27

Chapter 27

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Team Momo had gotten more than enough points.

1st Place, 350 Points: Yaoyorozu, Midoriya, Jirou, Hagakure.

2nd Place, 225 Points: Todoroki, Iida, Tokoyami, Uraraka.

3rd Place, 160 Points: Monoma, Kodai, Shinsou, Rin.

4th Place, 135 Points: Bakugou, Kirishima, Ashido, Sero.

5th Place, 130 Points: Hatsume, Fuji, Kuroiro, Yanagi.

6th Place, 120 Points: Honenuki, Bondo, Kaminari, Shoda.

7th Place, 100 Points: Kendo, Tsuburaba, Komori, Pony.

8th Place, 90 Points: Asui, Koda, Fukidashi, Kaibara.

9th Place, 80 Points: Ojiro, Aoyama, Shoji, Sato.

10th Place, 65 Points: Shiozaki, Setsuna, Kamikiri, Shishida.

"We now have our sixteen finalists!" Mic exclaimed. "Congrats to everyone who made it through. After a short intermission, we'll move into the final round- get ready for the single-elimination tournament, y'all!"

The students around her had varied reactions to the bright scoreboard- an angry blonde raged loudly off to the side at his placement, barely comforted by his team, just as a certain scarred boy's ever-present frown deepened further.

"We got first, Akari!" Tooru exclaimed.

Akari, though, only cared about the team at her side.

"We really beat everyone else by a landslide ." Jirou marveled. 

"Yep." Akari grinned at the three of them. "We all did amazing, didn't we?"

Momo smiled back, cheeks flushed red. "Yes, we really did."

1-A sat together in the lowest seats of the stadium well away from the rest of the audience. There was now a large, circular arena on the field below, a ring painted at its edges. 

Midnight stood proudly at the center, cracking her whip to get the audience's attention. In her other hand was a microphone, boldly waved through the air as she spoke.

"Divert your attention to the screen, participants, and spectators, to see our wonderful tournament bracket!" 

So Akari got to fight four times, nice.

"Look's like we're fighting soon, Mina," Tooru commented from next to her.

"Seems so. No hard feelings when I take you down, right?" Mina teased.

"Heh, as if!"

"Fights will be pretty simple." Midnight continued. "The first student to surrender, step out of bounds, or be deemed unable to continue loses the match. If a battle gets too spicy, well, I'll have to step in." 

She smirked, opening up a little of her sleeve as a warning to all.

"But with no further adieu, let's get started! Would Tokoyami and Rin please come down to the arena?"

The mentioned students soon entered from opposite sides of the stadium. 

Dark Shadow was wrapped around Tokoyami's shoulders and neck like a scarf, the quirk's yellow eyes gleaming as the two conversed in low whispers.

Rin stood tall, but he still seemed tired from his battles in the last round. It was pretty unfortunate that he had to go first.

Midnight started the match and Dark Shadow immediately lunged for his opponent.

Rin reacted just quickly enough, diving to avoid the blow. His body turned light green, like armor, and he fired thin blades from his arms.

Unfortunately, the attacks didn't do much to Dark Shadow. Tokoyami wasn't a very good fighter by himself, but he moved in perfect sync with his sentient quirk to gain an advantage over the 1-B student. Soon enough, Rin was cornered and launched bodily out of the arena by the shadowy pair.

"A quick victory goes to our cool nightbird! Now, next up we have the upbeat and stealthy Hagakure up against the quick and pink Ashido!" Mic announced. 

"...Why are you even doing introductions, Mic? And why are they so bad- "

"I'm rusty, okay!"

Poor Mina. Akari couldn't imagine getting introduced to a live audience as pink. (No matter how accurate it was.)

"Good luck, Tooru!" Akari called out to her friend.

Tooru's blue sleeves waved back wildly. "I will!"

She didn't need it. As soon as the match started, Tooru took her gloves off- leaving Mina helpless.

It was weird to watch someone fight against an invisible opponent. From the seats, Akari strained her mana sense to track Tooru's movements.

Mina did put up a good effort, sliding around the arena with her quirk and flinging acid all around her. It was a smart tactic; Tooru couldn't risk getting hit by acid while she was literally naked.

