39 Devastation

5:01 [Ochako]-

-'It was amazing! She was so fast! I could barely keep track of her!'

-'No matter how many times we sparred, it was basically no contest every time.'

-'I managed to get my hand on her once to use my quirk, but then she just started bouncing around the room like a pinball!'

5:02 [Izuku]-

-'Next time, you could try deactivating your quirk when she goes to attack. It might throw her off-balance just long enough to land a hit.'

-'It sounds like your internship has been eventful thus far, though.'

5:02 [Ochako]-

-'Oh yeah! That's a good idea! I'll have to try that, assuming I can even get a chance to use my quirk again.'

-'And it has! Aside from the sparring, we've been going out at night to patrol. Somehow she's even faster when she's fighting criminals! (I think she must've been going easy on me)'

-'I even got to take down a criminal on my own! We found a guy trying to mug someone, and Miruko told me to go stop him. He tried to attack me, but he was so slow compared to her. I made him float up into the air, and then Miruko caught him on the roof and held him over the edge until the police came to get him!'

Izuku grinned at his phone. Ochako's excitement was almost palpable even through text.

5:03 [Izuku]-

-'Excellent! That's wonderful to hear!'

-'Your quirk is almost ideal for situations like that. One touch and you can subdue nearly anyone, freeing you up to either move on to the next opponent or tend to any victims.'

-'In fact, something that you could consider for the future is having the support department add some form of grappling hook or other securing line to your costume. You could use it to make sure people don't fly too far away.'

5:03 [Ochako]-

-'Oooh that's a good idea! I'll have to ask about that when the internships are over.'

-'If it's a grappling hook, and if it's long enough, maybe I can make myself weightless and use it to jump between buildings.'

5:03 [Izuku]-

-'You certainly could. I imagine it wouldn't be too hard for you to figure out how to do it. At the very least you wouldn't have to worry about falling.'

5:04 [Ochako]-

-'Now I can't wait to try it.'

-'But enough about me. How's your week been going?'

5:04 [Izuku]-

-'Well enough thus far. I can't really complain.'

-'No luck just yet with the search that we've discussed, but I think I'm making progress.'

-'Other than that, I've been having a lot of fun. I'll be sure to tell you about everything when your internship ends.'

5:04 [Ochako]-

-'Sounds like a plan!'

-'Whoops. Got to go. Miruko wants me for something.'

5:04 [Izuku]-

-'Have fun.'

5:04 [Ochako]-

-' :) '

Izuku locked his phone, a smile on his face as he thought about the conversation. He was glad that Ochako seemed to be having so much fun with her internship with Miruko.

She already knew about Oni, so he could – and would – tell her about what he'd been doing when he got the chance to, but he wasn't about to start having that conversation through text. No need to leave that sort of evidence on either of their phones.

Still smiling, he leaned back on his hands, looking up to watch the sun, which was beginning to inch towards the horizon. He was currently sitting cross-legged up on the side of a building. He had legs at the moment because he'd already changed into Oni and was about to start moving on a group of criminals he'd located. He would've started a bit ago – it wasn't dark yet, but the location was active, and he was willing to change up his routine since he had nothing else to do – but Ochako had texted him right before he was about to start, and he saw no reason to make her wait for the sake of a few pieces of trash.

Izuku sighed, standing up. He'd made the criminals wait long enough; it was time to break a few bones. Now standing parallel to the ground, he looked down at the building almost directly below him that was to be the target of his efforts tonight.

Humming a soft tune, Izuku activated 'Hotbar', pulling a small duffel bag from thin air. The phone in his hand – the one he used as 'Izuku' – was tucked into one of the pockets and the bag disappeared just as fast as it had appeared. He rolled his neck, cracking it, then reached up to adjust the mask on his face, tightening the strap at the back of his head.

Taking a deep breath, Oni crouched slightly. He let a grin stretch across his face as scales sprouted along his forearms and his fingers elongated with the activation of his claw quirk. His now-clawed fingers sank into the surface of the building as his excitement began to rise.

'Are you ready to have some fun?'

He could feel Tamako quickly becoming just as excited for what was about to happen.

"Always. Let's do it."

Feeling his smile widen, Oni pushed off from the building, letting gravity take hold once more. He twisted as he fell, orienting himself so that he was falling face-first towards the tiny auto repair shop below. He made slight adjustments as he moved – wings and a tail were so incredibly useful for making such adjustments – aiming for the skylight nestled in the center of the roof, through which he'd already observed a few figures walking around while he'd been texting Ochako.

Twisting around again at the last second, he slammed feet-first into the glass, before impacting the cement floor an instant later, landing in a crouch. 'Shock Absorption' worked its magic, nullifying the impact to the point that he didn't even feel it, and his regeneration quirk had already closed up the numerous miniscule cuts he'd earned by smashing through glass.

Rising from his crouch, Oni looked up to see a few criminals staring at him, incredulous looks on their faces. There were eight of them, and he'd already confirmed that there weren't any more in the rest of the building.

"Hello hello, everyone!" Oni called.

"Who-?"

"Please." He said, raising a hand. "Let's skip all the useless introductions and baseless threats, and instead just skip right to the fun part."

