19

Yaoyorozu happily munched on her bento as Izuku resumed class.

The rest of the third team was still trying to catch their breath; Aoyama and Jirou had pushed their quirks pretty far, and Hagakure had to be constantly on the move. They had passed and done great, in Izuku's opinion.

"Their plan was smart," Akari said. "And they carried it out well."

"Yaomomo, I didn't know you could make actual rocket launchers. And grenades too!" Ashido gushed. "You're like a cooler Bakubro!"

Naturally, the mentioned boy took offense to that. "What the hell did you just say, you damn extra-"

"Yeah, and you were super fast with that staff! Where'd you learn that?" Kirishima interrupted.

After only a few days of living in a dorm, it seemed the other students were used to Katsuki's language. Izuku still wasn't; why did the boy even need to curse that much? 

Yaoyorozu blushed under the praise. "I have several tutors I practice with often, since my ability to create weapons would be useless without training." 

"I guess that's true," Kaminari said. "I don't think I could remember how to make all of that stuff."

"Of course you couldn't, your brain's completely fried." Jirou teased.

"Hey!"

"Jirou did great," Uraraka said. "Her quirk is how you all kept finding Cloudy, right?"

Yaoyorozu nodded. "Right, her sense of hearing was the reason we could plan all those attacks in the first place."

"Thanks, Pres."

"Her sound blasts did lots of damage, too!" 

"What about moi? " Aoyama asked. "Wasn't I fabulous back there?" 

Kirishima smiled wide, exposing his shark-like teeth. "Yeah man, your aim was amazing-" 

"...though you overused your quirk, and ended up sick to your stomach." Ashido snickered, and the prideful boy wilted a little.

"I couldn't really tell where you were, Hagakure, in all the fighting," Fuji admitted. "Were those white lights popping around yours?" 

The floating gloves waved at him. "My light magic isn't very good yet, but yeah, I can do cool stuff like that!"

"Atlas-sensei couldn't do much against it, since you were completely invisible. But how did you avoid running into your teammates?" Sato asked.

"Oh, Yaomomo told me to step really loud!" Hagakure answered. "I didn't get it at first, but apparently Cloudy can't really hear that well, so it worked out great for us!"

Akari was staring at where Hagakure was, thoughtful. Did she notice something about the invisible girl's quirk, Izuku wondered, with her similar affinity for light?

Izuku didn't think he'd ever have to teach an invisible student before. He could sense when she was nearby; the light did something weird around her and his mana could keep track of that. But that fact didn't change that he couldn't actually see Hagakure. What if she got knocked out, and nobody could find her?

"I've been meaning to ask, Atlas-sensei." Yaoyorozu mused, bringing him out of his thoughts. "How are you controlling that clone so easily through a camera? Not to mention fighting fluidly. The vision range must be quite small, not to mention how we kept attacking from different angles..."

Izuku shrugged. "Practice. The more precise your magic is, the more complex things you can do with it with the righ-" 

He paused, turning to glance out the window at the fake city as tangible amounts of familiar mana covered the entire school like a red blanket.

Ah. There goes his classtime.

It came from the sky; a streak of yellow crashing down faster than the cameras could catch. It hit the street like a meteor where Cloudy stood, smashing Izuku's poor air clone into a million pieces. Red eyes glanced about curiously at the ruined city, flickering out of existence.

Yaoyorozu blinked, confused, as Cloudy seemed to vanish on-screen. "Wait, Atlas-sensei, where did-"

"Oh, there you are." A voice came from Izuku's side.

Every student in the room was startled at once, their heads whipping to the new blonde in the room. Kaminari screamed.

"Hello, Sekhmet." Izuku smiled. "It's been a few years, hasn't it?"

Sekhmet hummed. "Figured I'd visit, it really has been too long. But you seem..." The goddess glanced at his stunned class. "...busy at the moment."

Izuku introduced them.

"Sekhmet, this is class 1-A-"

"Wait, are those humans?"

"And class, this is Sekhmet-"

"...did she just call us 'humans?'"

"Well, we are humans, Ojiro-san."

"But who says it like that?"

"Aunt Sekhmet!" A girl shouted, and the goddess's red eyes instantly softened.

Sekhmet caught the flying Akari easily, whirling her around with a smile. "My favorite niece!"

"But I'm your only-"

"How've you been?" Sekhmet asked. "You've gotten even taller since the last time I saw you!"

