"People are not born equal. I learned that lesson when I was four years old. And every other day since then.
It all began in China with the news that a bioluminescent baby was born. Soon, all over the world, more and more "exceptional" individuals began popping up. No one knew how or why this happened. It was just soon accepted that "exceptional" became the normal. Fiction became reality! With 80% of the population now consisting of superhumans with their own unique abilities, there was an explosion in the crime rate throughout the world. And so, a new profession was born from the brave individuals who took it upon themselves to protect people from evildoers. With government support, people were now able to serve as heroes in an official capacity.
My name is Izuku Midoriya and this is the story on how I became the hero that saved the future!"
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January 28th, 2236
Downtown Musutafu, 10:08 AM
Izuku Midoriya, a plain faced green-haired teenager, blinked and rubbed his eyes, a few loose grains of sand having been caught.
"Hm, where did this come from?" Izuku wondered. Looking up at the grey January sky, he couldn't see anything that would have caused sand to move from where he was now. The weather was a bit chilly, but the wind wasn't strong enough to move any sand in his direction. Plus, he didn't see anything remotely sand-filled nearby. It could be a loose byproduct of someone's Quirk, but-
"Hey, kid. Are you ok?" said a voice below. Izuku looked down and saw the masked figure wearing a firefighter outfit with hoses for hands. AKA the Pro-Hero Backdraft.
"Oh!" Izuku spoke. "I'm ok. I just got some sand in my eye."
"I wasn't asking about that!"
Oh, yeah, right.
Izuku was currently at the top of a tree. The tree was thin with only a few leaves still clinging to its thin branches.
"How did this even happen?" Backdraft asked as he positioned a nearby ladder next to the tree and started to climb.
"Well..." Izuku started. "I was taking notes on a fight between Death Arms and a villain up that hill there in my notebook. The villain's quirk was a form of air manipulation. It seemed to create high bursts of wind currents whenever she was moving her arms. However, it didn't come directly from her body but more from the surrounding environment. It might be that she was using circular motion to funnel air into certain directions. And, given how it threw me all the way over here, I wonder how strong she could've possibly made the wind. Perhaps if-"
A small stream of water shot out of Backdraft's hands, snapping Izuku out of his mutterstorm and making him realize that he already reached the top of the ladder.
Backdraft chuckled and offered his left hose, "Sounds like you have a smart mind, but maybe you can focus better on the ground?"
Izuku quickly apologized and climbed down the ladder at Backdraft's insistence. Once down, the green haired wide-eyed teen couldn't contain his fanboy side any longer. The teenager pulled a notebook from out of nowhere titled, "Hero Analysis for the Future, No. 14" and asked Backdraft for his autograph, which he happily accepted. Pocketing the notebook into thin air again, he thanked Backdraft for his time.
"Anytime," Backdraft said. "Just be careful. Sounds like you're having some bad luck there."
Smiling, Izuku said, "No, don't worry. This stuff kind of happens all the time."
The boy couldn't see the concerned expression on Backdraft's face as he resumed his 5km run from earlier.
As Izuku ran through an underpass and up over a hill trail, he was deep in thought over what he needs to do next.
High school exams were only three months away and Izuku knew that he had to find some way of increasing his training regiment. Getting into UA, his dream school, seemed like an impossible dream. While feeling somewhat prepared for the written exams, the only way he'd be able to get into one of UA's hero courses was through passing the physical exam. That was a mystery on itself as details of the exam aren't revealed online or on any forum Izuku could find. All he knew was that he'd be at a disadvantage compared to everyone else.
Izuku is Quirkless, one of the few 20% of the population that was born without a unique superpower (commonly referred to as a Quirk). That meant that Izuku had to train at every opportunity, learn whatever skills he could to get his body in peak condition. It was one of the reasons why seven months earlier, Izuku left his own conventional school, Aldera Junior High, and switched to online learning.
One of them. There was a lot more to unpack there.
THUMP!
Izuku's head bounced from the impact from a baseball as two baseball players ran to retrieve their ball.
"We're sorry," the two players bowed and apologized.
"It's ok. I'm fine," Izuku reassured and continued his run through the grassy trail.
THUMP!
