….
Dabi knew his problem children were up to something absurd.
'Those suicidal brats...'
He thought, though he didn't turn his head to look.
He didn't care enough to break focus, because by his calculations, he had at most five moves left before All For One was entirely erased from this world.
Across the crater, the parasitic will of All For One commanding Tomura Shigaraki's stolen vessel had deteriorated into frantic malice.
The century old demon was burning through the boy's actual vital life force, warping Shigaraki's flesh with bio electric arcs and hyper pressurized decay arcs that shredded the surroundings into fine dust.
"You insolent, mutated mistake...!" All For One snarled through Shigaraki's bleeding throat. "I will tear those scales from your bones!"
The attacks grew more violent and desperate.
But maintaining [Dragon Force] was taking its own heavy toll on Dabi's body.
The sheer pressure of compressing his flame and zero frost within his mortal body was beginning to strain his dragon core.
He couldn't afford to let this drag out a second longer.
INHALEEEEE–!
Dabi drew a massive, shuddering breath deep into his gut, his chest swelling as the scales along his throat glowed with incandescent, blinding white blue heat.
BOOOOOOOM!
A colossal column of pure [Dragon Breath] erupted from his mouth, a devastating, focused beam of cosmic plasma that completely engulfed All For One's incoming decay wave, vaporizing the disintegrating air and blasting him straight into the fractured foundation of the basin.
Dabi lowered his chin, smoke curling from his lips as frost and flame swirled around his fists.
He coiled his legs, preparing the finishing blow to pulverize the parasite once and for all. Just as he stepped forward to execute it raw scream tore through the sky above:
"TENKO SHIMURA–!!!"
Dabi's slit-pupiled golden eyes snapped upward, a visible vein twitching near his temple.
Hovering in mid-air, riding a strange, weightless golden aura while green lightning crackled across his frame, was….
Izuku Midoriya.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Dabi cursed out loud.
The single most reckless problem child in Class 1-A, a kid who had nearly broken his mind just to stand in All For One's half-presence back at the commercial district.
Had just launched himself into a calamity-level battlefield thousands of leagues above his pay grade.
Down in the crushed rock, All For One heard the name and snapped.
"Tenko...?! You dare utter that name here?!"
Rage exploded through his mind.
Forgetting Dabi for a fraction of a second, All For One thrust Shigaraki's remaining arm skyward, firing a razor thin spear of pressurized decay straight at the floating teenager.
Midoriya's [Danger Sense] shrieked.
Struggling with the brand new, clumsy mechanics of [Float], he awkwardly twisted his torso and snapped [Blackwhip] into the upper rock lip to yank himself sideways.
The black spear grazed his shoulder, tearing through his outfit.
Before Midoriya could stabilize himself in the air, All For One's second strike was already firing, unleashing three simultaneous spears of dark disintegration towards him.
He was aiming for the kill.
BOOM!
However, a boom shattered in the safe distance of the air directly in front of Midoriya.
Dabi appeared, and took the incoming attack, forming a dense crescent of ice in mid-air, instantly freezing the decay spears solid before smashing them into frozen powder.
Midoriya hung weightlessly in the air behind him, his wide green eyes staring in awe at the majestic and terrifying silhouette of his teacher.
Up close, Dabi's [Dragon Force] form didn't look like anything Midoriya had analyzed from the screens.
The dense, diamond like ice scales, the ultraviolet white heat radiating off his right side, and the overwhelming, predatory presence of a true apex monster.
Dabi didn't turn around, but his voice cut through the whistling wind.
"This situation looks pretty fucking familiar, doesn't it, kid?"
Midoriya's breath caught as the memory of the Kiyashi Ward shopping mall flashed vividly through his mind.
The dark purple mist, All For One aiming a lethal blast straight at him, and Dabi stepping into the line of fire with his arms crossed in an X-guard to take the hit and shield him.
Dabi slowly turned his gaze down toward the crater, his golden, dragon-slitted eyes locking onto All For One with disgust.
"Nothing's changed about you, you damn bastard." Dabi said, his voice dropping into danger. "For fuck's sake... stop going after my damn students."
