Chapter Fifty-Four: The Dark Side

It was the most violent stalemate any of them had ever experienced.

Chisaki was being forced to Overhaul the walls because Izuku had shattered so much of the floor with One for All. They were practically fighting on pieces of gravel at this point, or at least in the immediate area around Chisaki.

Himiko warped again to escape the onslaught of piercing stone and reappeared on the opposite end of the room. Her head was throbbing intensely with pain—she'd definitely gone beyond her limits with Blink. She was gonna have to reset herself soon with Overhaul. Even if the fight ended this very second, she'd have no other choice unless she wished to die. She'd known for years now that her body wasn't meant to tear open holes in space and time, despite that she had the ability to do so.

A few Blinks she could handle, although the aftermath of it would give her a splitting headache. Using Blink up to her limit would leave her bedridden for at least a day from the sheer pain of the migraine that would follow, sometimes even more.

The warm drops of blood she could feel running down her nose to her lips told her she was well past that limit. She'd been warned before—overusing this ability of hers would cause permanent, if not fatal brain damage. It was why she only utilized it as a last resort, and scarcely used it more than once or twice at the most.

Now? She had no doubt she would be crippled or dead after this, unless she Overhauled herself to reset the damage.

One more, she told herself, gasping when another shock of searing pain lanced through her head. She glared at Chisaki as Izuku fired a few more bolts of plasma at him, though they were blocked easily enough. Chisaki was hugging the wall between them and the rest of the battle their allies were waging, intent on utilizing it to continue his attacks.

They'd been steadily pushing him further into a corner, forcing him to run out of floor to Overhaul and trying to make his attacks more predictable. She and Izuku continually put pressure on him, one attacking so the other could back off and leaving Chisaki with little more than a few moments to act in-between assaults.

She begrudgingly gave the bastard some credit—he was stupidly resilient in the face of all the damage he'd taken. He'd been subjected to broken bones, stab wounds, burns, lacerations, and a whole myriad of other injuries, but he continued to Overhaul himself each time. She was almost impressed he had the willpower to keep going through the constant pain. He just wouldn't go down, and even when he managed to injure one of them, Himiko still had enough of his blood from her initial attack to utilize his Quirk for herself.

And there were injuries on both sides. Never mind her own worsening condition from Blink, the biggest threat to all sides was that each of them specialized in delivering big hits at close range. Every blow was heavily debilitating, if not fatal. She'd had to Overhaul Izuku a half-dozen times by now for every time Chisaki tagged one of his limbs and caused it to explode. She'd avoided being struck by his Quirk thus far, but if she didn't reset soon she was going to be too distracted by pain for her skill to keep holding her out.

This stalemate wouldn't last indefinitely. She'd probably used up more than half of her supply of Chisaki's blood. The syringe had drawn a fatal amount from Chisaki when she first attacked him, but even that wouldn't last them long given how frequently she was forced to utilize it.

She watched as Izuku pulverized the latest batch of stone spikes into pebbles, taking the opportunity to fling some of them with the force of his kick towards Chisaki, who lifted his arms up to protect his face and backed further into the corner. Himiko focused on the chance, then Blinked through space and time once more to appear on the wall directly above and behind their enemy.

Her dagger flew down toward the base of his neck, intent on finally putting an end to the fight—

Chisaki's back suddenly roiled beneath his clothing and then exploded upwards. Even as her blade descended, Soramitsu's jaws ripped through the Yakuza Boss' shirt and jacket to bite her hand off at the wrist, knife and all.

Himiko screamed, bracing her foot on the underside of the freakishly mutated jaws and ripping back, pulling strings of flesh away from Soramitsu's snapping teeth. Chisaki spun towards her, all three of the arms on his left side seeking her out to finish her off—

She heard a howl, both horrified and enraged all at once, and then Chisaki was crushed into the wall behind her with enough force to send Himiko hurtling through the air in the opposite direction. She heard bones snapping and popping and the Yakuza boss let out an agonized shriek.

Before she could even tumble to the ground, Izuku was there to catch her and braced her against him as they hit the shattered bits of rock, skidding away from the latest exchange of carnage.

She barely had the coherency to trigger Overhaul with her remaining hand, pressing it to her body and willing it to reset her.

It was a strange sensation—it hurt worse than anything she had ever felt before, but immediately following it was sheer relief and an absence of pain where there had once been agony. Her body broke out in a confused, cold and hot sweat that left her gasping as her brain tried to understand that her injuries were gone.