Izuku's head bounced from the impact from a tennis ball as two tennis players ran to retrieve their ball.
"We're sorry," the two players bowed and apologized.
"It's ok. I'm fine," Izuku reassured and continued his run, massaging his head.
THUMP!
Izuku's head bounced from the impact from a soccer ball as two soccer players ran to retrieve their ball.
"We're sorry," the two players bowed and apologized.
"It's o-" THUMP!
Izuku didn't get to finish his thought due to a football hitting his head from the opposite direction by two football players. As they retrieved the ball and left, one of them reassuring the other that the teenager would be ok, Izuku laid sprawled on the ground for who knows how long.
Until a group of four young gentlemen in hoodies and cargo pants noticed the unconscious boy.
"Ha!" one of them loudly exclaimed. "It must be our lucky day!"
Izuku stirred upon hearing the various voices and stood up, taking note of the approaching gang. His mind already going into overdrive nothing their various Quirks. One of them having motorcycle handlebars coming out of their head, another having a complete crocodile's jaw split up between their arms.
The guy in front of the group was wearing a camo themed jacket with a green keychain hanging over the belt area of his pants and had pink heart-shaped pupils for eyes. He put his hand on Izuku's shoulder and said, "Alright, we'll make this easy on you. Hand over anything valuable and there's no need for us to get any violent."
"Come on, Tetsuo!" The only member of the group without a visible quirk interjected. "Let's at least ask what his quirk is first! Don't wanna steal from the strong!"
The guy with the heart-shaped pupils, now identified as Tetsuo, scoffed and looked back at Izuku. "He's right. What's your Quirk?"
Izuku sighed, having a good idea on what's coming next, and said "N-None. I'm quirkless."
There was only a brief second of silence as the group processed that fact before they throw their heads back, cackling away.
"Oh man! What are the chances? We just pickpocketed a Quirkless girl an hour ago!" Tetsuo happily admitted as he pulled out a sleek black and metallic train pass with an insignia traced into the cover. "You got anything more useful than this thing? Doesn't even work."
Izuku's eyes widened at the sight of the pass. He didn't know what it was, who it belonged to, and what it was capable of. He just noticed that it looks important and worried that whoever it belonged to, they probably wanted it back.
Izuku pulled out his wallet, took out all the bills he had, and stuttered, "h-h-Here you go. This is all of the money I have. Co-could I have that thing you have th-there? Sounds like you don't need it and someone else might want it ba-back…"
Tetsuo's eyes darted between the pass and the money in Izuku's hands, his mind weighing the pros and cons before he put the pass in one of Izuku's hands and snatched the money from his other hand. He grinned and said, "Pleasure doing business with you."
The gang turned and started to head off. The boy felt relieved, glad that this didn't turn out worse. His eyes went to the ground and spotted a discarded CoCo drink can. Izuku picked it up and tossed into the nearest trash can… which then bounced off it and hit Tetsuo in the back of his head.
Tetsuo's hand reached for the back of his head and his body twisted to look at back at Izuku who was slightly shaking.
"Oh, wait. Where are my manners? I forgot that thing is going to cost you extra."
Izuku, used to years of dealing with bullies, closed his eyes and waited for the punch to connect with his face.
30 minutes later…
Izuku waked up from having been sprawled out on the ground… again.
"My bad luck is really worse today, isn't it?" Izuku lamented.
Picking himself back off the ground, Izuku pulls out his phone and checks the news.
From above, a glowing ball of light circles the area and spots the unsuspecting boy. The orb goes right into the back of his chest, only a faint trail of sand behind him as proof that anything at all unnatural happened.
Izuku then spots the time.
"Oh no! I'm late!" Izuku says as he changes directions and runs home.
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Musutafu Police Station, 11:10 AM
"Are you sure no one's turned it in yet?"
"No, not yet, but if you file this report, we will contact you as soon as it does show up. Ok?"
The white-haired teen sighed and walked straight out of the police station.
This was going to be harder than she thought. She didn't know when she lost the Rider Pass, but knew she had to find it fast. It was only a matter of time until an Imagin showed up and there was still no one who could be Den-O.