Oni raised both of his hands up to eye-level, showing his scaled forearms that were emitting a fair amount of steam into the air. He'd pulled on 'Steam' and had been building up that which it had been named for since before he stopped to text Ochako, and now it was time to put it to good use.

Sweeping his arms out around him, steam billowed out from them. Not in a pressurized blast he might use to attack someone, but with more than enough force to very rapidly fill the room. Within seconds the steam was thick enough to all but completely hinder everyone's vision. Oni couldn't see more than a scant few inches in front of his face.

'Let's have some fun with this.' Oni thought, closing his eyes and putting a bit more focus into 'Proximity.'

As the group of criminals devolved into something of a panic, Oni stepped back, moving in almost absolute silence. He circled around them, observing as they tried to make sense of the situation, and waiting for the right moment to strike. As he moved, steam continuously poured from his arms, ensuring that the air wouldn't be clearing any time soon.

One of the criminals started to inadvertently separate from the rest, head whipping back and forth as he tried to locate Oni, or any of his comrades, and Oni chose that moment to move in. In an instant, Oni was behind him, hands raised up the man's head. With a quick, concentrated exertion from 'Conqueror', the man collapsed instantly, with Oni catching him before he could hit the floor. He was quietly deposited on the floor some distance away, hopefully far enough that one of the others wouldn't trip over him and spoil Oni's fun.

Moving back towards the group, he slipped right into the middle of it.

'One down, seven to go.'

The second to fall did so in almost the exact same way. In their confusion, they drifted too far from the rest, and fell immediately as Oni came for them. The third though, was in the middle of the rest. Oni weaved through the group and grabbed him, allowing him to make a bit of noise before silencing him with 'Conqueror'. The perfect amount of noise to have the remaining five notice and make a beeline for where they thought it had come from. This meant that all five were colliding with one another, and very nearly lashed out in their blind panic.

Oni watched – or as much as using 'Proximity' could be considered watching, really it was more akin to feeling, but then he could visualize what he felt around him, so it was close enough to say that he was watching – this happen with a smile on his face, before pulling on another quirk.

'Ventriloquist'

As the quirk activated, Oni focused on the wall on the opposite side of the room from him, before speaking.

"Wow, you all are really bad at this." His voice sounded out through the steam, originating from the spot he'd focused on, his own mouth silent as it moved. "I would've thought that you all would display just the slightest bit of competence, but here we are."

The effect was immediate. Before he was even done speaking, all five turned and headed straight for where they thought his voice had come from. As they moved, so did Oni. He appeared behind them, extending his hands and hitting the two rearmost criminals with 'Conqueror,' dropping them.

"Honestly." His voice sounded out again, this time from somewhere off to the criminals' left. "Look at you all, running around like chickens with your heads cut off."

As they stumbled blindly through the steam – Oni would've thought that they would maybe look for the exit by this point, or that they would've maybe noticed their decreasing numbers, but then, it wasn't like they were the smartest bunch of people. Their decision to pursue such low, meaningless crime could attest to that – Oni pulled on one of his newer quirks, one that he'd acquired the same night as 'Steam.' He felt a new weight grow in the back of his throat as it activated.

"Oh, by the way. You might want to take a headcount at some point. Is it just me, or are there fewer of you than there were when we started?"

His new, greatly lengthened tongue darted out of his mouth at the exact moment that the criminals seemed to finally catch up, and their panic skyrocketed. It was a bit odd aiming something like the tongue based solely off the input from 'Proximity', but he didn't have years of experience in experimenting with quirks and their combinations for nothing. Between his skill and maybe the slightest bit of luck, the organ wrapped around the neck of one of his unfortunate victims. He ignored the salty, grimy, disgusting taste that hit him as soon as he hit them, which only worsened when their natural reaction led them to grab at the thing wrapped around their throat.

With a swift jerk of his new tongue, the criminal was sent flying back towards him. Oni unraveled his tongue as the man flew, and as soon as he was close enough, Oni twisted, raising a foot and planting into his chest, abruptly changing the direction of the man's flight.

He grimaced at the lingering taste on his tongue, already pulling on 'Shower in a Can' to clean himself off. Right, probably not the best idea to use that particular quirk on random trash like this, he had no idea where they'd been. Luckily, 'Shower in a Can' removed whatever microscopic remnants on his tongue that were the source of the lingering taste.

He felt a kind of bad for Tsuyu, her tongue was one of her primary methods of fighting. She likely had to deal with the same thing.

Actually, there might be a way for him to make it work, and now that the thought had crossed his mind, he couldn't just not experiment.

With a swift pull on 'Metallum,' steel flashed across his body, including his new tongue. As soon as it was transformed, it lashed out once more at the two remaining criminals, once again latching around a neck.

'Hm. Interesting.' He thought. 'Sense of taste is greatly decreased like this. Not exactly a huge surprise, but interesting nonetheless.'

"Doesn't change the fact that you're licking criminals." Tamako added.

'I'm aware. I was simply attempting to avoid that particular thought. Besides, despite the horrifying truth of what I'm actually doing right now, the fact that I am means that I can do this.'