"Great! So I beat up a god this week with that punch you mentioned, and-" 

Around Akari, Sekhmet flipped from a calm goddess into an excited aunt. It would be cute if Izuku wasn't so terrified of her influence.

"Sekhmet? I don't think I've ever heard of a hero like that." Iida murmured.

"Ah, that's because she isn't a hero," Izuku said. "Sekhmet's her actual name; she's like my sensei."

"Atlas-sensei's sensei? She must be really strong!" Kirishima exclaimed.

Izuku shivered. "Yeah..."

Sekhmet put Akari down before she could get dizzy, ruffling her hair. "So you have human students now, huh. When'd that happen?"

"A few months ago. Seemed like fun."

Iida was so taken aback by the casual answer, but most of the class just nodded with his explanation.

Sekhmet blurred in front of Ashido, curious, and the girl jumped. "So this is the quirk thing you mentioned, right? Been so long since I've seen one. Is the cool alien-skin your ability??"

Ashido seemed to relax, almost unconsciously. "My quirk's called Acid; pretty self-explanatory, and I've looked like this my entire life as a neat side effect! What's your quirk, Sekhmet-san?"

"Mine? Ah, I don't have one of those things."

Yaoyorozu's eyes went wide. "Wow, I've never met a quirkless person before! I didn't know there were still any people without quirks-ah I'm sorry, that must have been so rude!"

Sekhmet waved it off. "Don't worry, I don't need one of those. I-"

Izuku could only sigh as she moved at blinding speed once more, stopping in front of Ojiro. She was scaring his students on purpose, wasn't she?

"-have enhancement magic, just like this kid seems to." Sekhmet squinted at the tailed boy. "Though he is super weak right now." 

Ojiro winced.

"Is it rude to ask how this girl's invisible?" Sekhmet wondered as the floating gloves let out a surprised 'eep'. 

"Yeah, but since when did you care about things like that?" Izuku asked.

"Well-"

Eraserhead burst into the room, capture scarf ready, his eyes tinged red as they searched the room.

"Where's the intruder..." The hero trailed off, watching Sekhmet pat Dark Shadow on the head. 

"This is Sekhmet," Izuku explained cheerfully. "I know her, she's just visiting!"

"Midoriya, she just broke through so many alarms-where did she even come from?"

"The sky, probably."

"We have a perfectly functional gate."

Sekhmet tilted her head, confused. "Who's Midoriya?"

"That's my family name," Izuku answered. 

"Your name is easier to say, why do you need another?"

Eraserhead raised an eyebrow. "Who exactly...is she?"

Sekhmet poked him in the side, and Eraserhead flinched. "Who's this? Another one of your students? He seems really...scruffy."

Uraraka choked.

Eraserhead ground his teeth, and Izuku hurriedly stepped in. "No, no, this is one of my co-workers. His name's Eraserhead-"

Sekhmet laughed. "What kind of name is Eraserhead? Does his head...erase things?"

Izuku brightened. "Exactly! It's cool, his eyes change and then abilities just go...poof!"

"Really? Oi, tired man. Use it on me."

Eraserhead seemed to have aged twenty years in the past minute but complied nonetheless, his eyes flashing red.

"Huh," Sekhmet said, thoughtfully. "It's like my mana's being suppressed, somehow, yet he isn't using any magic at all. I wonder if I could overpower it-"

"Please don't." Izuku pleaded. No way would that end well.

Sekhmet rolled her eyes. " Fine. I swear you take the fun out of everything. Remember when I wanted to see how far I could punt a person last decade, and you didn't let me?"

"...I think I was completely justified there."

"It would have been hilarious!"

Iida cleared his throat. "Excuse me...but if 'Sekhmet' isn't an alias, is that her actual name?" 

"Hm? Yeah, just call me Sekhmet, kid."

Iida gasped, scandalized at the very idea.

Eraserhead sighed, turning to Izuku as hands flew into the air, the rest of the class full of questions. 

"Just...get a visitor pass next time. So I never have to run here again."

"...alright."

"This is weird," Sekhmet noted. 

She stood on Dagobah Beach next to him, watching the sun start to set like she had so many times before. Now, though, the beautiful sight was tainted by the groups of humans playing in sand and water and shouts covered up the sound of waves.

"It really is." Izuku agreed. "I've had a few months to get used to it, but even then, seeing so many people is just strange. Especially here."

His spot.

"How do you train in peace, then?" 

