocking down any others in his path.

"Get down here and let's have some FUN!"

Neito cursed, kicking a tree.

They'd attacked the 1A guards and got completely shut down. It was just his luck that they had a perfect counter to Bondo and were able to keep both him and Yanagi far enough away from the flags that they couldn't grab them with her quirk.

He took a deep breath. Whatever. Their main objective was more to gather intel than to actually steal flags. To be able to take one would've been nice but now that they knew exactly who was guarding them, they could adjust.

"Bondo. Awase. We're switching you two out for Tetsu and Tokage. If his team can spare him then I want Tsuburaba as well. Between him and Tetsu we can guard against their long range, and Tokage will give us more of an opportunity to grab a flag from under their noses."

He looked around to see them all nod in agreement. "Alright, let's go meet up and regroup."

"VILLAINS HAVE ENTERED THE FOREST! ALL STUDENTS RETURN TO THE CAMP IMMEDIATELY!"

All of them startled, looking in the direction of the voice, eyes wide. Villains? Here? How? And why?

"Let's go!" He ordered, pushing past his confusion.

"What do we-?" Awase's question cut off, and when Neito turned to look, he found a masked figure standing right where Awase just was. The others were already scrambling away from him. He saw a glowing blue marble in the man's hand, and with Awase's disappearance, it gave him a really bad feeling.

"Awase!" He yelled, bringing his hand up. Copying Rin's quirk from one of his rings, Neito unleashed a barrage of scales at the man, who neatly sidestepped the attack. Kendo dashed in, fist pulled back and already growing. That attack too was avoided, and Kendo was forced to duck underneath an almost lazy swipe of the villain's hand. They couldn't be sure how his quirk was activated, but physical contact was probably a safe bet.

"My my! You all are a lively bunch aren't you!" The villain said, voice jovial.

Neito grimaced, copying a new set of quirks from his rings. The villain seemed pretty agile, which meant he needed Tsuburaba, Honenuki, and probably Awase to counter him.

Behind the villain, Neito saw Yanagi grab at the air and pull and saw the glowing marble that might be Awase tugged from the villain's hand.

For a moment he had hope that it might work, but an instant later the villain snatched the marble back.

"Hey now!" The villain chided, turning to look at Yanagi. "Don't be like that. You'll spoil the show!"

Taking advantage of the villain's distraction, Neito cupped his hands in front of him and took a deep breath, glad that Tsuburaba taught him how to do this. With a sharp exhale he used the quirk to create an Air Prison around the man, trapping him in a transparent cube of solid air.

The villain immediately touched a hand to the barrier and shattered it, a new marble dropping to the ground, but Neito didn't let up. He created more barriers around the man, ending with another Air Prison to keep him still for a second. Then, switching over the Honenuki's quirk, he softened the ground beneath the villain, just as he broke the Air Prison again.

"Ooh, clever." He said, quickly sinking into the softened ground. "But just parlor tricks I'm afraid."

He swiped his hands through the soft ground, clearing away a huge chunk of it and leaving himself free to leap clear of the rest of it, deftly avoiding the other solid air barriers and the barrage of scales Neito sent towards him.

Not letting up, Neito tried the Air Prison again, this time creating three layered over each other, leaving him breathless even as he ran in closer. He switched to Komori's quirk, filling the air with spores, then just as the villain was breaking through the last Air Prison, Neito created another to keep him trapped with the spores, if only for a moment. This one was broken almost immediately and suddenly the villain was right in front of him, covered with mushrooms but seemingly unimpeded, hand outstretched towards him.

Kendo appeared next to him, striking at the man with a giant fist. He somehow managed to twist out of the way, but she kept up the attack, not giving him even a second's pause. Neito continued to backpedal, already switching back to Rin's quirk to pelt him with scales.

Before he could throw even the first one though, Kendo vanished, with just another glowing marble left in her place, which the villain quickly snatched from the air.

Letting out a wordless shout and pushing past his mounting exhaustion, Neito doubled down and launched a barrage of scales at him, which the man managed to sidestep. He could see Yanagi in the corner of his eye using her quirk, grabbing the scales that missed to keep up the attack.

Neito blinked and suddenly the villain was right in front of him, only inches away. He switched over to another quirk hoping he'd have time before-

A shining blue laser struck the villain in the face, knocking him backwards. Not wasting any time with hesitation or confusion, Neito charged in, Awase's quirk already active. He grabbed the villain's wrists and welded them together. Then, seeing the villain's mask cracking and falling apart from where the laser hit, Neito shot a hand out and welded everything he could touch. Jumping back from a wild two-handed swing, he saw that a piece of the mask had fused to the villain's mouth, sealing it, and another was fused to his right eye. His remaining eye glared at Neito.