Oni's clawed hand came up, arcing with electricity. Latching onto his tongue sent those arcs racing down the organ, which was now a much more effective conductor. Between his body being made of metal – which he'd already found out greatly decreased the risk of electricity to his body during the USJ fiasco – and the already slightly increased immunity that 'Taser' provided, he felt nothing more than a slight tingling sensation as the electricity raced towards the decidedly non-metal person that he was connected to.

He took a moment to enjoy their screaming, before pulling them back just as he'd done with the last one. This time, he ended it with a metal arm to the chest, clotheslining them.

'One left.'

With only one remaining, Oni pulled back 'Steam,' ceasing the endless cloud of it pouring from his arms. 'Metallum' went with it, returning his flesh to normal. Then with a follow-up pull on 'Air Cannon' and a few quick sweeping motions with his arms, a great deal of the steam was cleared away or swept aside, greatly clearing both his and the criminal's vision.

"You!" She shouted as soon as she saw him. "What are you doing here!? What do you want!?"

Oni looked around, feigning confusion.

"Was… Is it not obvious?" He asked, frowning. "I'm sorry, I thought that it was pretty clear."

He moved, appearing directly in front of her face faster than she could blink.

"I'm here to punish the useless trash that decided that crime was the best recourse for their own terrible decisions and failed lives."

She swung at him wildly, and he moved just as fast as before to sidestep it. He grabbed the outstretched limb, and was slightly surprised to feel fur of some kind, even through the muted sense of touch as a result of his claws and even though he could see nothing that even resembled fur.

He strained his eyes at her, activating 'Appraisal.'

[Name: Warabi Shimizu]

[Quirk: Invisi-fur. Passive. Enhancement, Utility, Illusion, Animal, Mutation.]

[The user is covered in a thick coat of fur that is invisible to the eye.]

'Fascinating.' Oni thought. For a moment, he felt the slightest urge to take it for himself, but decided against doing so. There wasn't any use to it, not with his temperature resistance quirk, and he wouldn't even be able to see the fur. There was no actual or aesthetical use for him.

Oni grinned at the woman. It wasn't friendly, and she flinched, trying to pull away.

"Whoops." He said, snapping her forearm with a quick jerk of his wrist. An even faster exertion of 'Conqueror' silenced her before her scream could leave her throat.

Oni looked out across the room as the woman collapsed to the floor, at the criminals he'd left scattered about. All things considered, this was one of his tamer victories – though could it really be considered a 'victory' if there was never and chance for failure? –, over half of them had been left without injury, and really the ones that were injured were injured superficially. Sure, just moments ago he'd snapped the woman's arm like a twig, but treating a break like that wasn't anything close to a challenge for modern-day medical technology – which was one of the few scientific studies that hadn't stagnated completely with quirks, even if that was mostly just because it was necessary to learn how to treat damage caused by quirks – and quirks. The one that was most likely to be more seriously injured was the one he'd shocked, and even then, it wasn't as if 'Taser' really packed much of a punch.

Turning away, he headed for a door that led outside, disregarding the skylight he'd entered through. He didn't slow down to open it, instead simply walking through the glass. The miniscule cuts he got healed even faster than the ones he'd received a few minutes ago.

Stepping out into the daylight – which was a slightly odd sensation. A bit of a novelty, as it wasn't often at all that he did anything as Oni before the sun went down – he pulled out his phone, dialing the number for the nearest police precinct. With Rei still asleep, it was up to him to make sure someone came to clean up the mess he'd made.

A pleasant voice answered after barely two rings. "Hosu police precinct, Ryou speaking."

"Hello." He greeted, false cheer in his voice as he picked at a piece of his clothing. With all the steam that had been in the air, his clothes were a bit damp now. "I am currently standing outside of…" he glanced up at the sign that sat over the door he'd just walked through "Ushihama Garage. I'd like to report a crime."

"A crime?"

"Yes, that's what I said." Oni responded, grinning. He knew that she was asking because she was essentially a secretary for the precinct, and not an emergency services dispatcher, which is who most people would be calling if they needed to report a crime, but it was fun to mess with her, even if it was over something miniscule.

"A-alright then. What is the nature of your emergency?" She asked, clearly confused. Maybe she was new.

"Well, you see, I've just killed a few people."

"…" The line was silent for several long seconds. Oni could hear her breathing on the other end. "I'm sorry, what? You… killed… someone?"

"Yep. Eight people, in fact."

He almost laughed at the silence as the woman struggled to decide how to respond. Apparently Oni had broken her with a few short sentences.

"Alright then. I just figured I ought to tell you. I imagine you'll want to have some officers come by."

"Mhm, yeah." She mumbled. "Thank you…"

"You're very welcome. Have a nice day."

He hung up, cutting off her response of 'Mhm. You too."

Oni raised his arms up over his head, stretching himself out. Now that he'd wrapped up such a pleasant start to his evening, it was about time he moved on to more important matters. He had a sword wielding, psychopathic, maybe-vigilante-maybe-serial killer to catch.

Spreading his wings, he launched himself into the air, quickly rising above the surrounding buildings.

Looking through everything he and Rei could find on Stain and his movements in the past had revealed something of a pattern. It wasn't much of one – barely even qualified as one actually – but it was a pattern nonetheless. It didn't help them figure out who the next target would be, or where it would happen, but it did have them coming to the conclusion that there would even be another attack, as well as a very loose approximate when.