But Tooru had ranged attacks of her own. Spheres of light seemed to come out of nowhere, pelting Poor Mina on all sides. And as soon as Tooru got close, well-

"Ashido has been knocked unconscious and is therefore unable to continue. Hagakure is the winner of this match!"

It was over.

Tooru returned to her seat happily, and Akari shot her a proud smile. 

Jirou's matchup was far more unlucky; going up against Bakugou, of all people. She was on the defensive the entire battle, Bakugou's reflexes and mobility more than enough to dodge her vibrations- limited as they were without her speakers. Every booming explosion must've been hell on her hearing.

Nonetheless, Jirou didn't give up, lasting just long enough to get a solid hit in before being knocked unconscious. It was quite satisfying to see her jacks jab into Bakugou's gut, but Akari knew the girl must've wanted to get further in the tournament.

And then it was finally time for Akari's first fight. Midnight called her name and she stood, getting a high-five from Tooru on her way down to the arena. 

Akari soon met Iida's eyes across the distance. As expected, he was already at his starting position, ready.

Iida pushed up his glasses. "Greetings, Midoriya-san. I am quite excited for this duel, and will do my best to defeat you!"

"...Cool. I'll try to beat you, too." 

"Good sportsmanship, you two." Midnight smiled. "Now, begin!" 

Instantly, Iida's engines flared a bright blue and he blasted forward. He reared his leg back in a single blazing attack, his eyes determined.

This was his triumph card, Akari remembered, a move that let him move at far greater speeds The hero student was going all out at the start- an attempt to blitz her with every bit of his focus.

But to her, that practiced kick was just inching slowly towards her jaw, suspended in the air minutes away from impact. The blue springing out of his steel pipes was frozen too, like miniature mountains of fire. 

Akari liked Iida. He was a little strict and rule-bent, but he always had good intentions and respected every one of his classmates. She couldn't help but feel a little guilty over how completely she outclassed the speed he was so proud of. 

Yet, Akari had worked hard to get this fast, and she wasn't here to play around with her opponents.

Akari stepped forward, grabbed his leg, and flung him out of bounds. 

Midnight gasped as Iida suddenly slammed into the opposite wall. "And it seems Iida has lost! An intense battle of speed decided in a mere second!"

Akari walked over to Iida as he pulled himself to his feet, engines stalling with gray smoke. She silently held out her hand. 

Iida stared at her for a moment, his stern features flickering. Then he took it and let her pull him to his feet.

"...You really are incredibly fast, Midoriya-san." Iida praised. "I endeavor to reach your level, someday!"

"Thanks. You know you can just call me Midoriya, right?"

Iida's eyes instantly went wide, scandalized, and Akari laughed lightly at the sight.

"We'll get there."

Mosquitoes were annoying.

Tiny, mobile creatures that persistently attacked the beings around them to consume blood. They could just be pinched between Izuku's fingers yet had rare and irritating bursts of agility.

When animal life returned with the Drift, it had been an exercise in control in itself just to hit the bugs fast enough to kill them without destroying anything else.

Mosquitoes couldn't pierce Izuku's skin at all but the intent to harm was still there. A tingling sensation, not enough to be a threat but enough to poke incessantly at Izuku's mind. It was very distracting to have something constantly directing that kind of intent at you.

Izuku let out a long sigh.

Inko looked away from Yaoyorozu and Kodai's match(interesting, with the way the 1-B student's quirk countered the former's.) at the sound. "Izuku? Is something wrong?"

"Well, kind of." 

Another little press against the back of Izuku's head, like a tangible glare.

"You should deal with that." Sekhmet piped up without a glance. Eri was in her lap, watching the fight below with wide, curious eyes. "I'm pretty sure their not going to leave you alone 'till you do, Izuku."

He turned to his wife and Aurora just offered him a small, sympathetic smile.

Alright then.

Izuku stood to his feet. "I'm gonna step out for a bit, Mom." 

"...Sure, honey. Come back soon!" Inko said, a little confused.

"I will." He gave Eri a gentle pat on the head as he passed.

Izuku crossed through rows of seats to leave the arena, trying not to block anyone else's view and reached the inside of the stadium.