Another laser struck the villain in the chest, forcing him back again, and Neito noticed in the corner of his eye 1A's Tetsu running in, quirk already active and giving him a rocky appearance. Not wasting a second, Neito copied Tetsu's quirk and charged in again.

The 1A student—was it Kirishima?—struck the villain in the gut with a hardened fist, forcing a pained wheeze from the man. He pulled his fist back for another hit just as Neito reached him, flesh turned to metal and his own fist drawn back. They struck simultaneously, hitting the man from opposite sides. Neito felt something crunch beneath his fist, and then the man collapsed to the ground.

"Nice work, Kirishima." One of the other 1A students said, maybe Yaoyorozu. "And nice aim Aoyama." 

She ran up, holding something out towards the villain, and wait was that a gun-!? She pulled the trigger and two cables shot towards him, latching on and buzzing, causing him to twitch and spasm on the ground. Neito relaxed slightly, just a taser.

Before Neito could question it, suddenly Awase and Kendo were back, right in front of him. Oh, the villain must've still been conscious.

Neito grimaced, fighting conflicting emotions. On the one hand he was glad that Awase and Kendo were alright, and that the villain was down, but on the other, to be saved by 1A… He swallowed back the sour taste in his mouth. He could leave the class rivalry for later, when the villains were all apprehended.

"Thanks for the assist." He managed to get out.

"No problem." Yaoyorozu said. "Any injuries?"

Neito looked over at Awase and Kendo, raising his eyebrows in a silent question. They both shook their heads.

"None." He answered.

"Good. There are still other villains in the forest that need to be dealt with."

She looked over at the 1A student with earphone jacks dangling from her ears. "Jirou?"

Jirou nodded. "This way."

Shouta sprinted through the forest, Todoroki at his side struggling to keep up. Mandalay had fed him more intel from Etsumi. Apparently some of the students were handling their villains with no or minimal issue, but a few fights were still ongoing, and not very favorably, even with the other heroes intervening.

"We'll keep this simple." He said between breaths. "Stay out of my line of sight. When we get there, I'll use my quirk to deactivate theirs and you'll freeze them. Got it?"

"Understood." Todoroki wheezed.

The sounds of fighting were getting closer. He could make out Tiger's voice, Iida, and maybe Kaminari?

Making it around a particularly dense group of trees, Shouta finally caught sight of them. A few steps later and he saw someone he didn't recognize. A man, tall and lanky, black hair, nondescript face but blue eyes so bright that Shouta could make them out from this distance. He was armed with a blade, so his quirk probably wasn't overtly useful in combat. The blade was raised and poised to strike.

"Now." He ordered, activating his quirk. Less than a second later, a wave of cold air whipped past him, coating everything in its path in ice. It reached the man in an instant and froze him solid.

Shouta didn't relax. Etsumi's intel had said there were two villains here.

"He can switch places with others!" Tiger shouted. "Restrain his hands and keep them separated! His quirk activates with a clap!"

As if on cue, there was a sharp clapping noise and suddenly the ice trapping the villain exploded, leaving him free and unharmed.

Actually, wait. No. No one without a powerful quirk or Etsumi's level of bullshit could come out of something like that and show no aftereffects. His instincts told him this wasn't the same person. Process of elimination left the villain who could apparently swap places, and Shouta's quirk was still active.

"Again." He ordered.

Ice flashed out, and again the villain was frozen. Finally making it into the clearing, Shouta found Iida with his knee on the back of a villain who looked he'd just come out of a freezer, or rather teleported out of a block of ice. Twins then.

"We think that one's a telepath." Ragdoll said, walking over. "They were able to fight in perfect sync, and the other one made it almost impossible to lay a hand on either of them. We're lucky that's the only advantage they had. They couldn't actually do much damage, we just couldn't do any to them either."

Shouta nodded, then pulled some zip ties from his belt and tossed them to Iida. "Restrain him and then get ready to move."

He looked around at all the students, scanning for injuries. Seeing none, he turned to Todoroki, gesturing at the frozen villain. "Unfreeze his head."

"If I must."

"Eraser. 90 degrees to your right and 600 feet out. Some 1B students having trouble with a villain. Her quirk is a transformation that turns her limbs into snakes. They're venomous and can stretch far. Vlad King has taken care of the villain he was sent after and is also en route."

Shouta turned in the indicated direction. Now Etsumi was able to identify and decipher quirks over distances too?