Whenever Stain got started in a city, he always went after multiple heroes. He never only went after one. That wouldn't shine enough light on the other so-called 'corrupt' heroes in the area. The fewest targets he'd ever gone after, from the information that they could confirm was Stain's handiwork at least, was three, and that was when he'd tried to make a mess of Oni's city.

That number would've been lower, had Oni not found out the crimes of the third and final target, but that wasn't important.

The point was, Stain wouldn't stop after just attacking the hero he'd targeted when Ingenium had attempted to step in. He was far too driven to follow through with his mission to do something like that.

As for the when, over the years that Stain had been active, it seemed like he put a little bit of effort into randomizing the times of his appearances, but there were two rather strict guidelines he followed. The first was obvious enough: He only ever moved at night. Fewer potential witnesses that way, not to mention the other obvious advantages of fighting and moving at night. And the second: Once he arrived at a city and hit his first target, he never waited more than a week to strike again. From the night he hit a target, before the week was up, he would move on to the next, and the timer would reset. With Ingenium and the other hero being attacked around the time of the festival, and another – some smaller hero that Oni didn't immediately recognize, whose only crime would be maybe putting a bit too much focus into his appearance in the public eye – in the week before the start of the internships, another target would be due to be attacked before the internships were over.

As for who might be attacked, that was quite a bit harder to nail down. As with every other decently sized city in Japan, there were hundreds of heroes in Hosu. He could – and had – try to determine any potential crimes that they had committed, but Stain was just as likely to attack someone because they were too flashy, had too much merchandise, or hesitated just a moment too long when saving someone. There was no reasonable – or even remotely reliable – method to determine who Stain's next target might be. Oni's only option was to patrol the entire city from sundown to sunup, every day, hoping to find Stain before Iida did.

He figured that starting around Manual's – the hero that Iida had chosen to intern with, most likely for the sole purpose of trying to find Stain – patrol route and expanding out from there would be a good enough place to begin. And with sunset rapidly approaching, it was almost time for their patrol to begin. He'd actually spotted the two of them both nights as he followed his own patrol. Today was the third day of the internships, and thus was the third night of his patrol.

Oni was approaching this search for Stain much quieter than he had in Musutafu. That time, it had been more urgent, he'd needed Stain out of his city as soon as possible, and he was fully willing to kick up a storm in doing so. But now, his primary concern was to keep Iida safe, he wasn't as concerned with stopping an attack altogether, only with finding Stain. He mostly kept to the sky, scanning the streets below with several of the changes in vision that 'Spectrum' gave him access to. More often than not he kept 'Ghost' active as he flew, all the better to ensure that he wasn't seen.

He was nearing Manual's agency, a relatively small, fairly inconspicuous building. It wasn't flashy at all. Where a number of heroes with their own agencies would have the name of said agency plastered across the outside of the building, this one was indistinguishable from the multitude of normal office buildings around it.

He was at the point where he would stop flapping his wings, and simply let momentum carry him the rest of the way as he drifted closer to the ground, when a purple portal spawned into existence directly in front of him.

Oni twisted out of the way, drawing his wings in close. Another opened in his path as he fell, and in the blink of an eye 'Air Cannon' was pulled to the surface and he was using a blast of air to redirect himself. He dove for the nearest building, much more willing to continue this with only two dimensions in play. Not to mention he was multitudes faster when his feet were on the ground. He had to dart out of the way one more time when a portal spawned on the roof where he would've landed.

Once his feet where firmly beneath him, and his wings were outstretched just in case that happened to change, he watched the air around him. Kurogiri likely wouldn't just give up after a few failed attempts. If he was here for Oni, then it was for a specific reason.

"Kurogiri." Oni said, turning towards where he felt the… man? Creature?... appear. All that was there was a pair of glowing eyes in a purple cloud. "I must say, you've picked an odd time and place to die."

"I did not come here to fight." Kurogiri responded. "I came to extend an invitation."

Oni raised an eyebrow. "And you couldn't open with that? From my perspective it certainly seemed less like an invitation and more like you were trying to capture me."

"Forgive me. My leader is simply anxious to speak with you."

"And what does he want to talk about?"

"I would prefer to leave that to him to explain."

Oni considered it for a moment. It would be interesting, at the very least, to get a closer look at the ones that were trying to stir up trouble. It seemed that they didn't listen to the warning he'd sent through Giran, not that he'd actually expected them to. Actually, that could very well be the purpose of this meeting.

He tilted his head. "And if I go, you realize that if I don't like what I hear, I'm not above putting you down? All of you?"

"We are well aware of how dangerous you are. That is part of the reason my leader would like to speak with you."

Overconfidence, maybe. Or maybe simply confidence in either their ability to convince him of… whatever they wanted to talk about, or their ability to fend him off.

Either way, he was curious.

"Alright then." He said, drawing his wings back in and gesturing with a hand. "Let's get on with it."

Darkness immediately washed over him, and he had to resist the urge to move out of the way. He felt the sensation of falling, before the darkness cleared and his feet hit the ground.