Izuku lifted her in his arms again and kept them backing off until they were at the wall opposite Chisaki, who had reset himself in the meantime. His brow was furrowed in rage and Himiko could only briefly think that he was undoubtedly furious his ploy had failed to kill her.

"He set a trap," she gasped, trying to find her balance as Izuku helped her stand up on wobbly legs. "That stupid beak was bait. We can't get him from the back with that fucking mouth waiting for us."

Izuku nodded shakily and she winced as he squeezed her arm a little too tightly. She glanced at him and froze when she caught sight of his hand, which was mangled badly. "What did you—"

"I let a little too much power out," he told her, voice tight with pain. "I thought he had you. I panicked."

"Give," she ordered, reaching for his hand and trying to reset it. Himiko froze briefly when nothing happened initially.

Oh. Right.

She hit the button on her blood-store pack and was relieved when blood flowed into her mouth through the mask. A few moments later and she felt Overhaul tingling at her fingertips, and she willed it to reset just Izuku's damaged hand. It was difficult since she didn't have the skill to focus on more than the Quirk's base functions.

The attempt was a total disaster, as Izuku's entire arm exploded before reforming. He shrieked and dropped to his knees, and Himiko fell with him to keep him from collapsing completely.

"I'm sorry," she apologized helplessly.

"I-it's fine," he gasped, clenching his now-repaired hand a few times to get used to the sensation. "Thank you."

Himiko bit her lip and glanced over her shoulder to gauge how much of Chisaki's blood she had left. She was really running low now. She hadn't counted on Overhaul removing the blood already in her system at the time.

"We can't get him from behind," Himiko murmured, watching as Chisaki paced back and forth like a caged animal. He was wary of them, obviously trying to search for a weak point—a chink in their armor since they'd worked out tactics efficient enough to defend against his greatest weapons. "We need another plan."

"Just give me a second to think," Izuku muttered, taking a breath.

They didn't have a second.

Both of them tensed as Chisaki suddenly reached into his jacket and pulled out a small object, which they realized too late was—

Izuku lunged at the Yakuza Boss the same instant Himiko warped, slashing Chisaki's hand off at the wrist. He hissed in agony and reached for her with his remaining five hands, forcing her to warp again. Izuku closed the gap as Chisaki reached for the syringe, suspended in the air for only a moment.

Izuku snatched the syringe away from the villain and unleashed One for All's full force with a flick of his finger, repelling the two of them in opposite directions. He was aware of a dull pain in his hand as he regained his footing and looked down.

He'd caught the syringe at a bad angle, leaving the needle jammed deep in his palm. He froze when he realized the contents of the capsule had been injected into him.

There was a pregnant pause. Chisaki's pale face became bloodless and he reached for the wall separating them from the rest of the battle, Quirk sparking at his fingertips. Himiko tried to rush to Izuku's side, but his wordless scream stopped her as the Trigger's effects surged—

And

there

was

fire.

Mugetsu watched the battle unfolding from the security of a nearby building, careful to make sure she remained undiscovered by the heroes whilst simultaneously avoiding any of Hellscaper's wayward lava bombs.

Hisashi really had gone soft, she thought scornfully. If he had been intent on destroying Hellscaper, he could've done so immediately. But he was being cautious to avoid injuring his allies (and presumably his son, who was underground) and thus the clash between him and the enemy villain was nothing but a stalemate.

Well, they were serving their purpose. She'd already secured the Trigger to a safe house and now she'd returned to survey the end of the conflict. Mugetsu doubted Chisaki would make it very far, especially since the League of Villains had locked onto the chaos and seized the opportunity to make a move of their own. Between Hisashi's boy and Tomura Shigaraki, she was quite certain the boss of the Yakuza would be dead within the hour.

She paused as the radio crackled in her ear. Moments later, she heard the voice of her colleague on the frequency.

"Mugetsu? Would you mind picking me up?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Is something wrong?"

"Ah, well it would seem my body is taking more time to regenerate than I expected," Ras answered cheerfully.

In the pile of dust that had been left in Tomura's wake, Ras' legless torso lay bare and exposed. He'd managed to reach around and find the earpiece he needed to get into contact with his comrades, and now he spoke despite the fact that his lower half was still slowly reforming.