There were crowds of people walking back the way he came, delicious-smelling popcorn cradled tight under their arms. The further Izuku walked the fewer people there were until he was in a seemingly empty hallway, the buzz of the arena now a faint murmur.

Completely alone.

And then there was a spike of killing intent.

Izuku whirled around to see a flash of silver, catching the falling blade between two fingers.

"Hello." Izuku greeted. "Did you need something?"

The attacker yanked his arm back and Izuku let the sword go, curiously taking him in.

The mosquito had long, messy hair, a nose-less face, and eyes that glared right into Izuku. He could pass for another angry civilian, really, if it weren't for that blood-red scarf wrapped around his neck and the two katanas held firm in his hands.

"...Because you're kinda making me miss the tournament, here."

A derisive scoff. "A prideful, worthless competition where the outcome was decided from the start."

Izuku raised an eyebrow.

"Your daughter, Atlas," The man continued in that hard, raspy voice. "Is already at the top, with more combat potential already than her peers will gain in their entire lifetimes. So why bother?"

"Maybe so. But I want to be there to see her victories." Obviously. "And what about the second-place finisher? Or the third, or the fourth? As a teacher, I care about all my student's progress- not just my daughter's."

"A good mindset for an educator to possess, certainly." Scarf Man acknowledged. "But what about for a hero?"

He dug a dagger out of his shirt and threw it at Izuku.

Izuku simply plucked the knife out of the air, using it to block Scarf Man's sword swing in the same instant. The man pushed against their crossed blades to no avail- Izuku not giving him a single inch- before he slashed wildly with the other katana. 

The attack clanged off Izuku's horn without a scratch and Scarf Man scowled, lunging again.

Izuku easily stepped out of range, his new knife flickering up once more to deflect a second dagger. It thudded into the wall up to the hilt, stuck fast.

"To heroes, the weak should be worthless. All that should matter to them is personal power and self-sacrifice. You possess both of those qualities, Atlas, and that is why I, Stain, am here to test your might as a true hero!"

Weirdo.

Stain sped up, his twin katanas slicing fluidly through the air. Izuku parried easily with one hand, his stolen knife a flash of silver against the dual onslaught. It was fun, actually- Izuku hadn't had a pure weapon spar in quite some time and the human seemed to have a decent level of skill.

The man's mobile fighting style scored long cuts along the hallway as the spar wore on, the man agilely leaping off the walls and ceiling.

A straight lunge for Izuku's heart batted away with the clash of steel. A predictable kick- a blade jutting out of Stain's boot and missing Izuku's eyes completely. A cross slash aimed directly for Izuku's neck hit nothing but air, an interesting move clearly made to slay monsters.

Faster, faster.

"In a new world full of weak and detestable fakes that run away rather than towards the monsters, there are almost none like you and All Might that truly deserve the title of hero."

"So you approached me since I have both the conviction and the ability to reach your ideal of a hero." Izuku summarized. "But what do you do when you find a 'fake', then? A hero who's weak or doesn't know what they're doing, a hero who commits crimes, or maybe even a hero whose motivations you judge to be impure?"

The two combatants broke apart momentarily, calculating, before diving back in. Izuku's knife clashed sharply against Stain's swords, holding firm.

The Hero Killer grinned, mad. "That's where I come in, Atlas. I am the bloodstained agent of destruction, the one who'll rip every monster and fake hero apart until every last one of those undeserving filth is weeded out. Society will be rectified by my actions, true heroes restored by my efforts, and we will be all the better for it."

On the surface that sounded effective. Grim and unethical, yes, but effective.

However-

"You understand less about human society than me, Stain, and that's saying something." 

"Wha-"

"Let's say you see a weak hero lose a fight to a villain or something, and you deem them a fake hero. You immediately drop in and kill him with your okay swordsmanship, overpowered quirk, and some blood magic." 

Stain twitched at his words, clearly not expecting Izuku to know about his abilities.

"Now, that man you killed has gone from 'the weak hero who lost' to 'the brave, talented hero who was murdered by the dangerous, dangerous Hero Killer.' It's the same thing if you take out a hero who used their position to commit crimes; the very fact that they were killed by you changes the entire story, doesn't it?"