Blinking, he took in his surroundings, seeing that he was in a bar of some sort. His eyes landed on one of the occupants.

"Ah. Hello Stain. Fancy meeting you here."

Stain nodded at him. "Oni."

"Good. You're both finally here." A raspy voice said. Oni looked over to see Shigaraki emerging from a doorway that presumably led deeper into the bar.

"Hello Shigaraki." Oni said, leaning back against a wall. "Hello Kurogiri." He nodded, once the man had formed – fully, this time – behind the bar. "And hello, mystery person watching from the computer."

The computer monitor was blank, but he could feel something coming from it, and it was an ominous feeling indeed. Someone was definitely watching through it.

"Oni…" Shigaraki said, fingers twitching. "How do you know our names?"

"Please." Oni scoffed. "You think I wouldn't look into the people that were bold enough to attack Yueii? Especially when it was done with such piss-poor execution?"

"You-! Hng." Shigaraki rasped, hand coming up to scratch at his neck, while the other twitched in Oni's direction. Oni met the obvious anger and desire to kill with a smirk. His own fists were tightening. He still had yet to decide whether tonight would end with him killing everyone in the room, Stain included.

"Enough." Stain said, cutting through the tension in the air. "Tell me why you saw fit to interrupt my work, lest I decide to purge you as well."

Shigaraki grumbled to himself for a moment, before relaxing a bit, sitting back against one of the bar stools.

"I have a proposal for you two." He said. "I want you to join us."

Oni blinked. Shigaraki couldn't be that blunt, could he?

"Maybe you ought to start off with telling us who you are?" He said. "Just a suggestion."

Shigaraki sneered. "We are the League of Villains."

Oni resisted the urge to sigh. Either Shigaraki was an idiot, or this was his first time trying his hand at anything remotely diplomatic.

"I see." Stain said. "So you are the one that's been stirring up so much trouble. And you want to add the two of us to your little group."

"Yep. You two are great. Even if you are annoying." That last sentence was accompanied by a barely hidden glare in Oni's direction. "You've been putting heroes in their place." He said, pointing at Stain. Then, pointing at Oni, "And you must have a twisted mind to match up to ours, with how you break the people you fight."

Oni raised an eyebrow at the man, as Stain asked, "What's your goal, exactly?"

"To start, we want to kill All Might. Then, after that, we want to go around and destroy anything and everything that isn't to our liking."

He held up a stack of pictures. "For example, these brats. The ones that got in our way."

Oni recognized a picture of himself, as 'Izuku,' obviously, most likely taken during the second event in the sports festival. If he had to guess, it was just before he was about to lay waste to 1-B.

Despite that, Oni almost smiled as Shigaraki spoke. That was the wrong thing to say to someone like Stain. The man might be a psychopath with twisted views on society and how to fix it, but he despised wanton violence. Oni could practically feel Stain's mood plumet.

"Clearly, it was a mistake for me to be interested in any of this." He said. "You all are the sort of people I despise the most. Your goal amounts to what is essentially the tantrum of a petulant child. Violence without reason, without direction, is worse, immeasurably so, than even false heroes."

"Yes, I must say that I'm not a fan of such things either." Oni added. "As much as I may enjoy tormenting the targets of my vigilantism, I don't do what I do without reason."

Ignoring Shigaraki's obviously worsening mood, Oni turned to Stain.

"Say, Stendhal, do you remember the last time we ran into each other?"

"I do. Why?"

Oni smiled. "How would you feel about a repeat performance?"

He saw realization pass over Stain's face, and the man's expression darkened imperceptibly. Good, he was on board.

Oni's expression darkened in kind as he let himself focus on certain things, things that brought him to anger. The attack on the USJ, Shigaraki threatening his classmates, daring to so much as raise a hand in the direction of his sister. It stirred up that same rage inside of him, and he welcomed it.

The tension in the room began to rise as Oni and Stain watched each other, silently counting down to when they would kick things off. It didn't matter that they had only worked together once, and were, for all intents and purposes, enemies. They were both monsters in their own right, both predators amongst the blights against the world that were their prey, and so they did not need to communicate to be in sync.

Oni's smile darkened considerably as he let everything build up, his skin almost buzzing with the rage as it fed into 'Wrath.'

Then, without warning, he let it all out, both of them did.

Their bloodlust. Their killing intent. Their pure willpower. Whatever one chose to call it, it all exploded forth, filling the tiny room. The air thickened, and for most anyone else aside from the two of them, it became almost impossible to breathe. The room seemed to darken, and Oni could almost see sparks in the air where their wills clashed.

Then, by some silent signal, Oni and Stain both turned towards Shigaraki, and directed it all at him.

He pushed back away from the bar, falling to his knees. He scraped at the floor, disintegrating parts of it in the process. He tried to push himself to his feet, but he couldn't seem to get his body to cooperate.

Oni saw Stain drawing one of his knives, and let his claw quirk flash down his arms. The two of them moved at the same time, again by some silent signal. Stain went for Shigaraki, while Oni went for Kurogiri.

Before the man could respond, Oni was next to him, driving his clawed fingers into the metal brace around his 'neck.' At the same time, Oni heard a grunt of pain from Shigaraki.