"Decay was more thorough than I anticipated," he told Mugetsu matter-of-factly. "It's been quite some time since I've had to regenerate myself so wholly. I do believe I require assistance to escape before the authorities locate me."

Mugetsu was silent for a brief moment before she responded, sounded exasperated. "Very well. Hellscaper should be retreating soon, anyways. He knows time is almost up. I will recover you momentarily—"

The frequency flickered into static as a quake shook the floor and walls around him. Ras lifted an eyebrow. That certainly hadn't been from the League of Villains. He was almost sure no member of the Eight Precepts possessed that kind of immense strength, so one of the heroes, perhaps? They were being awfully careless, releasing that kind of power in such an environment.

He felt the heat rise and his brow furrowed. Mugetsu's voice returned.

"Ras? Is your radio still functioning?"

"It would seem we're running out of time," he replied shortly. The cheer was gone from his voice. "Recover me at once."

She picked up on the urgency immediately. Smart woman. "I will be there momentarily."

Ras waited in silence, feeling the vibrations of some savage conflict not far away.

Ryukyu was digging through the rubble as calmly as she could—she had to be careful—but moved the debris quickly, seeking her intern out.

Tsuyu had reached her with more panic than she'd ever expected to see on the girl's normally stoic face and she knew before the words left her intern's mouth that something was horribly wrong. It only took a few words for Ryukyu to bolt over to the building Tsuyu had just evacuated and start searching for Ochako.

Short minutes passed her by in a span of time that felt like hours. The hot debris was mostly warded off by her scales, but it still stung. She refused to let the pain distract her.

Ochako was buried, Tsuyu had watched her fall, had seen the debris crush her and if there was even the slightest chance she was still alive, Ryukyu had to get her out now or there would be no hope at all to save her—

A familiar scrap of black cloth caught her eye. Ryukyu shifted the debris away, heart pounding, and set her eyes on the bubbly, sweet intern she was so fond of.

What was left of her, anyways.

Trembling, she carefully pulled Ochako free, and then the earth below the compound behind her erupted.

Eijirou had just managed to pin Yu down with a short, but intense flurry of blows to his legs and torso when everything went wrong.

He and Nighteye had managed to outmaneuver the armored member of the Eight Precepts, and as he looked over to the rest of the fight, he could see the other Yakuza were flagging against the onslaught of the League of Villains. Rikiya was presenting some problems for them with his immense size and strength, but his allies were all weakening badly.

Nighteye glanced at him. "Can you hold this one—"

The wall Izuku, Himiko, and Chisaki had disappeared behind suddenly erupted with the power of Overhaul. Eijirou only caught a brief glimpse of Chisaki fleeing like a bat out of hell when emerald fire roared after the Yakuza Boss.

Chisaki spun and slammed all six of his hands onto the ground, using his Quirk to form a thick wall of stone through which the inferno crashed—

Nighteye felt the blood drain from his face as several of Black Whip's blazing tendrils, stronger and thicker than any he'd seen before, punched clean through the wall and shattered Chisaki's body, sending him screaming into the air at a startled Rikiya. As he watched, the tendrils recoiled back to their master, rattling from the sheer amount of power surging through them.

Izuku looked like something straight out of a nightmare, enveloped in more fire than Nighteye had ever seen him in and grinning like a savage. Black Whip was everywhere—coiled and writhing around his arms and legs and crackling with uncontrolled power. His eyes were black, twin voids that fixed on the Yakuza with the promise of violence.

The sclera going black was one thing—Nighteye knew that was caused by one of the Quirks in All Flare, but the rest…and then it clicked.

His pupils are dilated, Nighteye realized. Dilated so much there's barely even a sliver of the iris to see. What happened?

He didn't get a chance to think further as Izuku went on the assault.

Chisaki wasn't wasting time, either. As soon as Rikiya caught him, he triggered Overhaul on both of them, reforming the conglomerate of bodies into a hulking brute with utter destruction at its fingertips. Soramitsu's jaws shifted to the front of the beast's head and Chisaki kept his own body tucked into the chest—an easily defendable position that left him only half-visible to his enemies and gave him the autonomy to control the giant.

Nighteye paled further. If Chisaki's Overhaul was scaled up on equal measure to the giant, the destruction he'd be capable of—

Meant nothing.

Himiko crashed to the ground beside him as she exited a warp—

Chisaki's hulking monster shifted its weight to attack—

Izuku blurred.