He shook his head. Save it for later. "Let's move!"

Ibara stood still, eyes closed, head bowed, and hands clasped before her. She listened to the sounds of the forest and to the signals from her vines, listened for any sign of intruders.

Kuroiro and the others had run off after Etsumi and his ward, but Ibara could not give chase, not while there were still two flags left to protect. Truthfully, she did not think they should have run off at all; they could have simply relied on the rest of their class to retrieve the stolen flag rather than put the remaining two at risk, but she would not complain. Any time and energy that could be spent complaining was better spent performing her duties.

She let out a quiet breath, willing her vines to spread further, and for some to begin climbing the trees. She could not allow someone to slip past her the way Etsumi just did.

A few minutes passed, the carpet of vines slowly growing thicker. As she began to feel the slightest bit of discomfort in her scalp, she stopped. Her vines had grown far enough, and it would not do to exhaust herself before any intruders found their way here.

She settled in to wait, silencing her thoughts and devoting her focus to listening for signs of intruders. From her vines, the pressure and twinges of discomfort that came from footsteps and broken thorns. And from the forest, the crunch of leaves and cracking of fallen branches, the whisper of voices and the calls of indignant birds who-.

Ibara's head rose, brow furrowed. Something was not right. The forest… it was too silent, unnaturally so. There were no birds. There was-.

"VILLAINS HAVE ENTERED THE FOREST! ALL STUDENTS RETURN TO THE CAMP IMMEDIATELY!"

Ibara startled. That was Etsumi's voice, and the warning…

Her hands, clasped before her, tightened. Villains, just like the USJ.

She immediately began pulling her vines back, much quicker than she'd grown them. At the same time she closed her eyes and bowed her head to pray.

"Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection against wickedness and snares of the devil; May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen."

She lifted her head, and with her vines all retrieved and at a manageable length, she turned to make for the camp.

She barely made it three steps before a presence behind her had her freezing. Turning to look she found the forest much darker than it ought to be. What a truly evil presence this was. She felt nothing but a desire for carnage and chaos. A demon.

Ibara felt a flash of fear as a figure stepped out from behind a tree. It was covered head to toe in black, with only its teeth visible, it's lips peeled back in a horrific grin. She could feel its focus on her despite having no eyes.

"Meat…" It rasped. "Gimme."

There was another flash of fear but Ibara pushed it aside. She focused only on the feeling of His light within her and knew she had nothing to fear from this demon so long as her heart remained true.

She let out a breath, steadying her mind.

"Demon. You do not belong here."

She just barely noticed the demon's teeth beginning to grow before they flashed towards her, growing impossibly long and sharpening into razors. Her vines surged to meet them. The first few were sliced through, but her vines were many and managed to stop the teeth through sheer volume.

"So be it." Ibara said, tone resolute. She clasped her hands as her vines continued to grow, filling the air around her and latching onto tree branches to lift her off the ground.

"Oh Heavenly Father, bear witness, as I show you the strength of your creation."

She tightened her hold on the teeth embedded in her shield of vines, at the same time sending countless more towards the demon from all directions. She would see it cast back into the flames. In His name.

Hiryu huffed, trying to catch his breath. They'd finallymanaged to take the villain down, and only because one of Pixie-Bob's monsters burst through the trees to help, and the man's magnetism quirk, or whatever it was, apparently didn't work on dirt and stone.

Whatever the quirk was, the villain had used it with ruthless efficiency, not letting any of them approach unless he wanted them to, always either repelling them away from himself or attracting them to each other to pull them off course.

Even worse, Tsunotori, Tokage, and Hiryu himself, their only ranged fighters, couldn't do anything about him. Tsunotori's horns were slow enough for him to avoid or just outright block, and there were only two of them, and he kept managing to either pull Hiryu off balance or pull someone else into the line of fire to block his scales. And poor Tokage, since her projectiles were herself, they could all be repelled or attracted. Once she'd split apart, he hadn't let her pull herself back together.

But now the villain laid unconscious on the ground, with the earthen monster keeping him pinned.

"Rin." A voice suddenly called out in his head. "This is Mandalay. Turn 90 degrees to your left and travel straight. That'll take you back to the camp. Most of the students are regrouping. Your group is one of the last ones still unaccounted for."

He looked around at the others. It looked like they'd heard the message as well. They all nodded to each other, then turned and took off running.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Kamakiri asked.

He and Hitoshi had been trying to sneak their way towards 1A's flags when they heard Etsumi's warning, and weren't able to make it very far before running into this… lizard man.