The girl went to retrace her steps from earlier. She got off Den Liner and went shopping to get a cellphone and some clothes to replace the dirty previously white, now grey cloth she had been wearing for years. Wearing a white jacket over a bright red dress, she was walking down the street and when she bumped into-
That guy!
He must've stolen it from her! Oh my god, she was an idiot.
She ran back to the trail she encountered the guy on and searched for any sign of him or the Pass on the ground. After ten minutes of searching, she panted, hunched over and gathered her breath. When she opened her eyes, the girl noticed something sparkly. It was a green keychain modeled after a Christmas tree reflecting on the sun's rays, sparkling as if it were an actual Christmas tree topper.
The girl picked it up and put it in her pocket and continued searching.
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Milk Dipper Café, 12:06 PM
Izuku walked into his family's café, cuts and bruises visible on his face.
"Sorry, I'm late."
The Milk Dipper was lined with bookshelves filled with books of assorted sizes. Most of them were about astronomy, but Izuku filled them with some of his own books about Quirk theory and the history of heroes. Customers were talking with one another, laughing and drinking coffee with each other, watching the latest hero fight with their phones. An antique telescope stood in the middle of a rock pit at the center of the café. It was a metallic brown with gold highlights circulating the lens, which was pointed up to the nearest window.
"Oh, Izuku, baby! Are you ok?"
His mom, a plump green-haired woman, put away her apron, moved around the circular bar around the kitchen, and hugged her son. She looked at her son's face and scanned his body for any other injuries.
"What was it this time, manhole or another tricycle incident?"
"Actually, this was all on me. Long story," Izuku reassured his mother.
"Man," Miura, one of the regulars at the café, looked up from his newspaper and whistled. "Inko told me about your bad luck, but I didn't realize it was record worthy!"
Izuku's mom scrunched her face at that comment and looked back at Izuku. "I got a healthy seaweed salad for your lunch. Do you want to eat it now or can I treat your injuries first?"
"Thank you, mom. I'll eat now and then-"
Izuku's hand felt the train pass in his pocket.
"Oh my god", Izuku thought. "I totally forgot!"
"Um, sorry, mom. I just remembered I have to return something."
"Izuku!"
"Don't worry, the police station is only about ten minutes from here. I'll be back soon. You won't even notice I'm gone!" Izuku rushed as he headed out the door.
On the streets, Izuku was inspecting the pass when someone collided into him, running in the opposite direction.
WHAM!
Both of them fell to the ground, nursing their heads with their items on the pavement.
Izuku was about to ask the stranger if she was ok when he noticed who he was about to talk to, a long white-haired girl with red eyes wearing a white jacket over a short red dress. At that moment, his cheeks blushed and he flustered. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe I am this close to a girl! I'm so embarrasse-!"
"Hey!" The girl exclaimed, snapping Izuku out of his inner shame. She pointed at the pass next to Izuku. "That's mine! I've been looking everywhere for that!" She then pointed accusingly at Izuku and said, "Did you help that guy steal this from me?"
"N-n-no! I swear! You got the wrong idea!" Izuku stuttered as he grabbed the pass and stood up. "I got it back from that bully! I was on my way to turn this at the police station! Please forgive me for not doing it sooner!"
As he put his hands to his side and bowed, the girl felt a little embarrassed as she stood up.
"I'm sorry. It's just the thing I would expect, you know? Can we start over?" the stranger asked. She reached out her hand and said in an apologetic tone, "Hello, my name is Eri. Thank you for finding my pass. Can I have it back now?"
"It was no problem," Izuku replied. "You can call me Izuku Midoriya and of course, you can have it back."
The literal moment Izuku extended his hand so Eri can grab the pass, THWIP!
Izuku looks in shock at the arm wrapped around his own like a rope and his eyes traced where the arm came from. From the abandoned park across the street, from the only thug from before who didn't have a mutant Quirk.
"Hey, there you are!" The thug yelled. He then looked over his shoulder and yelled to the others who Izuku and Eri couldn't see at the moment. "Guys, I found him!"
With a tug, Izuku's body went flying towards the park.
Eri braced herself to run towards the park and then she noticed a few trails of sand falling from Izuku's airborne body. She hesitated.
"Oh no," Eri pondered. "An Imagin already found someone."