One moment his intern was standing there and the next he was directly beneath Chisaki's giant. There was no in-between. The Yakuza boss wasn't even aware Izuku had lunged beneath him and whipped his gaze around as he tried to figure out where his enemy had gone.

And then Izuku pressed his hands straight up into the belly of the beast and pulsed—

Everyone in the room was thrown to the ground as a Pyroclasm the likes of which hadn't been seen since the Kamino Ward Incident ripped through Chisaki's giant and sent it airborne in an explosion of fire and raw, unmitigated power. The ground beneath Izuku's feet cracked and cratered as the sheer force of the blast launched his hulking target clean through the roof and into the world above the tunnels.

Sunlight poured through the darkness and onto Izuku as he directed Black Whip at the gaping maw above him, which he used to slingshot himself out of the tunnels and into the air. In that moment, despite the heat, Nighteye felt cold as he watched the young hero in-training.

Izuku was gone. Whatever had happened behind that wall, it had caused his intern to snap in a way that might not be fixable.

He had to find out what was—

Even as he turned, mouth open to demand to know what the hell had happened, Himiko grasped his wrist in an iron grip. Her eyes were huge and panicked and he realized she was badly burnt; most likely from the initial explosion that had caused Chisaki to retreat. Her wounds were serious enough that she would have had to be hospitalized as soon as possible if she couldn't heal herself.

"Trigger," she panted, agony filling her eyes. "Izuku tried to stop Chisaki from injecting himself with a Trigger dart, he caught it badly—"

Nighteye felt the chill in his blood double over. Trigger. Almost certainly not the diluted variant that was sold on the black market, either. Chisaki would have tried to use as pure a variant as he could've made to inject himself. If Izuku had Trigger that potent running through his system then All Flare—

And One for All.

Oh no.

Nighteye grabbed the girl, desperation surging through him. "Can you Overhaul yourself?"

"Y-yes," she gasped, writhing away from his tight, painful grip. Nighteye released her and Himiko set her shaking hands on her body. He couldn't stop himself from flinching as her entire shape exploded, then reformed, leaving her with a shocked look on her face despite her healed body.

Himiko reached for the blood storage on her back and pumped what was left of Chisaki's blood into her mouth. As she swallowed it down, regaining the power of Overhaul, she stood up and faced Nighteye. Across the ruins of the tunnel, the rest of the League of Villains were getting up and finishing off the remaining Eight Precepts left near them.

Eijirou jumped back onto Yu and pinned the man down, looking up at Nighteye with panic in his gaze. "Sir? What should we do?"

"You and I will take this one out of here and meet up with Fatgum and the others," Nighteye replied. "We have to secure the villains we've captured and get aboveground…it's vital we keep them from interfering with the battle above. That's the best we can do right now."

Himiko faced them. "I'm going up there. I have to get to Izuku."

"What are you going to—"

"If I can get close enough, I can Overhaul him and get the Trigger out of his system," she cut Eijirou off, looking up at the wrecked ceiling. A quake from some terrible impact shook the ground beneath their feet and she tensed. "He's going to really hurt himself if I can't get him under control."

"Do it," Nighteye ordered. "Save him. Whatever it takes."

Himiko didn't respond, just stared at the opening Izuku and Chisaki had disappeared through so she could warp into the world above, emerging into a nightmare.

Hisashi stopped as the lava bombs ceased to fire, landing on the compound wall and staring at the mass of molten rock with a suspicious gaze. Was this mysterious enemy charging up for a new attack? Or was he retreating? What was the best course of action available to him under these circumstances?

The earth beneath the compound suddenly blasted upwards in a massive cone of emerald fire and shocking force, which Hisashi had only ever seen come from his own two hands.

He knew something was terribly wrong the moment it registered that he was looking at a Pyroclasm, and the only other person who could use that Quirk was—

He spotted a hulking shape go flying high into the air amidst the flames, destroying itself and reforming as the flames died and leaving the giant unharmed despite the killing flames. Hisashi snarled as he recognized Chisaki's bastard face curled into the core of the beast's stomach, and as he prepared to attack, a shape blurred out of the tunnel and unleashed a storm of Black Whip tendrils.