Izuku shrugged. "I go to Heaven or just run further into the ocean, out of sight. Training on the water is good practice for my magic, anyway."

"Right, you can make water solid. That still doesn't make any sense, by the way."

"Sekhmet, I've explained it so many times-"

"Shouldn't the water just get stronger?"

"...do you want a lecture on magic theory?" 

Sekhmet shook her head, vehemently, and Izuku huffed.

Maybe next time.

"That's what I thought. Also, I've been meaning to ask, but uh, why are you wearing armor?"

Sekhmet blinked like she hadn't noticed the decorated plates running along her body, colored an intimidating red. 

"Oh, this. Mom made me go to this thing earlier...something about a challenger for my champion title? I don't know, it was really boring-"

"Wait, wait. Isn't that supposed to be a really big deal!" Izuku exclaimed.

"Nope-it's just a pain. I can tell when there's an actual fight, and when it's a weakling that I still have to deal with anyway. Like you!"

Izuku frowned. "I'm not that ba-"

Sekhmet ruthlessly cut him off. "Izuku, how many times have you won against me?"

Izuku opened his mouth, before closing it. Ah. 

"Exactly," Sekhmet said, smug. "Alas, I've tried so hard to teach you everything I know-"

"You never teach me anything, Sekhmet, you just beat me up."

"-for centuries, only to be so disappointed. But anyway, so I knocked her out with a punch-" Izuku winced in sympathy. "-and came to check on my precious student, to see if he's gotten any stronger." Sekhmet's voice was still light, but Izuku tensed.

"The speed I used in that room, with the humans. You're faster than the last time I saw you, but the actual reflexes...they're slower."

So she hadn't just been zipping around the room for fun, Izuku realized too late.

"You haven't had a serious fight in years, right? I haven't either. Most of the gods, and definitely none of the humans here, would really give you much of a challenge."

Izuku thought of All for One, how much power he'd had to use. But that was more like dealing with an elusive bug- the man himself hadn't really posed a threat to him. All Might, who didn't have annoying amounts of regeneration, could be knocked out without using his staff. And there was no way other humans would be as strong as those two.

"And?" Izuku asked, really not liking where this was going.

Sekhmet grinned, full of teeth. "I can fix that for you, my dear student."

"Don't worry sensei," Izuku started. "You really don't need to go through the trouble-"

Sekhmet warped the both of them before he could even react, the beach around them disappearing in a blur of mana.

Fuck.

Izuku's vision sharpened, taking in the bright green trees stretching below him as far as he could see, the fact that he was high up in the air and currently falling down, down through branches that barely stopped his fall. He tucked his body in on impact, tumbling across the forest floor before finally coming to a stop.

He stood to his feet, brushing the leaves out of his shirt. Sekhmet had probably taken him somewhere in Heaven, but he had no idea where. Somewhere isolated, where a huge fight wouldn't disturb anyone. 

With Void, his mana would be untraceable, so Izuku could hide and escape. Knowing his Sensei, though, that'd never work; she'd just destroy the entire forest. She was also ridiculously fast.

So that left combat, Izuku realized, and with his trusty staff sheathed across his back, he waited.

Five seconds passed before he felt the wind shift, and he dove to the side on instinct. The tree behind him shattered as the Sekhmet's first punch flew past his head, wood flying out like shrapnel. 

Izuku ducked under a roundhouse kick just in time, throwing his palm out, and the air tinged purple as it forced her back like a weighted blanket.

"If you wanted to fight, you could've just asked," Izuku muttered under his breath.

His tyrannical sensei let out a laugh at the thought. "But where's the fun in that?"

She sliced through the air barrier like it was nothing, and Izuku attacked.

Sekhmet deflected two punches easily before sliding past the following kick, her elbow striking his gut before her arm whipped the other way, and the back of her fist smacked his jaw. 

Izuku stumbled back, recalculating, raising both arms to cover his face like a boxer. 

He caught her next chop on his forearm, his fists flying in a volley of jabs in that same instant. Sekhmet weaved through the attacks before aiming straight for his unprotected stomach.

Izuku caught the punch with both hands, turning in the same motion to throw her up over his shoulder-

Only for Sekhmet to twist in mid-air, straightening out her legs to somehow land on her feet. He was still holding her arm and she pulled him in, knee slamming into his gut and knocking the breath out of him. She grabbed him by the shirt and launching him through a tree, sending him tumbling across the forest clearing.