"Name's Spinner, kid." The villain answered. "Now how about the two of you just step aside and point me in the direction of the heroes. Stain doesn't kill kids and I'm not about to either, but I'm not above hurting you if you get in my way."

Hitoshi narrowed his eyes. The villain seemed pretty talkative, and was either a fan or a follower of Stain.

"Are you a follower of Stain or something?" He asked.

Spinner's eyes brightened. "Absolutely! He-."

His face went slack as Hitoshi's quirk took hold of him. Hitoshi grimaced, stupid talkative villains always wanting to monologue.

"Get on your knees." He ordered. Spinner complied. "Now stop breathing."

Kamakiri looked at him in shock as Spinner followed the order, his chest going still.

"Relax." Hitoshi said, keeping his eyes on the villain, just in case. "I can't make someone kill or even really hurt themself. He'll just pass out, then my control will be gone and he'll be asleep for a bit."

They watched for a minute as Spinner just knelt there, holding his breath, then finally he started to wobble, then fell flat on his face. Hitoshi wasted no time in walking over to him.

"Quick. While he's out let's tie him up and take his weapons."

"Right!"

Shihai rolled out of the way of another strike, wishing that it was just a little darker out so that he could use his quirk.

The villain laughed, the mess of snakes on her head seemed to laugh with her. Her arms, now turned into two huge snakes, swayed through the air before her.

They were fast, and struck with enormous power, and sported wicked fangs that made Shihai think they were venomous. It was all they could do to just avoid being crushed or bitten. Even Tsuburaba's barriers didn't stand a chance against them, doing little more than buying an extra split second when they struck. They were completely on the defensive.

Shihai jumped back as she struck again. The snakes were so fast he didn't even have time to try to connect with their shadowy undersides.

He jumped to the side, avoiding another hit, but before he was properly on the ground again, the snake suddenly split into two, the new snake whipping to the side to slam into him. He just barely brought up his arms to block the hit, but the impact still jarred him and sent him flying. He landed roughly, rolling to a stop, his arms throbbing from the force of the hit.

The villain grinned, the now two snakes raised towards him. They lashed out, mouths open and ready to bite him, ready to sink gigantic fangs into his throat.

Vines suddenly burst from the ground before they could, wrapping around the snakes in an instant and clamping their mouths shut, then tying them together. The villain could barely get out a strangled "What!?" before more burst out from under her, giving her the same treatment. The vines lifted her into the air and whipped her into a tree, before wrapping her up entirely.

"Bear your crucifixion in silence, as He did." Shiozaki's voice sounded out from behind him, bringing with it a wave of relief.

He turned to see her emerging from behind a tree, vines stretched out behind her, dragging what looked like a person. Her vines were so tight around their head that Kuroiro could see blood seeping out from underneath. They were quickly joined by the villain she'd just wrapped up.

"Demons have invaded the forest." She announced. "Come. We must join the others."

Suddenly the 1A teacher, Aizawa, burst into the clearing, followed by a group of students and two of the Pussycats. He scanned the clearing in a second, taking in the lack of serious injuries and taking note of the two villains restrained in Shiozaki's vines. He nodded, then tilted his head as if he was listening to something.

"Follow me." He ordered, turning and heading back into the forest. Shihai huffed as he heaved himself off the ground, following after his classmates as they took off after him.

Ochako jerked back, narrowly dodging the knife that would've otherwise sliced through her face. Her hand darted out, reaching for the villain with her fingers outstretched but the woman twisted out of the way at the last second.

"Hey hey, you're pretty good at this!" The villain—who looked barely any older than her—said. "Say, can we- whoop!" She ducked out of the way as Tsu's foot sliced through the air where she just stood.

"C'mon!" The villain whined. "Are you sure you can't tell me where Izuku is? He looked so cool during the sports festival, I just want to be his friend."

"Don't call him that!" Ochako growled, whipping a weightless stone at her, which was neatly sidestepped.

"I mean, did you see him during his fight with that half-and-half kid? With that spike going right through his heart~! It's too bad he healed so quickly. Ah~ that gaping hole in his chest… Just a little bit of blood and it would've been perfect."

Ochako reached down to touch a log at her feet, glancing over to Tsu, who nodded.

Jumping up into a tree, Tsu quickly redirected and launched herself towards the villain from above. Ochako heaved up the weightless log and threw it, hoping that Tsu's distraction would work.

No such luck though. The villain jumped out of the way of Tsu's kick, and even managed to swing her knife to force Tsu to twist in midair to avoid getting cut, then promptly jumped right over the thrown log, spinning through the air like an acrobat and landing perfectly. Ochako saw Tsu catch the log and bring it to a stop, leaving it floating nearby.