"And then you come here to tell a hero that they'll kill other heroes. Am I supposed to let you go to continue your murder spree?" Izuku wondered. It just seemed even stranger when he said it out loud. "Why come to me, Stain?" 

"It's simple. I saw your ruthlessness that day that walking monster from the myths appeared, a beast powerful enough to make every hero tremble. Even the bird fled away in fear." Stain hissed.

"But you-you fought and fought until it was lying dead on the street. Where is that cold conviction now, Atlas? The very self-sacrifice in your name? Where is the drive to cull this twisted society as-"

"-a true hero?" Izuku cut in, waving Stain's knife as he talked. "You keep using that term. I think you're misunderstanding something, here. I could care less about this pedestal you've put me on, the heroic role you're trying to push on me. I'm a teacher first, and a hero second."

Izuku loved saving people, something that'd never change. But his burning desire to become a Pro Hero had faded long, long ago.

Teaching was truly special to the current Izuku.

"All that strength wasted with such a goal..." Stain muttered.

He didn't expect a man like this to understand.

"And this illogical string of murders isn't a waste of your power?" The teacher challenged.

Stain's eyes flashed. 

"You've only found two 'true heroes' so far, anyway. What're you going to do to like, every single other hero in Japan?"

"They will all fall to my blades-"

Izuku countered a little bit harder on his next slash, shattering right through one of Stain's swords. Tiny fragments of the destroyed weapon stabbed into the villain's arm like shrapnel as he fell back, trickles of blood leaking out.

"You're far too weak to do something like that," Izuku stated simply.

Stain's knuckles went white on the hilt of his remaining katana at the words. His wrath and righteous anger tightened together, flooding the hallway in bloodlust.

Killing intent was an interesting skill, capable of inducing sharp fear and a sense of danger through nothing but pure emotion and focus. But to someone like Izuku, well-

The Prince of Heaven brushed the mosquito's rage aside without a second thought.

"Accept that fact, Stain."

Stain growled, low with anger. "I harbor no illusion of my own capabilities, nor any delusions of your power, Atlas. But to directly state that you're making a fool of me, to insult my very convictions? That is an unforgivable sin...even for a true hero!"

Mana ran through Hero Killer's bloodstream as he went all out, increasing his body's effectiveness. The transfer of oxygen and essential nutrients heavily sped up for a well-rounded enhancement, the veins along Stain's body seeming to brighten with power. Meanwhile, the blood dripping out of his arm lifted up into the air and hardened into sharp, deadly shards.

Blood magic was rare and quite hard to learn- but the ability had its benefits.

Stain lunged at blinding speed, his sword swinging down in a devastating arc as red rushed towards his target's heart-

Izuku swatted the mosquito.

The backhand smashed into Stain's face with a sharp crack as Izuku's knuckles dug in with every single bit of painful force. The casual blow threw the man sideways into the wall with a mighty crash, hard enough to instantly knock him unconscious on impact. The red missiles hit a breath later, bouncing off Izuku's skin harmlessly and clattering to the floor.

And the hallway was quiet once again save for Stain's soft breathing and the muffled voices of the stadium. 

Izuku sighed. What a waste of time.

"Oh, Atlas, how may I hel-shit is that the Hero Killer? "

"Yep. I'm pretty sure I got all of his weapons but he had an actual armory on him, somehow, so I might've missed one. I'll just...drop him over here."

"I'm-I'm gonna need to make a few calls..."

"Cool. You do that."

"Wait, where are you goi-"

Izuku flickered back to the stadium, two bowls of popcorn in his hands. He gave one to Sekhmet before plopping down next to his wife.

"Did I miss anything?" Izuku asked, anxious. He hadn't been gone that long so hopefully, he hadn't missed to mu-

Aurora hummed. "Yep. The creation girl beat that girl with the size ability with a pretty cool trick- she used reinforcement magic and everything- and just now that redhead walked out of the arena instead of fighting the purple-haired boy."

Two matches?!

Wait. "Kirishima surrendered?" Izuku said, surprised. "He didn't seem like the kinda boy to do that..."