Meanwhile, Izuku's body landed on the firm surface of a stone bench, chunks of it falling to the ground. A pained groan escaped his mouth and he tried to hug his sides as if they were about to crack apart. But, all he could do was roll around on the ground as the gang members from before (sans Tetsuo) loomed over his injured body.
"Alright, you Quirkless piece of trash, how dare you steal from us! Where's the keychain?!" yelled the guy with the motorcycle handlebars.
"Wha-wha-what keychain? I didn't steal from-"was all Izuku managed to get out before the 'stretchy' guy sent a harsh kick to his gut.
"Don't think we're idiots! You were the only one close enough to take it! Now, where is it?!"
"I-I- don't-"Izuku started to say then a memory came to mind of the green keychain dangling from Tetsuo's loose jeans.
"Oh, that's what they're talking about," Izuku thought.
"Look, this is all a big misunderstanding. I'm sure I can help you guys find-"But, before Izuku could finish, he was met with another kick to his stomach.
"Stop bullshitting!"
Soon, all three of them were wailing on the Quirkless boy. Izuku tried to move out of the way, to get up and fight, but the fall from before (and every other incident before this) already took away a lot of his energy.
"Get up! Get up!" Izuku told himself. "This can't be how I die! Not yet!"
But then another deep voice inside of Izuku replied.
"I'll handle this."
Izuku felt a wave of energy coming over him. His body felt like he was carrying a great strain on his back but his muscles roared with power. His hair stood up all on their own, the tips of them turning bright red. His eyes glowed red as if he were a beast on the hunt.
The thug with the crocodile jaws threw back his arms for another punch, but as if his body had a mind of its own, Izuku reached up and caught the punch.
"I… have arrived" escaped Izuku's mouth as his body folded the jaw back toward its owner, breaking its bones.
"AAAGHHGHH!"
The crocodile thug stumbled backwards, clutching his hand with the other. The other two thugs didn't move, their eyes wide from what happened.
"Sorry," said Izuku's body. "I like a good fight as much as the next guy, but I can't let ya kill my contract holder. So, let me just warn ya…"
His body pocketed the pass and moved again with Izuku's command, sauntering over to a metal park sign and with one simple yank, held the pole in his hands as if it were a baseball bat, draped over his shoulder.
"From start to finish, I'm always at a climax! Say your prayers!"
While the crocodile man was doing his best to not move lest injuring his hands even more, the motorcycle thug revved his handlebars and charged straight at Izuku. Izuku's body then threw a punch at the air in front of him, using the air pressure to stop the moving thug in its tracks. The thug fell to the ground as if he were pushed.
Izuku's mind was barely functioning. He had no idea on what was going on, why this was happening, and more importantly, who was controlling his movements. He felt like someone in the backseat of a car, watching someone else take the wheel as his body took the chunks of concrete bench and sent them flying towards the gang with the metal sign.
The poor excuses for villains started to back away and took defensive stances. For only a second. Then, they glanced at each other and made a beeline in the opposite direction.
Whatever was controlling Izuku got excited and gleefully said, "Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!" He rushed toward the fleeing cowards and performed a perfect arial flip over them, landing right in front of them and halting them in their tracks.
Izuku thought this would be absolutely cool if not for the situation.
The thugs fell to the ground, suddenly scared of the perceived weakling they saw only a few minutes ago. Fear was the only thing that someone could see in their eyes. Eri finally managed to catch up to the scene, but she was frozen from the scene she was about to witness.
"Don't run. Let me show you something cool."
Izuku's body swung back his arm.
"The ultimate!"
His eyes glowed with terrifying focus.
"My ultimate move!"
He swung the pole forward, intending to hit the motorcycle man and fracture his skull.
Izuku's mind suddenly took the mental wheel as he screamed internally with all of his might "STOP! THAT'S ENOUGH!"
The momentum was diverted, the tip of pole hitting the ground and creating a small crater in the process.
"What? How are ya doin' this?" the entity questioned to Izuku. "Don't interrupt me at the best part!"
For a second, the world stopped. Izuku took that time to breathe and asked the voice in his head, "Who are you?"
"Why does it matter?" the voice said as he prepared to swing again.