"And don't get me started on that fight with the purple haired kid." She continued, completely at ease. "I could feel his bloodlust through the TV. And the look on his face~! At first I just thought he looked good, the kind of face and body I'd love to see covered in blood, but after that I just knew he'd be perfect. I just have to be his friend."

"Sorry but you're out of luck." Ochako said. "Izuku hates villains, which means he'd hate you too."

"Aww, don't be like that. I'm sure he'd like me just fine if he gave me a chance. And hey, how come you get to call him that but I can't?"

She gasped, eyes lighting up. "Could it be that you two are together~?" Her expression became something sultry. "I mean, if you want to be my friend too, I certainly wouldn't mind sharing him~."

"Shut up!" Ochako yelled, charging in. She saw Tsu coming in from behind the villain.

She ducked under the knife, just barely avoiding it, and drove her fist into the villain's stomach, lifting her into the air and right into the path of Tsu's kick, which sent the villain flying. She wheezed as she hit a tree, and just barely managed to roll out of the way before Ochako could hit her again.

"Oof." The villain wheezed, holding her side even as she darted out of the way of Tsu's tongue. "You two are rough. Is this how you treat all your friends? Cause if so that just makes me like you even more~."

She sprung forward, faster than before, catching Ochako off guard as she charged in for another hit, knife already swinging towards her face, right in front of her eyes. Ochako jerked her head to the side, and the knife missed her eyes, but scoured a line of fire across her cheek. Tsu appeared at her side, kicking at the villain and forcing her away just as more pain bloomed at her side. Ochako saw a second knife in the villain's other hand.

The villain smiled, expression going sultry again, and opened her mouth to say something. But before she could form any words, the world around them dimmed.

Ochako's breath caught in her throat, her vision going dark around the edges. Suddenly her heart was beating so fast it hurt. A glance over at Tsu showed she was feeling it too.

This was… It felt like the sports festival. When Izuku fought Shinsou. Bloodlust, he'd later explained to her. Killing intent.

She gulped, looking up at the villain. As bad as it was for Ochako and Tsu, it looked infinitely worse for the villain. Her face had gone deathly pale, drenched in sweat, and it looked like she wasn't even breathing.

Ochako forced her body to move. Whatever was happening, if the villain was still standing then that meant Izuku wasn't coming here. She'd already be gone by now otherwise. She charged in as fast as she could on shaky legs. She drew back and punched the villain as hard as she could in the face, crushing her nose with a spurt of blood, before striking her in the chest with her palm, activating her quirk to render her weightless. Not stopping there, she caught the villain by the ankles before she could float away and swung her around towards Tsu, who'd managed to get moving as well.

Tsu struck the villain with both feet, dropkicking her and sending her flying into the forest. Ochako deactivated her quirk and watched her slam into a tree as her weight returned.

As if waiting for that, the world returned to normal, allowing the two of them to catch their breath and attempt to settle their hearts.

Footsteps off to the side startled both of them, and had them in combat stances in an instant, only to relax when it was Aizawa who came into view, followed by what looked like most of both classes.

"Uraraka! Asui!" He called. His eyes darted between them, clearly noticing the cuts Ochako was sporting, and looked over at the villain lying prone where she'd landed.

"How bad?" He asked, gesturing at Ochako.

She winced as she pressed a hand to her side. "Both shallow. I'll be fine."

He nodded. "Then let's go. The only person unaccounted for is Bakugou, and Ragdoll says he's heading for the camp."

He took off towards the camp, and Ochako and Tsu followed, joining up with the other students. Ochako tried to push down her worry as she ran. Her worry over the situation in general, that apparently there was a villain so strong that they were keeping Izuku occupied for this long, that Iona was here for this at all.

They made it into the clearing next to the main building just in time to see Izuku hit a Noumu so hard that it shook the ground and almost knocked everyone off balance. The Noumu didn't go flying like she would've expected, but exploded into a brown, sludgy mess.

He was breathing hard, uninjured but covered in blood and that same sludge. He let out a breath, clenched his fists, and the sky above them rumbled. Turning to look at them, his eyes zeroed in on her immediately. She could see him focused on her injuries.

"Ragdoll, how far out is Bakugou?" Aizawa asked. "I'll go back out for-."

"He's here!" Ragdoll called, pointing.

A sudden explosion had them all turning, spotting Bakugou as he rocketed out of the forest, hitting the ground hard and rolling, but somehow ending back up on his feet to look in the direction he came from. His left arm was tucked close to his body, and he definitely looked worse for wear.