Sekhmet was dashing forward before he could even stand up, but this time countless air chains stopped her, tugging at her arms. Sekhmet broke free in an instant, but more chains wrapped around her legs and dragged her down into the ground, like purple snakes.

Izuku reinforced the earth to trap her before he lifted the trees around him at once. Stray leaves drifted down as Izuku raised the woods higher and higher, little threads of air connected to the roots and flowing his magic through the floating forest.

They shined purple as he dropped them down, an angry storm of trees crashing down on his sensei. She was completely covered in the pile, and Izuku wondered for a split second if that had really worked.

Then the world exploded, the wall of wood helpless against the overwhelming force. Izuku's eyes went wide as the wind rushed past him, blowing back his now dusty hair.

Sekhmet stood without a scratch, the forest clearing devastated around her, hand raised in the air. Her fist glowed a bright red

Ah, he'd made her get serious. Izuku felt instant regret seep into his bones.

"That was tricky, actually." Sekhmet mused. "Not using my magic after a move like that would be pretty rude, wouldn't it?" 

As she talked, her enhancement magic slowly massed around her like a cloak; very much not a good sign. He needed to interrupt her.

"Stance Six: Javelin!" 

In a fluid movement, he unsheathed the staff from his back before pouring his reinforcement and throwing it with all of his might. The weapon cut through the air like a missile, straight at her face.

Sekhmet tilted her head and the staff blazed by, only grazing her cheek. "That was too obvious, Izuku-"

But then the air pulled at the staff, strings upon strings of mana connecting and yanking it back like a rubber band. The attack slammed into her back at twice the speed, and she stumbled forward in surprise.

He kicked her in the side in the opening, catching his staff as it fell and swinging it towards her face-

Sekhmet's palm glowed red as it effortlessly stopped the blow, and Izuku's eyes went wide. 

The next kick sent him flying back as dug his heels into the dirt and blinked back stars.

Sekhmet moved way faster than he could react. Then what he needed to do was...

With a flash of red, Sekhmet was already on him. This time he willingly took the punch, feeling his chest scream even as he moved with the momentum, pulling one end of his staff down to lift the other side like a lever.

"Stance Ten: Uppercut." 

The blow cracked against her jaw, forcing her head to glance up. 

"Stance One: Sweep."

Sekhmet leaped up, barely clearing the attack in time, but Izuku was already flowing into his next stance as he grabbed the base of his staff with both hands and swung.

"Stance Two: Bash."

In the air, Sekhmet couldn't dodge fast enough. The impact carried through her arms, pushing her off balance.

"Stance Three: Pierce."

As Izuku pulled his staff back, he stepped to the side so he was holding the staff parallel to the ground and stabbed forward-

Sekhmet's hand closed around the staff, centimeters from her face, and his second-strongest stance stopped dead short. 

Her entire body was imbued with mana now, seeping through her like blood. It was almost tangible in the air around her, the pure energy burning his skin as she got stronger and stronger.

Izuku had never seen her use this much power before, and he was terrified. He pulled on the staff desperately, but it didn't even budge in her grip. 

"That was a good fight, wasn't it? Very fun." Izuku said, his voice shaking. "But you know, we really should be getting back now-"

Sekhmet cracked her knuckles. "Oh, don't worry about that. I told Aurora we'd be back late. And we're just getting started, right?"

Izuku let go of the staff, dropping to the ground.

The attack missed, and the air pressure uprooted an entire forest behind him, loud winds all he could hear as the miniature hurricane swept across the ruined landscape.

Holy shit.

He didn't have time to stare, rolling to the side as an ax kick carved the earth where he stood.

Sekhmet threw his precious staff to the side carelessly. He made obstacles to buy time but it was useless; she shattered his air shield and her enhanced form tore through his chains without pause.

Reinforcement magic was useless without his staff, apparently. So Izuku activated Void, letting go of his magic as the technique took effect.

His ability to sense mana was unmatched in this state, and the only way he'd last another few seconds.

The only source of mana for miles was the overpowered goddess in front of him, a bright red outline. He focused, following the red body as it started to move-

Izuku ducked under a roundhouse kick, seeing the mana build for a follow-up and sidestepping just in time. He weaved through a barrage of red fists before leaping back as she punched a hole in the ground.

All he could see was a blur, but with her entire body enhanced that was enough. He parried a blow that would have taken his head off, and then another aimed at his side.