Across the basin, All For One choked on his own rage.
If anyone on the face of the planet had the right to be furious at that statement, it was him.
Every time All For One tried to make a move, whether at the USJ, the recent training camp, the commercial mall, or now in Kamino Ward, Dabi was the one hunting down his subordinates, dismantling his Nomu, and relentlessly beating his own apprentice, Tomura Shigaraki, half to death.
"This annoying insolent pest...!"
All For One hissed through Shigaraki's bloodied lips, his aura flaring wildly.
"Shut your mouth and take your beating." Dabi barked, blue fire and frost erupting simultaneously across his fists as he launched himself straight at the parasite–
"Class is in session."
….
….
In the living room in Musutafu, Midoriya household, Inko Midoriya sat shocked on the edge of her sofa, both hands clamped over her mouth.
On the television screen, the news feed zoomed in on a green-haired boy suspended thousands of feet above the battlefield.
"Izuku..." Inko choked out, fresh tears bursting past her tightly squeezed eyelids and running down her pale cheeks.
Her heart felt like it was physically being crushed inside her ribs.
She had watched the reports of the training camp raid, the Nomu attacks, and the shopping mall incident where her son had nearly been snatched away, begging him to be careful, and now found him floating directly over the danger zone.
"Please... oh god, please stay safe... Izuku!" she wept, pressing her forehead against her clasped hands in a prayer.
….
….
U.A. Command Center
Inside the monitoring room at U.A., the displays continued to live casting of the battlefield.
Eri leaned forward, her small, round eyes widening as she recognized the green head boy.
"Big bro...!" she gasped. "It's Big Bro Midoriya!"
Beside her, four year old Himiko Toga, tilted her head in sheer bewilderment.
Having no memory of the past or about the Leagues, and having barely interacted with the boy beyond seeing him pass by in the halls, she simply blinked at the monitor.
"Big bro...?" Toga tugging lightly at Eri's sleeve. "The green boy is flying? Is he a bird, Eri-chan?"
The Recovery Girl gave an exhausted sigh, rubbing her temples with one wrinkled hand–
"That boy is going to give me a heart attack before he even finishes his first year... floating right into Dabi's strike zone."
….
….
Meanwhile, in a secure upper floor hospital room four hundred kilometers away, where Dabi had smashed through the window hours prior to go on his rampage, the mood was completely different.
The 'Reformed Ravagers' and Dabi's misfit team were having the time of their lives.
Twice was sitting cross-legged on the edge of an unmade hospital bed, shaking a large cardboard tub of buttered popcorn while cheering at the ceiling.
"YEAH! KICK HIS ASS, BOSS! Break his spine! Put him in the dirt!" Twice screamed, his head twitching from side to side in delight. "That's our Boss! He's turning that creep into meat!"
Spinner said, leaning against the shattered windowsill with a toothy grin as he tossed a handful of popcorn into his mouth. "Man, remember when he used to do that to us during morning drills? Good to see the bad guys getting the exact same treatment."
"A truly magnificent display of chivalric violence!" Gentle Criminal proclaimed theatrically, holding a lukewarm paper cup of hospital tea. "Pure elegance! The unrestrained ferocity! It brings a passionate tear to the eye!"
"Gentle, look here!!" La Brava squealed from behind her laptop, snapping screen recordings of Dabi's draconic scales. "Dabi-san's views are crashing the entire streaming server!"
The rowdy cheering suddenly died down as the camera feed shifted from Dabi's beatdown to the perimeter line.
The screen replayed the absurd, lightning fast traversal combo:
Class 1-A bypassing the police barricade, Shoto erecting a massive frozen ski ramp, and Katsuki Bakugo using an explosive stun blast to catapult Midoriya straight into the sky.
.
….
[To be continued…]
★─────⇌•★•⇋─────★
Author Note:
Visit Patreon to instantly access +1 chapter for free, available for Free Members as well. For additional content please do support me and gain access to +12 more chapters.
-->[email protected]/WrightBrothers