A tree at the edge of the clearing exploded into splinters as a monster of a man charged almost straight through it. A hulking mass of muscle, some of it charred.

"HA! Finally!" The man cheered, catching sight of Izuku and now completely ignoring Bakugou. "You were a good warm up, kid. But it looks like it's finally time for the main event."

The muscles wrapping around him surged, growing larger and more twisted. Izuku did not look impressed. In fact his expression had not changed at all since the man arrived.

"LET'S GO!" The villain shouted, charging at him. "Show me something good! Show me some Bl-!"

The world shook as Izuku appeared in front of him, fist planted in his gut. The other hand latched to his face, covering his mouth. Izuku lifted him into the air effortlessly. The villain's hands came up to grip at the arm holding him, pounded at it, then tried to swing at Izuku's face, but all of it was ignored.

Suddenly a piercing scream reached them. The villain thrashed in Izuku's grip, pounding desperately at his arm. His legs kicked uselessly as he was held in the air. As she watched, the muscles wrapping around the villain slowly receded back into his body. Then, after only a few moments, he went still, falling limp in Izuku's grip.

Ochako gulped. Izuku must've… Must've just taken the villain's quirk.

She certainly didn't feel bad for the villain, not with him showing up to do who knows what to all of them, and with him hurting Bakugou. But that scream… He'd said before that it could be painful to take a quirk, but she hadn't been expecting that.

She was also surprised that he would do that in front of everyone. Was the situation that serious, that he would take a quirk in plain view?

With an almost casual flick of his arm, Izuku sent the villain flying, crashing through trees as he vanished into the forest.

Ochako gulped again, hoping that this situation would end soon, that nothing truly bad would happen.

Izuku huffed, trying to catch his breath as his newest quirk settled in his chest. He tracked the next group of Noumu on approach.

That was another oddity that he didn't really like about this whole situation. If they could seemingly make an unlimited number of these clones and keep sending them one after another, why were they sticking to these small groups and attacking in waves instead of trying to overwhelm him? He doubted he could handle much more at once without at least becoming Oni.

Perhaps they wished to wear him down rather than kill? He still wasn't too sure that their objective was to kill anyone here at all—though that first attack against Eraser certainly would have killed him if Izuku hadn't stopped it—because if that truly was their goal then they weren't exactly doing a great job, with most of the non-Noumu villains incapacitated and none of the students seriously injured. Maybe they were trying to capture rather than kill? Wearing him down would make a bit more sense in that case.

Or maybe he'd been right before and this whole attack was a diversion, and they needed to keep everyone's focus here, and so needed to draw out the attack?

Any further speculation was postponed when he noticed Pixie-Bob emerging from the building, Iona in her arms. Fear rolled off of her tiny frame and he burned at the feeling of it. It was reflected in her expression and he wanted nothing more than to flay the people responsible.

"Zuku!" She called out. And even her voice was trembling.

He pushed his rage down, ensuring not one single bit of it showed on his face, then moved to her, appearing in the blink of an eye. Despite the shitty situation, he felt gratified when she didn't even flinch at his sudden movement.

"Hey Iona."

"Zuku I'm scared. What's happening?"

He felt his teeth cracking with how clenched his jaw was, but made sure to smile softly for her.

"Don't you worry." He said. "There are some bad people here but I'm taking care of it. I'll get rid of them. Just like last time, yeah? I won't let them hurt you or anyone else."

She sniffled and Izuku came to a quick decision. He cupped her cheek in his hand, holding her steady, then put her to sleep with a gentle push from 'Conqueror.' She went limp for a split second before Tamako took over. She didn't need to be awake for the rest of this, didn't need to see what would happen, not with the next batch of Noumu only seconds away.

Izuku straightened, then moved back to where he was in the center of the clearing, just in time for the next wave of Noumu to arrive. Seven this time. Two Ragdolls—and fuck Izuku really hoped the slowing quirks wouldn't compound on each other—two rebounders, two grays, and one he hadn't seen before. Great, more unfamiliar quirks to work out.

He rolled his shoulders. The storm still hadn't grown far enough. His range had increased quite a bit but he still wasn't seeing the portals. Hopefully they weren't just being dropped in a few miles away and running the rest of the way. Unfortunately, with their speed it was a possibility. With everyone gathered back up and all the non-Noumu villains incapacitated, some of his focus was freed up, which he poured right into 'Tempest,' forcing the storm to grow faster.

He was pulled from his thoughts when he noticed the Noumu shift their focus. Their eyes turned from him to something behind him. He traced their lines of sight back to-.