"No! I won't let you!" said a determined Izuku. He summoned all of the willpower he could, focused on saving the lives of the people in front of him, and retook control.
The voice became silent. The pole dropped to the ground.
Izuku was back.
But Izuku questioned how long that would last.
His hands were shaking, he felt a surge of panic overwhelming him. Tears were already welling up.
He ran. Ran from the thugs, ran from the park, tried to run away from the demon inside of him. He didn't know where he was going. His legs just moved on their own.
Eri watched the boy flee the scene in terror as she was in utter shock from what she witnessed. She thought to herself, "It can't be… He suppressed the Imagin. That boy… he can be…"
She ran after him.
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Abandoned District, 12:18 PM
Finally out of stamina, out of breath, Izuku panted and hunched over in exhaustion. He took in his surroundings and found himself near an abandoned warehouse.
The inner gruff voice spoke to Izuku, "Hey, how were ya able to stop me?"
Suddenly, sand poured out of his body. They moved to a spot only a few feet away from him and started to form into something, to take shape. Izuku stumbled back.
Izuku had never seen anything like it. The grainy being was humanoid but split in half. What should have been the lower half of the body was floating only a few inches above the creature's head and torso. The jagged head had two horns coming from its forehead, two dark eyes with no pupils, and a constant smile that was filled with a shark's fang. Spikes shot out from the demon's shoulders. There were wavy patterns on the being's chest, arms, and legs, but Izuku couldn't figure them all out. Some of them formed the letters M and O.
"Wha- who are you?" Izuku got out. "Why did you control me? Why are you using your Quirk right now? How could sand control a living being?"
"Wow, you talk too much," the demon complained through his mouth not moving one centimeter, his feet tapping the invisible ground. "Just so ya know. I'm not using something as lame as a Quirk."
The demon sighed and cleared its throat, "Well, let's get on with the formalities. Tell me your wish. I can grant any wish. Just pay me one thing."
But, Izuku was already slowly backing away, not wanting to listen the demon in front of him. The demon 'walked' forward towards him.
"Hey!" the demon cried. "Stop moving!"
"I'm asking again!" Izuku said with a confident tone somehow coming from his frantic mind. "Who are you? What Quirk is this?"
"Do I look like a Quirk, you dumbass?!"
"That… is an Imagin," said a voice from behind.
Izuku turned and his eyes met with Eri's, who was walking towards him.
"Eri?"
"And, I'm sorry, but you're something special too," Eri paused until she was face to face with Izuku.
"You're a singular point."
Izuku tilted his head in confusion.
"I know there's a lot to explain, but I need your help. Only someone like you can be Den-O."
"Eh?"
Before Izuku can ask for a better explanation, he saw a figure in the distance, slowly hobbling towards them all. It took a second for Izuku to recognize the figure as Tetsuo.
He looked the same as he did only an hour or two ago, but more disbelieved. His eyes were gazed over, his shoulders were leaning. Somehow, and Izuku could not explain it fully, his heart-shaped eyes looked lifeless. Sand was also pouring from his clothes. He was muttering something, but it wasn't clear to the teenagers until the voice suddenly started to get louder and louder…
"Give it back… give it back… GIVE IT BACK!"
That final command came with a disturbing reverb as sonic waves bounced from his throat to the two teens and pushed them backwards to the ground.
"Hey, back off!" Izuku's demon demanded. He ran towards the thug but couldn't do much as a single kick from the thug splattered the demon into loose sand.
Izuku tried to think about what Tetsuo was capable of. His heart shaped eyes, before, was the only indication he had a quirk at all. He had assumed it was a mental quirk before. Izuku's theory before was it involved emotions. It definitely wasn't passive as Izuku didn't feel any different talking to him earlier. Based on his rapid heartbeat, Izuku believed his actual quirk involved controlling the heart rate of whoever he was seeing, which would definitely be a useful tool for heroics. But, he still was questioning how sonics were involved. Perhaps it was-
"Hey. This is not the time for analysis," Eri said, shaking Izuku out of his mutterstorm and making him realize he was saying all of that aloud. "I'm sorry. I know this is all confusing, but you need to transform now."
"Transform?" Izuku asked.