Hisashi froze as Izuku seized his enemy with Black Whip—on a scale he'd never imagined possible!—and constricted the giant with such force that even from here, he could hear thick bones cracking and splintering. His son kept flying upwards and yanked the monstrosity along with him, twisting in the air so as to bring the Yakuza conglomerate down like a hammer.

The upper half of the beast was crushed—even as it utterly destroyed the concrete of the compound wall beneath it, Hisashi watched blood splatter all over the streets as Rikiya's Overhauled cranium split open into a scarlet mess.

Chisaki reformed the giant after a moment, although it visibly took a few seconds for the process to be completed. As the monster shifted and tried to sit up, a shape—familiar and yet so foreign—landed lightly on the chest, standing before Chisaki's true body.

Hisashi stared at Izuku, who dripped fire as though he'd gone for a swim in the sun while Black Whip's unnaturally powerful tendrils coiled around its newest master's limbs like snakes ready to bite. His son's eyes were pure black, well beyond what Hyperblaze did to Hisashi's eyes when he used it.

Hyperblaze was essentially an adrenaline surge that became more potent the higher the temperature around him. An addition of the Quirk was a retractable lens that protected his eyes from the intense light of superheated fires, which made it appear as though his sclera had gone black. It was often difficult to tell even if someone got close enough to look at Hisashi in that state—his green eyes were already dark without the lens.

He had been sure Izuku hadn't inherited Hyperblaze—and if he had, he'd seen no sign of it in his son. Either it had been dormant all this time, or had mutated in a way that left it unrecognizable from its original form.

And yet.

Izuku stood before Chisaki, who had frozen for a moment before forcing the giant to reach for the young man with its powerful hands. Hisashi prepared to rush to his son's defense—

Black Whip snapped out from Izuku's arms and pierced clean through the giant's wrists before pinning the now-bloody extremities to the ground below. Before Chisaki could command his monster to retaliate, the tendrils wrapped around Izuku's legs shot downwards into the gut of the beast. Hisashi could only watch, eyes wide, as the squelching and crunching of organs and bones being destroyed filled the air. The smell of burning flesh followed soon after.

Now physically anchored to the creature, Izuku's feral smile was a sight Chisaki could not escape.

Not that the Yakuza boss was going to just sit there and let it happen.

Chisaki immediately pressed his hands to the body around him and the entire mass of the giant exploded moments later, reforming in a position to attack Izuku. Hisashi's son danced away with unnatural speed, using Black Whip to slap aside the massive fists seeking him out and push him out of their range.

As the two combatants regrouped, he spotted a familiar head of blonde hair warp onto a piece of rubble above the gaping hole in the ground. Disbelief filled him as Himiko glanced his way and teleported close to him, kneeling for a second to catch her breath. He knew what that Quirk was.

"You—" Hisashi spluttered, stunned and a little furious that she hadn't bothered to tell him what was suddenly so obvious, how had he not seen it—

"No time," she cut him off, standing back up and watching Chisaki's giant get back up to face Izuku, who was clearly readying himself to attack again.

The giant's hands reached for the closest building and began to Overhaul it, but Izuku saw the intent and blurred again with that unnatural speed. He reappeared in the air with Black Whip's tendrils lashing out to grasp the top of the same building, which had yet to be affected by Chisaki's Quirk, and forcibly ripped it off the remainder of the structure.

Chisaki realized what was going to happen just in time and changed the focus of his Overhaul to create a shield instead of a weapon out of the ruined building. Izuku swung with an overhead motion to bring the mass of concrete, steel, and glass down on Chisaki's hastily made defense.

The impact shattered both the weapon and shield, splintering rubble and sending debris flying in all directions. Hisashi only had eyes for Izuku as his son grinned down savagely at Chisaki, who was using the giant's huge arms to cover up his real body.

The Chimera blanched as Izuku thrust his left hand down towards the enemy, generating a familiar charge. He'd withstand the blast easily enough, but—

"Everybody get down!" Hisashi roared, snatching Himiko and lunging for cover. The heroes and police still in the vicinity flinched and followed his lead just as the Pyroclasm screamed to life.

Mugetsu warped to the top of a building far from the conflict, but remained close enough to observe the battle. Ras' upper half was hanging over her shoulder, watching with his own, practiced eyes.

She couldn't quite believe what she was seeing. She'd known Hisashi's boy was powerful, but not this powerful.

Her eyes detected a flash of motion and she realized that Kurogiri had just warped the rest of the League of Villains out of the tunnels, so they could observe at a safe distance, as well. She only spared them a brief glance to ensure that she remained undetected, then returned her focus to the battle at hand.