"Ah, ah, ah. I wouldn't do that if I were you." Oni whispered, ice in his voice, as je saw some of the smoke attempt to twist and form a swirling portal. "If you so much as try to create a portal, I'll tear you apart and we'll all get to see just what part of you was left in this little box."

"Bastards…" Shigaraki wheezed, barely audible over the pressure in the room.

"Weak." Stain said. "You are all weak. You have no creed, no will. It is the duty of those that are strong to purge those such as you. It is the way of this world. I shall be the one to carry that out."

"Kurogiri… Send them back."

The metal under Oni's hands creaked as he dug a bit deeper into it.

"Remember what I said." He whispered.

"Now die." Stain said, and Oni could feel him raising a knife into the air.

"I must insist that you reconsider." A new voice sounded out, and with it came another explosion of bloodlust.

Oni moved, darting back and landing crouched on the wall farthest from the voice, teeth bared at the source. In the corner of his eye, he could see that Stain had backed off as well.

The air in the room darkened further with the intervention of the previously silent watcher, and this time there were sparks. The monitor buzzed and sparked, its blank white screen turning to static intermittently.

This. This was the true leader of the League of Villains. Oni held no doubt whatsoever that this was the villain that All Might had told him about. This was All For One.

Oni's claws dug into the wall, new strength surging in his limbs as an automatic response to the new presence. The air around him seemed to vibrate and hum as if electrified as the power of 'Conqueror' joined the mess.

The entirety of his focus was trained on the monitor, and a shockwave tore through the air towards it, almost unbidden, even as the voice sounded out once more.

"Kurogiri."

Oni's vision went dark once more, and when it cleared, he was back on the same rooftop he'd been on before he left.

He kept an eye on his surroundings for several minutes, waiting for something to come. With how on-edge he was with what had just happened, he doubted that even someone with 'Ghost' could sneak up on him. After several long minutes though, he sighed, letting some of the tension bleed out of him.

So, that had just happened. He'd just indirectly met the greatest villain ever.

With the villain's willpower alone, Oni could see, clear as day, that he was easily the most dangerous person he had ever met. It wasn't really a surprise, but it was an interesting thing to have happen, to have the thought that something or someone was, without question, the greatest something. It was almost like a moment of clarity.

Experiencing that firsthand, Oni could begin to understand the abject fear that All Might had apparently felt at just the realization that the villain was alive.

As for Oni… He wouldn't quite call it fear – there weren't many, if any, physical things that he feared anymore – but he could very well see that the man was a threat. He couldn't clearly see if he would win in a fight against someone like that. The presence alone was colossal and dangerous, not to mention any actual strengths, or quirks, that he happened to have.

Oni was confident in his ability to fight, even when it came to someone like All Might, but something like this made him hesitate just a bit.

His brow creased as he considered the potential situation. Perhaps it would be a good idea for him to look at his quirks and really put together which would grant him the greatest, most effective boost, with the fewest drawbacks. He already did that to a degree, theorizing how certain quirks might interact, like 'Taser,' 'Metallum,' and the tongue quirk, and he already had a few groupings in mind that he relied on a great deal – primarily the ones he used as Oni – but he hadn't actually picked out what his 'strongest' combination might be. The closest he'd come thus far is when he'd pulled on a great deal to match up to the Noumu.

Oni sighed again. Several new developments, the least of which being the confirmation that Stain was indeed active in Hosu.

He almost launched into the air, to fly off and try to locate the man, but held himself back. Just because he was now certain that Stain was active didn't mean that his search tonight would go any differently. He would tackle it as he had the past two nights. For now, he would wait the few minutes it would take for Rei to wake up and get her day started. He wanted to go over the developments with her.

Moving over to the edge of the building, he looked down at the street below, a small frown on his face as he thought.

A few short minutes later, after reaching the conclusion that he wouldn't be telling Yagi about his meeting All For One, because doing so would mean having to reveal his identity as Oni, a dull 'boom' sounded out through the air.

Looking up, Oni saw a column of smoke beginning to rise into the sky, an orange glow appearing at its base, standing out against the darkening landscape. A second boom sounded out immediately after.

Alright. Maybe he wouldn't wait for Rei.

He frowned as another explosion rang out. Another fire, another column of smoke.

Tightening his fists, Oni pulled on his scaled leg quirk, feeling the transformation take hold immediately, tearing through his boots. No time to dawdle right now. As he watched the fires in the distance, he pulled on one more quirk, that he rarely had an opportunity to make use of. It would help with the fires. He closed his eyes as the warmth of the quirk filled him. Raising his hands out in front of him, palms facing towards the sky, he activated it.

There was a tugging sensation in his gut, and he felt the very air around him tremble, felt the microscopic water vapor in the air heed his instructions, moving away to leave dry air around him. The natural urge with the quirk was to concentrate the effects of its power directly over his head, but with a bit of focus, he directed it over the area where the fires were. He didn't have to worry about being too precise, the effects were quite widespread.

The tugging at his gut increased, and he felt the tell-tale sensation of electricity arcing between his outstretched fingers. Wind brushed against him, warm wind, as the quirk forced huge swathes of air to cool. Tension built in the air around him, similar to how it had in the bar, but this time it wasn't because of monsters exercising their will, but of nature itself acting. And it acted in response to Oni's will.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, and Oni's eyes snapped open.