And, as if it was listening to the whole conversation, the pass began to glow from Izuku's pocket. The boy pulled it out and as he did, the light from the pass began to move around Izuku's body until it materialized into a detached belt.
The belt was silver and sleek with a thick black stripe surrounding it. In the center was a buckle with the emblem found on the pass over a small glass square. There was a single red button to the right of it. The words "Den-O" were on the top of the buckle.
Eri put her arms under Izuku's arms to buckle the belt into place.
Surprisingly, Izuku was still worried about a girl being this close to him. "Too… too close!" He thought.
Eri stepped back and Izuku twisted to torso to look closer at the belt. As he did, he moved the pass over the emblem's glass.
A sound then came out of the belt and another light shined from the belt's glass, enveloping Izuku's body. As the light faded away, Izuku saw he was not wearing his own clothes anymore.
He was wearing a suit of armor.
It was a black and white underskin with silver gloves and boots. The belt now had four sleek attachments to the sides, two on each side. There was a railroad-like silver stripe going down the middle of the chestpiece. The same railroad pattern went from the top of the helmet all the way to the bottom of the mouthpiece, dividing the helmet completely in two. There were no eyepieces, just two black half circles where the eyes should have been. The rest of the helmet was white with a gold stripe from the back of the helmet coming towards the front sides.
Izuku took in the brand-new armor and marveled at it all. He wanted to ask so many questions, but Tetsuo's booming voice sent another shockwave in Izuku's direction, blasting the armored teen through a window into the abandoned warehouse.
Izuku's body crashed into a stack of barrels and his body tumbled on the sand-covered floor. He looked up at Tetsuo running towards him.
"Ok, Izuku, whatever's going on," Izuku thought to himself. "This guy is acting like a villain. I need to focus and I need to fight back. Now."
Izuku stood up and rolled out of the way of another of Tetsuo's sonic booms. The armored hero ran forward threw two front jabs at the villain's face. The villain dodged each strike. Izuku threw a left hook, but the villain caught his arm mid-swing. Izuku rushed the villain forward to the nearest wall and he jumped off the wall to the right, using the momentum to land behind the assailant.
Izuku went to sweep the villain's legs and knock him off balance, but the villain jumped into the air… and stays there. The underside of the villain's arms became webbed as they suddenly turned into man-sized bat wings.
A sonic screech is sent, added by the sudden gust from the flapping of the bat's wings, sending Izuku spiraling through the air until he landed on his back like a tattered rag.
"Hey, hey, kid!"
Izuku tilted his head up to see the demonic sand creature reformed a few feet away from him.
"Look, you can't handle this guy right now. And, if you die, I die too. And I ain't lettin' that happen. Let me take over."
Izuku didn't want to admit it, but the demon was right. He already was running on steam, suffering from the other injuries he received earlier, and didn't know how this armor was supposed to help him. He needed the demon's power for now.
"Ok, how do I switch?" Izuku got out.
"How the hell should I know?!" was the response.
Eri came into Izuku's view as she shouted from the doorframe of the warehouse, "Hit the red button!"
Izuku found the strength to stand back on his feet and press the red button. The belt suddenly played a jingle as the glass glowed red. Izuku swiped the pass over the buckle.
"SWORD FORM!"
The demon vanished and returned to Izuku's body. A ball of light escaped the buckle and circled the hero. The orb's path formed a train track around him. Pieces formed from the track and flipped on the armor to form a red chest piece and shoulder pads. The orb made its way onto the railroad on the back of the helmet. It traveled along the path to the front, turning the track gold with a green gem in the middle. The light formed into a red peach shaped visor. It split into two and the tips of the visor separated as if they were a bug's antenna. There was a small blade underneath each eye.
Izuku felt the mind of the demon in the forefront again as his body gave himself a thumbs up and stroke a pose.
"I have arrived… again!"
Tetsuo flied straight for the hero. The masked warrior took the attachments on the belts and formed three of them into a straight line and one over the middle. Then, with a surge of red electricity, the blade at the end extended to its full length. It had become a sword.
With one swift motion, Izuku's body slashed Tetsuo mid-flight. The criminal crashed into the ground. It then turned to face Izuku's demon.