The ferocity of the fight was forcing many of the heroes and police to take cover. She didn't blame them—the amount of fire and rubble blowing over the area was enough to dissuade most fighters. If they didn't retreat, they'd wind up as little more than collateral damage.

She froze as Izuku unleashed another Pyroclasm, almost as powerful as his father's. Ras observed the raging child shrewdly.

"Watch closely. We must tell the Mother what we are seeing," he ordered Mugetsu. "This one must be dealt with before he grows up. Anything less than allegiance to us is grounds to kill him."

She nodded mutely. If that child ever gained full control over his Quirk...

Well. Mugetsu would keep her blades sharp and at the ready for when the order came down.

Chisaki's giant was seared and ruined by the superheated, emerald shockwave, which surged over the creature like a waterfall straight out of hell. The terrain around it cracked and cratered. It wasn't as powerful as Hisashi's full-force Pyroclasm, but it was still utterly devastating.

Before Chisaki could try to repair the serious damage done to his giant, black tendrils latched onto the ground in front of him and reeled Izuku up close in a blur of motion. The boy hit the street and immediately lifted a hand, directing Black Whip to entrap the Yakuza Boss in a fiercely tight grip.

Then he pulled.

Chisaki felt the horrible tug of flesh where he was connected to the giant and realized with a spike of terror that it was well within Izuku's current capabilities to simply rip his torso out from the giant. He quickly reached for himself, managing to Overhaul his body even as the boy tore him away in a spurt of blood and threw him far from his massive puppet.

He reformed and immediately curled up as he hit the concrete, rolling a fair distance and coming to a stop as the giant collapsed without his directions. He quickly pushed himself up and stared as Black Whip grabbed Rikiya and Soramitsu's Overhauled skull and slammed it into the ground, where Izuku placed a hand on it and unleashed another savage Pyroclasm. The earth quaked beneath the force and more emerald fire blazed into existence.

Chisaki scowled, filled with more rage and fear than he could ever remember experiencing throughout his life. The boy was intent on ensuring he couldn't escape him.

Fine.

He reached into his jacket and quickly extracted another syringe filled with the same, high-quality Trigger that was running through Izuku's veins. He'd kept several on him just in case. As the boy turned away from the ruined mountain of smoking flesh that had once been his subordinates, Chisaki injected himself with the drug.

He was ready for that overwhelming sense of power, the drugged-up feeling that he was unstoppable. Refined though it was, even this particularly high-quality batch of Trigger still carried that side effect.

That wasn't what was happening to the boy, though. Chisaki glared at Izuku as he shifted himself into an attacking position. He didn't have time to think about it. He'd just have to kill him.

Chisaki pressed both hands to the concrete beneath him and felt Overhaul spread farther and faster than ever before, reshaping half of the whole Yakuza compound in an instant. He directed a tsunami of massive spikes at the boy, who grinned back, lifted a foot, and stomped.

It sounded like a bomb had gone off. Everyone within fifty feet of Izuku was lifted from the ground and hurled away by the unrestrained earthquake he unleashed. Buildings shivered and started to lean slightly as their foundations were cracked or shattered. Screams and shouts of panic filled the air, but neither of the combatants noticed.

The spikes Chisaki had created broke like massive fragments of glass, falling apart before they could reach their target. The Yakuza Boss himself was launched into the air, but before he could orient himself, he felt something horribly tight wrap around his left arm—

There was a sickening crack and stripping sound, then his arm was ripped away from the elbow down, the bloody remnants hurled unceremoniously amidst the rubble. Chisaki only had a moment to stare into Izuku's eyes, at that bright blackness with a ring of infernal green, before his body was seized by Black Whip and thrown into a building.

Whether from shock or adrenaline, he remained conscious, and barely realized in time that Izuku had landed and was holding a hand out in his direction. Chisaki slapped his hand against the construct beneath him, forming another shield to protect himself from the Pyroclasm already searing towards him—

The shield was not enough.

It shattered from the force and Chisaki was smote by the brunt of the blast, barely comprehending the way his body landed harshly amidst the rubble beneath him with more than enough force to break his bones. As it was, he only just managed to register the sensation of Izuku suddenly appearing above him and grasping his remaining right hand at the wrist strangely—

Ah.