'Tempest.'

His hands clenched into fists, and lightning flashed through the sky. What had once been a clear sky, darkening with the sun touching the horizon, was now an almost pitch-black mess of clouds. It wasn't terribly wide, but it was a massively tall column. He could feel it trembling, waiting to release.

Oni lowered his hands, and the clouds obeyed, letting loose the water it had built up.

Crouching, Oni tensed his legs, before launching himself forwards. He cleared several buildings before his wings snapped open to carry him further. Partway through, he dove into the curtain of rain, almost immediately being soaked to the bone. It didn't even take him a minute to reach the commotion, and flying over it all, he felt adrenaline hum in his veins at what he saw.

Creatures, bodies mutilated and scarred, all of them with their brains exposed.

Noumu.

There were three of them, and they were terrorizing the citizens. He could already see bodies scattered throughout the intersection they seemed to have appeared in. A few of them wore costumes that could only indicate a hero.

Not wasting any time, Oni dived towards the ground, not bothering to close his wings, instead using them to propel him faster than gravity could. He pulled them back in the last moment, twisting so that he landed on his feet. The asphalt cracked beneath him as he did.

Focusing his attention on the Noumu, he pulled on another quirk, 'Captivate' and immediately theirs snapped to him. He smirked as they seemingly forgot about the people fleeing from them.

"Look at you." He whispered, barely even audible to himself over the downpour. "Someone's decided to send me some giftwrapped quirks. How so very nice of them."

Warmth flooded his limbs. Any of his enhancers that hadn't been activated in response to All For One, were being pulled on now. Reaching up to his mask, he pulled it loose, storing it away with 'Hotbar.' In its place, he pulled on his new draconic transformation, simply named 'Drake.'

As his head shifted, his bones breaking and reshaping, his smile shifted with it, becoming a silent snarl as his muscle structure changed.

This was going to be interesting. The last time he'd faced off against a Noumu – the only time he'd faced off against one – it had felt strong enough to go up against All Might. He didn't get the same feeling of anticipation or fear from these, though that could be attributed to any number of things. It could be the fact that the USJ Noumu had made him considerably stronger, the fact that he'd already faced off against one, and therefore had an idea of what to expect, or simply because of his encounter with All For One setting him on edge already.

No matter the case. He wasn't nervous, staring down the Noumu. Anticipation was making his heart begin to thunder in his chest, was making his hearing begin to fade out, and was making the sensation of rain against his skin start to disappear into the background, but he wasn't afraid. Granted, if they were as much fun as he was hoping, as strong as he was hoping, and oh how he hoped they were, he might have his hands full.

No. Despite what he was facing, despite what their presence meant, he was excited. Excited at the prospect of such a fun fight.

"Oh, I hope you all are as much fun as I'm hoping you are." He said, voice pitched lower and a bit garbled with his transformation.

The three beasts stared him down. There was one that looked similar enough to the one from the USJ, beyond simply the exposed brain. Tall – almost twice Oni's height – and broad, with a deep purple-black skin that seemed to almost be bursting with how much muscle was packed beneath. It didn't have any eyes, but didn't seem to have any issue with knowing where Oni was.

'Oh~. Is that an extrasensory quirk? I can't wait to try it out.'

The second had considerably lighter skin. It was much skinnier than the first, though Oni still got the impression of a huge amount of power in its limbs, and it had an extra pair of eyes.

'Not exactly my style, but I wouldn't be opposed to giving that a shot.'

The third gave Oni the impression of being the weakest of the trio. It was smaller than the other two, and had huge leathery wings similar to Oni's.

As he stared them down, Oni saw a few heroes break through the chaos of the retreating crowd and begin to gather around the clearing. He couldn't let them get involved. 'Captivate' could draw someone's attention away from almost anything, but he wasn't quite sure how someone under its effect might react when they were attacked by someone else. At best they would ignore it, and continue targeting him, but at worst, the fight could very quickly get away from him.

A familiar flash of hair caught his attention, and he glanced over to see Todoroki included in the crowd of heroes.

'Shit. This isn't ideal. I didn't realize he was interning here as well.'

For the moment, the heroes seemed to be monitoring the situation, likely trying to determine what Oni's place in everything was.

He wouldn't let them decide on a plan of action. Hopefully they would decide to back off when they saw that he had things under control.

Taking a deep breath, Oni took a step forward and roared, something made possible by the transformation. The Noumus responded in kind.

The ground beneath him shattered, and in the blink of an eye his feet were planted in the chest of the big Noumu, flinging it back. It disappeared through the wall of a nearby building. Oni wasn't particularly concerned. Even if it went out of sight, so long as the path back to him wasn't too long or overly complicated, it would come for him, as demanded by 'Captivate.'

As he twisted in midair to touch back down, the other two Noumu came at him from either side. He caught their fists, latching on, and as soon as his feet were on the ground, he launched himself into the air, carrying them along. Once he'd reached the right height a moment later, he twisted, throwing one down, quickly followed by the other. Pulling on 'Air Cannon' for a moment, he launched himself back towards them. The smallest one – the one with wings – was quick to get out of the way, but the other wasn't so lucky, and Oni's scaled foot stomped down on its arm, shearing the limb clean off.