Aurora reached over to grab a handful of popcorn and Izuku held the bowl a little closer for her. "He didn't surrender. The purple-haired boy-"

"Shinsou." Izuku corrected as he took some himself, enjoying the satisfying crunch. 

"Shinsou said something and when Kirishima responded, he went blank and followed his command. A really interesting mind control ability, it seems."

"So that's what his quirk was..practically an unstoppable quirk for the hero career, actually. One joke, question, or insult and unaware villains are just...done."

"Yep," Aurora agreed. "Yet he isn't in the hero course, despite possessing that ability and a limited amount of training-"

"-because of how our entrance exam is made." Izuku finished, frowning. "The other teachers and Nezu seem to hate that too. I mean, some of my coworker's quirks don't even work on robots. We made a few steps to fix it this year, but ultimately the first U.A exam after the Drift would need to emphasize power to make the humans feel safe- which is perfectly understandable to humans suddenly learning monsters exist, really."

"But at the same time, that Shinsou kid isn't the only one to not have a quirk to suit the exam, right? That blonde boy-"

"Monoma."

"-Monoma has clearly worked on his swordsmanship for far longer, and because of that got into the hero course with a copying ability. Shinsou has trained for at most three to five years, and came up just short in points." Aurora paused, munching down on her popcorn. "Whoa, this is good - nothing like the store kind." 

"High quality." Izuku agreed, taking another handful. "It kinda reminds me of when we used to steal from movie theatres. You know, before."

"Ah, I remember that. We were running out of places to explore at that point. It was so nice to watch stuff on the big projector once we figured out how it worked."

Izuku smiled at the memory. "Yeah, it was. I agree with you on Shinsou by the way; his success is his own doing. But he's already made it to the fourth round under his own efforts- more than enough to transfer to the hero course."

"Do you want to train him?" Aurora asked.

"Well, Aizawa does. I really just want to find out how the mind control works." Izuku admitted.

"Makes sense." Aurora hummed. "Well, he'll probably fight Todoroki next. If you don't take another random trip-"

"I was being attacked, Aurora-"

"-then you'll get to see it in action. And if he gets to Akari, well, she's probably just as curious about it as you are."

"True-wait," Izuku blinked. "How'd you know Todoroki's name but not any of the others?"

Aurora rolled her eyes. "It's a little difficult to miss the boy with dual-colored hair, Izuku."

"...Oh."

"Especially since half of his hair is white and zero young people have white hair."

Izuku frowned, hands flying up to his hair defensively. "Hey, that's not true. There are plenty of people with white hair who aren't old."

Aurora raised a perfect eyebrow. "Like who?"

"Eri!"

"Eri doesn't count, she's special."

Izuku blanked. "Uh...I don't know, me?"

"Izuku, we're over 1000 years old."

"The prime of a god's life!"

"Sure, but by human standards you're ancient."

"Well, by human standards you're ancient, too!"

"But I don't have white hair." 

Izuku glanced at Aurora's beautiful purple hair and then back to her smug face.

Damn, she had him there.

"Just for that, I'm taking away the popcorn," Izuku grumbled, pettily tugging the bowl away.

Aurora gasped, too slow to stop the crunchy goodness from leaving her possession. "You wouldn't!"

"Hey, Eri, you want some more?" Izuku held the delicious-smelling container towards the child-the child who just discovered popcorn was a thing.

Eri nodded hard, her red eyes lighting up. She took it happily, pouring their remaining popcorn...into the bowl she stole from Sekhmet. Her small arms hugged the now full box to her like the precious treasure it was, popping one puff at a time into her mouth.

Izuku and Aurora just paused for a moment, watching their daughter in wonder.

"Never mind." Aurora relented. "She can have it."

"Yep."

Notes:

The Stain scene fought me for a while, and I'm still not sure if that came out as it should. I'm pretty sure my rant on canon Stain accidentally flowed into there too, lmao. He was quite fun to write.

This is my first test in putting images in a chapter, so if I somehow messed that up please tell me!

I made a completely random tournament bracket and then fixed it a little so it'd be more interesting to play out than canon. Somehow Todoroki ended up against Sero again- poor guy.

May he rest in ice.