His brain managed to piece together what he was seeing and feeling. What gripped his wrist like a vice, to ensure he could not heal himself or kill the boy, were the mangled bones of Izuku's hand—the flesh and tendons only visible in patches that hadn't yet burned away. Whether the boy could feel his body falling apart or not, he had no idea, but Chisaki's ears weren't ringing so much that he couldn't hear the throat-searing scream that clawed out of Izuku's scorched mouth.

His head turned to stare into the dying eyes of his worst enemy, but all he saw was the fist already bending his steel plague mask inwards, shattering it to pieces and jutting the splintered fragments through his mouth and flesh even as Izuku's strike pressed on to connect with his face—

The force of the impact reached his head and Kai Chisaki finally, mercilessly died.

A/N: This chapter has been a long time coming. For a while though, I was unable to write it. I appreciate you all waiting, so I will tell you why this took so long.

As you are all aware, the global virus is affecting everyone. I myself have been working more than ever as a result of the virus, so my free time has been mitigated significantly.

Unfortunately, I wish that was the only reason this chapter took so long.

About a month or two after the virus really took hold, my uncle contracted the sickness and passed away within that week. It hit my family and I very suddenly, and this chapter being largely focused around violence and death...I just couldn't bring myself to write it. I needed time to grieve and time to heal, and I'm sorry that it took so long, but it was necessary. For those of you who have stuck it out and been patient, I thank you.

Another shout out goes to my discord and my beta readers. You guys really helped me push through that tough time and are still great to have around under the current circumstances.

I sincerely wish for all of you to be safe. Take this virus seriously. I wouldn't wish this kind of grief on anyone.

Alright, onto the review responses for chapter fifty-three.

Quwarichi: All I can think of right now is how badly I want Hisashi to just blow away all of the debris about to crush Ochako and save her. Maybe it'll even earn him some points with Izuku. But still, I'm really worried about my girl over here. Amazing Quirk development and all, her spine was SNAPPED, you don't recover from that quickly (if at all). I swear to God if something happens to her I'm gonna cry. Overhaul is my most hated MHA villain and I'm gonna take so much satisfaction in reading about Izuku beating the living shit out of him. yas.

-I'm sure you've realized by now, but Hisashi didn't save her. Initially, I was planning to add Ochako's fate to the end of this chapter, but decided I would rather write that into chapter fifty-five, which will focus on the aftermath of the raid. I hope Overhaul suffered enough for your liking. He certainly did for me.

skylargillilan: God I love this story, also does Izuku have Heat Blade? He's never shown it as far as I know, but that could just be me forgetting it happened. Also for someone so smart, Baba Yaga should know you can't check fertility with a blood test.

-You'll have to wait and see, but he hasn't shown it in Viridescent. Actually, you can check fertility with a blood test, but that's an explanation I'm too tired to do right now. Do some research, it's out there.

HotSoup2017: Jeez that was an intense chapter not gonna lie. The fights were well-written and that scene with Ochako was really painful. I like how you incorporated some Marvel names in Izuku's super moves, that was a nice touch. Overall this was a really well-made chapter and I'm excited (and scared) for the next chapter. We all know this is just the beginning of the suffering.

Side note: Man I really want some side stories for this fic. I want some league of legends shenanigans with Izuku and the others, maybe some bakumomo fluff, or some other League of Villains scenes.

-I'm glad it captured you so much :) Initially, this chapter was going to include one of Izuku's super moves that has a D.C comics reference, but I decided to save that particular move for a later chapter. There's plenty more to come.

I'm not sure if I'll write side stories for Viridescent, but if I ever do, they'll be in my one-shots collection. Which, admittedly, is rather small right now, so maybe I'll have to add to it at some point.

darksider82: Damn. Hot damn. I...think, this is the first fic I've read where the author isn't afraid to kill off Uraraka...or attempt to. If you do or don't choose to kill her it doesn't matter to me now, it is more the principle of the fact that Uraraka is in fact a viable candidate to be injured. Anyway, loving this. Keep it up.

-It's a well-known fact amongst my discord that in Viridescent, nobody is safe. Anyone and everyone is more than capable of dying. Except Eri. But only Eri is safe.

That's all for now. I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner than this one, but as you all know, the circumstances of the world mean that things are very uncertain right now. So just hang in there, everyone. We'll get through this. Be safe, and as always, please review and thanks for reading.