Oh.

Oh.

Absolutely fucking not.

Izuku saw red. 'Conqueror' exploded forth unprompted, the sheer magnitude of it shredding the ground around him and dropping most of the students to their knees. The storm clouds above seemed to go several shades darker in an instant. Lightning split the sky and brought with it a deafening thunderclap.

All For One… The bastard. He would pull something like this, wouldn't he?

Well fine. If that's what he wanted to do, if that was his play, then Izuku had but one appropriate response.

Everything seemed to go still around him. The forest, the students and heroes behind him, all watching with grim or fearful expressions. The world itself seemed to hold its breath in anticipation.

Izuku straightened up, sparks surging across his body with the white-hot spike of rage burning through him.

"Fine." He said, voice booming through the clearing. "No more games."

He'd held onto hope that he might resolve this with his secrets intact, but no longer. He'd delayed for too long, held back too much, shown far too much mercy for what was at stake.

He grabbed at his quirks and in the space of a breath, his body changed. His tail melted away, leaving scaled legs in their place. His wings vanished as a second pair of arms burst forth below the first, sprouting with a harsh crunch as his body changed to accommodate them. Then all four arms snapped and crunched as they were remade, growing scales to match those that sprouted from almost every inch of his flesh, leaving only his face exposed.

He let out a breath, releasing a small puff of smoke, as the transformation finished.

Ochako's eyes went wide as she watched Izuku transform. He was revealing his quirk? Why? What changed?

Looking past him, to the Noumu that just appeared, she noticed that they were kinda… off. They weren't really looking at him. Turning, she tried to see what was behind him they could be looking at. There was the camp building, obviously, now with a hole in the side of it. There was Bakugou, now kneeling and cradling his injured arm. There was Pixie-Bob and-. Oh.

Ochako's stomach dropped. No, they couldn't. Why would they target her!?

She broke free from the crowd of students, forcing her shaking legs to move and rushing over to where Pixie-Bob stood, and planted herself right in front of her, facing the Noumu. She couldn't let them get to Iona. She was like a little sister to Ochako, and besides, being a hero meant putting her life on the line for the people she was protecting. As far as she was concerned, that went double for family.

Kyoka was frozen as she stared at Etsumi. It couldn't be… right?

The face and the hair were still Etsumi, but those scales, the claws, the way he stood, radiating power and danger… She couldn't get her legs to hold her weight, couldn't pick herself up off the ground. Just looking at him had her vision dimming.

And the four arms… She'd grown out of her vigilante phase, but after being rescued from the concert-turned-hostage-situation, she'd gotten back into keeping track of him, and saw those very same arms in the Hosu incident just a few days after.

No, there was no doubt in her mind. If Etsumi could already somehow transform to become this, it wasn't much of a stretch at all to assume his face could also change.

Etsumi was Oni.

Shouta was right.

That was the only thought going through his mind. He was right.

Etsumi definitely had multiple quirks. There was no other explanation for this transformation.

How? How was it possible to have multiple? And just how many did he have to give him power comparable to—greater than—All Might?

Just how many quirks did he have packed into his body that just looking at him had Shouta's vision going dark around the edges?

And where did they all come from?

Katsuki narrowed his eyes at Etsumi, looking down at where his snake tail just was moments ago, where now there were feet.

Had Etsumi lied about his quirk?

Okay, stupid question. Obviously Etsumi had kept something about his quirk hidden, given how he'd transformed, but that was just lying by omission. Why had he outright lied to Katsuki?

He thought back to the Sports Festival. To their conversation at the end, when Katsuki told him about his Izuku. Etsumi had specifically said that he'd had his quirk and his tail since he was born. But if that was the case, then how…?

He looked back up at Etsumi's head, his fluffy green hair and green eyes—though not currently visible—were still the spitting image of Izuku Midoriya.

What was going on?

Izuku pulled on 'Captivate,' forcing the Noumu's attention back to him. He wouldn't even allow them to look at her.

Fuck it. He wouldn't kill All For One after all. He'd keep the asshole alive and skin him every single day for the rest of their lives. That was the only way he could even begin to make up for this.

He grimaced as he noticed more Noumu approaching, a steady stream of them now. All For One must've decided to up the ante. No more time to waste, then.

Metal flashed across his flesh as he pulled on 'Metallum,' an illusory barrier going up at the same time around the spectators, only to block out sound. He raised two hands to point at the Ragdolls, then with a push on his flight quirk, his index fingers exploded through the air, twin sonic booms rupturing his eardrums, and reduced the Ragdolls' heads to brown mist.