"How are you doing that? Are you predicting my moves?" Sekhmet mused, even as Izuku narrowly dodged three more jabs. "I doubt it's some kind of precognition...wait, I think I've got it." Her mana suddenly flared out, and Izuku jumped back on instinct.

"Oh, my mana. That's clever. But you can't even attack like that, too concentrated on dodging-" Izuku winced, forced to block a punch that made his left arm ache. "And what if I go faster, say...eighty percent?"

Izuku twisted but the speeding punch still struck his side before he could get out of the way.

"I don't remember you being this mean," Izuku whined, letting out a hiss of pain.

Sekhmet shrugged. "You're strong now. Why should I go easy on you?"

Izuku blinked. What?

"Really? You think I'm strong?" 

Sekhmet rolled her eyes. "I haven't gotten a chance to fight this hard in thousands of years. You're skilled, Izuku, even if you are really dense."

"...Huh. That's not what you said earlier."

"That was just so you'd let your guard enough for an unwilling warp. Which worked, by the way."

Oh. Izuku felt a wide smile stretch across his face.

"Stop doing that." Sekhmet frowned. "That's weird."

"Doing what?" 

Izuku turned Void off and pulled his staff back into his hands with a few air strands. This time, he tried for more reinforcement than before, flowing more and more mana into the staff until he finally felt the metal crack.

He actually had so much more mana now. Why was he sticking to a familiar limit?

Izuku smiled wider. "Thanks, Sekhmet."

"For wha-"

Stance Seven: Burst.

Izuku focused on his legs, pushing off against the ground in a single breath and launching himself forward.

For a single instant, he was just as fast as Sekhmet.

He stepped behind her, slashing down in an arc. She barely ducked under it in time, and his staff twirled in his hands as he attacked, lashing out in flashes of purple.

Izuku blocked a devastating kick, and the staff held against the massive amount of force without complaint even as the impact jolted through his arms.

He couldn't see attacks coming as he had before, but the more he fought the more he adapted. The staff spun in front of him, batting away blows as he made his own strikes; he was having fun, he realized. 

"Stance Eight: Hook." 

He caught the back of Sekhmet's neck, yanking her forward as the other end of the staff struck her stomach. 

Izuku sidestepped her next blow easily. "Stance Two: Ba-"

It was a feint, and the actual punch slammed into his side with an audible crack. He didn't falter, countering back.

"I've been meaning to ask, but Izuku...why do you say your stances out loud?" Sekhmet asked, aiming another strike that he deflected on reflex.

"Why not? It's fun."

"It sounds dumb-"

"Stance One: Sweep!" 

Sekhmet stepped back automatically, and Pierce drove into her stomach and knocked her back.

Izuku grinned. He pressed the attack, metal flashing as his staff spun faster and faster. He could win if he kept this up!

Sekhmet was a being of perfect control. As the strongest, if she didn't know how to hold back, she'd accidentally kill her opponent. 

So she took her ridiculously huge amount of power and divided it into neat percentages. By accurately judging the enemy, she knew exactly how much enhancement to use, and they wouldn't end up dead. And as Izuku grew to have similar strength, she taught him that control so he didn't break his precious city with a twitch. Sekhmet spent ages rarely going above a comfortable twenty percent. 

But for the first time in forever, she got a chance to go all out.

Izuku didn't see it. 

One moment he was swinging his staff, and the next his chest exploded with pain and he was slamming into a mountain miles and miles away.

He slumped to the ground, staring at the path of destruction; trees and bushes destroyed in line from where he flew from, stretching as far as he could see.

Huh.

The adrenaline started to wear off. His limbs were numb, his back was wrecked, and his ribs were definitely broken from that last hit. He let out a sigh before grimacing as his body protested the action.

Izuku heard Sekhmet land near him, and she snapped her fingers, healing him in a familiar flash of green. The bones and bruises knitted together through magic, reigniting the pain.

Luckily, he had insane pain tolerance Izuku thought, half-conscious.

"Good fight, Izuku." 

He glanced up, expecting sarcasm, to see Sekhmet smile genuinely at him, actually reaching her eyes. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen his sensei that happy. Whatever it was, he was glad for her.

Izuku took her hand, and as she pulled his exhausted body to his feet he couldn't help but smile back.

"Yeah, it was."

Notes:

Izuku fighting seriously for the first time in a while was really fun to write! (don't worry, it won't be the last!)

Discord: https://discord.gg/SVFFP5jXt5