"Why are you interfering?!" Tetsuo's mouth said with a voice that was half Tetsuo's and half something else entirely. "Did you forget our mission?!"
The demon rested the sword on his shoulder and said with Izuku's mouth, "Honestly, wasn't told that much about it."
"Huh?"
"But…" the demon trailed off for a second as he looked over his new armor. "Whatever this is, seems like, it's pretty cooler. So, let me warn ya ahead of time…"
The armored being pointed the sword toward the bat. "From start to finish, I'm always at a climax! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!"
With faster speed than Izuku ever experienced, his body ran forward towards the bat and as soon as he was within distance, he slashed the crook's wings repeatedly. He didn't relent, didn't give any time for the villain to do anything, until they were both outside.
The villain leaned on a stack of oil barrels. Izuku saw the wings, that were tattered from the demon's strikes, were slowly reforming, stitching together through loose grains of sand.
"Oh, no you don't," the demon proclaimed. "It's time for you to see my ultimate move!"
The demon opened the pass and held it over the buckle. Red electricity sparked from it and traveled to the sword in its hands.
"FULL CHARGE!" the belt announced.
"My ultimate move! Ultimate! Part 2!"
The demon braced the sword, held the sword straight up. The blade spiraled away from the sword's hilt, only connected through a bolt of red electricity.
He slashed diagonally with the hilt, with the blade following through the same motion. Sparks erupted from the villain's chest. He threw a second slash in the opposite direction. Even more sparks flew.
With his arm raised to the sky, the demon delivered the final strike as he slammed the sword's hilt straight to the ground. The blade's momentum increased for those final seconds and when it connected with Tetsuo's body, it formed a huge energy gash, glowing white in the middle and going all of the way from his head to his torso.
There was only a second that the villain could react, but it was too late. He collapsed on the ground and a large man-sized explosion burst out of the gash, completely enveloping him.
The demon rested the sword back on his shoulder and commented on his work, "Heh. Aren't I the coolest?"
Before the demon could do anything else. Izuku, who witnessed what just happened, retook control of his body and unbuckled the belt from his waist. The suit dissolved and the demon's voice faded into the background. Izuku fell on the ground, his hands and knees softening the impact.
Eri was saying something but it didn't matter. Nothing did. In his mind, he just killed someone. There was absolutely no way anyone survived that. It didn't matter if he wasn't in control. He allowed it to happen. Oh my god, what was he gonna do? How could he even think he could be a her-?
Izuku was suddenly cut from his spiraling by Eri grabbing his arms and squeezing tighter than you would think she was capable of. She looked straight into Izuku's panic-filled eyes and said, "Look at me. Look at me. That guy is not dead. He's ok. You didn't do anything wrong."
Izuku looked back, and as the smoke cleared, he could see Tetsuo's body. Devoid of the bat wings. There was no grains of sand. There was also the visible rise of his chest as slight breaths were taken in and out.
He was just unconscious. Somehow, by some miracle.
Tears of joy were already coming from Izuku's eyes. He wiped them away with his arms as he pulled out his cell phone and called for medical attention.
As soon as the call was finished, Eri spoke to Izuku softly, "I'm very sorry and I know you have a lot of questions. So, please come with me and I'll explain as much as I can."
Suddenly, Izuku could hear a train nearby. He turned in its direction and saw a white bullet train with red windows in the front coming through a white portal with a rainbow style glow. Railroad tracks were automatically being laid down in the train's path.
A few train cars passed the teenagers until it slowed to a stop; with a door already open into a hallway.
Eri climbed aboard and turned to see Izuku still mystified by the train itself. She bent down and reached out her hand.
"I'm sorry," she spoke in a even softer tone than before. "Can you please come on board? The train will be departing soon."
Izuku stared at the white-haired teenager before him, who somehow knew of everything strange that had happened in the last hour. A part of him wanted to wait, to stay with Tetsuo, and make sure he was ok.
But, then he saw the silent plea in Eri's eyes. The same look of someone who wanted someone, anyone, to help them.
Izuku knew he wore that look before.
He didn't want anyone to have that look.
With a smile, Izuku nodded and grabbed her hand and climbed aboard.
The door closed and the train departed, disappearing into another portal. Destination Unknown.