Not wasting a moment, he launched towards them. One of his right arms punched right through the chest of the unfamiliar Noumu while the other crushed its head. He darted to the side to avoid a punch from one of the Rebounders, grabbing one of the Grays by the head as he moved. Changing directions, he put his knee through the head of the other Gray, crushing the one in his grip at the same time.

Twisting around, he caught one of the Rebounders by the wrist, then gritted his teeth, bladed his hands, and stabbed at it with as much force as he could muster. Unlike last time, his hands cut right through it, without even a hint of any of the force being absorbed. It was quickly torn in half a second later.

Jerking to the side to avoid the other one, he planted his foot and drove his fist into its chest. Its body twisted and recoiled violently as it tried to absorb the force. He stepped in closer and delivered two more, overwhelming it with the second, causing it to explode into a mess of sludge.

'Possible to overwhelm the shock absorption.' He noted. 'Actual effectiveness in combat is to be determined. Target the head when possible.'

The next Noumu, a Gray, had just reached the clearing, and Izuku rushed to meet it, his right hands running straight through it and into the tree behind, pinning it, before ripping it in half. He was already jumping back as the tree exploded, another Gray rushing in, with two Rebounders behind it. He dipped under a punch from the Gray, pulverizing its head with a punch of his own, then caught one of the Rebounders by the wrist and throat with his right hands, the other was similarly caught an instant later by his left. Both were torn apart simultaneously.

Not giving him even a second to rest, eleven more Noumu entered the clearing. Eight Rebounders and three Grays. He brought his hands up and fired off four finger bullets. The heads of three Rebounders exploded instantly, the fourth only barely surviving because one of the others hit it out of the path.

Izuku charged in, blading his hand and putting it through a Rebounder's head. He twisted around a thrown punch to drive the attacker's head into the ground, not quite enough to kill it. A punch hit him in the side, fracturing one of his ribs. He ignored it and put his knee through the head of a Gray. A punch thrown by a Rebounder was caught by the wrist, then he swung the Noumu around and into one of the remaining two Grays, splattering it, then swung it up and around to hit a Rebounder, driving both into the ground

Two Ragdolls appeared at the edge of the clearing, and Izuku's hands were already up and pointing at them. One exploded, but the other just managed to avoid the projectile by slipping into the shadow of a tree. An instant later Izuku felt himself slow.

The final Gray charged in for a hit. He raised his hand to catch it by the wrist but just barely missed, and made a last-second adjustment to catch it by the throat instead, stopping its attack short. It retaliated by driving a fist into his elbow just as he was crushing its head. His arm exploded, eviscerated, painting him and two of the Rebounders with red mist. At the same time one of the other Rebounders drove a fist into his side, crushing his ribs and fuck, that'd be the one he drove into the ground.

Izuku fired off another finger bullet at the Ragdoll, this time hitting the mark.

As the slowing effect released, three Rebounders swung at him, the fourth lagging slightly behind. He twisted around the one that just hit him, but the fist still clipped him, carving a chunk from his side. He stabbed his now-regrown hand down through the Noumu's head, at the same time catching one of the others and crushing its head. The two remaining struck him at the same time, cracking some of the ribs that had just finished regrowing. He turned and impaled them both, then ripped both in half.

Turning, he launched himself towards the next batch to arrive. Nine of them, all the same unfamiliar one from before. His right arms tore straight through the first, ripping it apart, he grabbed a second and tore it in half, then bisected another with a swipe from his claws.

His eyes narrowed, even as he continued his assault. These Noumu were considerably more fragile than the others. That didn't bode well; it must have some kind of quirk to make up for that.

He realized why a second later when he noticed that the discarded pieces of Noumu weren't melting into sludge, but were instead regenerating. Each individual piece was regenerating independently, growing new bodies. He switched tactics immediately. Crushing the heart and head of the one before had killed it, so he'd have to do that here as well.

He did just that to the closest Noumu, then jumped up and used his flight quirk to propel himself down into the next, driving it into the ground and crushing it beneath him. He kept an eye on both as he moved on to the next. This one he relieved of an arm before crushing the heart and head just like the other. He needed to know the limits of the regeneration. How big did a piece have to be for it to take effect?

All three stayed dead, melting into sludge, but he saw the arm begin to regenerate. How did that work? Crushing the head and heart could kill it but an arm could regenerate on its own? Maybe it was just any separated piece could, no matter what, but fatal damage that left it in one piece would simply kill it.

'Avoid tearing them into pieces. Noted.'

Three Noumu were dead, but with the regenerated pieces he was left with thirteen still standing.