Bending down to grab at its remaining arm, he swung it up and over to hit the first Noumu, who had just made it back. They collided with a sickening 'crunch' – though he couldn't tell where it originated from – and were both sent flying a short distance away.

Reaching down once more, Oni dug his hands into the road and pulled up a chunk of the asphalt. Turning, he focused on the winged Noumu, launching his projectile at it. It tried to evade, but even though the rock didn't hit the base of its wing like he'd been aiming for, one of its arms was still torn off.

Spinning around, he caught the fist of the big Noumu. He was about to see what he could do about relieving this one of one of its arms as well, when 'Proximity' picked something up from beneath him. Oni jumped up, yanking at the arm in his hand to better drive his foot into the Noumu's chest once more, sending it flying yet again and tearing its arm loose in the process.

Oni touched down again just in time for a fourth Noumu to burst out of the ground, too-many hands reaching for him. He brought the severed arm up to hit it under the chin, before stepping closer to deliver a punch to its torso, sending it away. As it did, he trapped it with 'Captivate,' ensuring that it would stay with the other three. In the split-second he had, he saw that this one had the same purple-black skin as the big one, along with an extra pair of arms, spikes along its back, and what looked to be a scorpion tail.

Dropping the arm, Oni ducked, letting a kick from the pale Noumu pass over him. As soon as it did, he jumped up into the air, twisting to lash out with a kick of his own, directly at its head. The force of it drove the Noumu into the ground.

Alright. Maybe they weren't as strong as the one from the USJ – quite a bit weaker actually – but maybe this could still turn out to be interesting.

He spun around once more to catch another punch from the big one, before bringing his other hand up to catch its other fist, the one attached to an arm that had definitely been torn off moments ago, as evidenced by the severed arm that was still lying where Oni had dropped it.

'Another regeneration quirk? That ought to spice things up.'

Oni threw his hands out to his sides, forcing the Noumu's arms away from him. He bladed his hand, darting close to drive it through the Noumu's stomach. Using that as leverage, and grabbing for one of its arms, he swung it around, throwing into the same building it first went into when he started things off. If it could heal from virtually anything, then he could play a bit rougher with it.

The pale Noumu was up again, and as it moved, Oni could see where its arm was almost completely reformed. Another healing quirk, but less powerful.

It opened its mouth, and a tongue darted out, quickly expanding to reveal a net-like structure. Oni stepped around it faster than it could react, moving to its head. Grabbing at its neck with one hand, he took the tongue in his other and tore it loose. Tossing the organ away, he lifted the Noumu up by its neck, before slamming it back down into the ground, into the same spot it had just risen from.

His head darted to the side, avoiding the stinger that was aimed at it. Oni caught the end of the tail, its chitinous armor cracking under the force. Yanking the tail forwards, he moved out of the way as the Noumu followed. He didn't let go, swinging the beast around, before up into the air, and down onto the pale one. Before it could recover, he brought it up again, slamming it down on his other side, before repeating the process once more. As the big one emerged from the building again, charging for him. Oni swung the tailed Noumu around to slam into the big one's chest, throwing it away yet again.

'That's what you get for not having a shock absorption quirk.'

Pulling back his claws, keeping a hold on the tail, which his fingers had broken through, now digging into the flesh beneath the armor, Oni felt around for the Noumu's quirks. Picking out what he thought was the right one, he pulled it out. With that done, he tossed the Noumu in the direction of the big one.

Oni activated the new quirk, hoping that he wasn't about to grow a scorpion tail.

Thankfully, he'd chosen correctly, as he felt discomfort and heat shoot up his spine and coalesce in his sides, just under his arms.

Grabbing at the collar of his shirt, he tore it away, leaving it to fall to the ground instead of storing it away. No sense in showing more than he was about to.

As with other mutation and transformation quirks, he felt his bones grinding against one another as it changed him. His spine in particular felt like it was creaking. His muscles twitched and burned as they grew and split, creating new connections. He could feel his sides bulging, under his arms, not dissimilar to when he'd had to regrow an arm in the USJ.

As the heat continued to grow, Oni felt something snap into place in his back, even as the skin and muscles along his torso felt decidedly stretched for a moment, before that too was corrected.

"Aha." He almost moaned. "That would be a new vertebra forming."

Finally, as a culmination of everything happening, two new limbs burst forth from his sides. He could feel them immediately. They felt unnaturally warm, and almost raw. He examined them as the heat in his body faded away.

His – now four – arms knocked against one another as he brought them up in front of him. The new limbs were identical to the originals, as far as he could tell. It was a bit of an odd sensation, having two new limbs to control, but it wasn't as if he didn't have experience adapting to a shifting body structure, regularly adding or losing extra body parts. Just about every day he went from having a snake tail to having legs and an actual tail. This wouldn't be any more difficult.

Already he was beginning to grow used to the new additions as he moved them around, working his fingers. He could already tell that it was much easier to have both arms on one side perform the same action.

As this was happening, the Noumu had regrouped and now stood some distance away, observing him, barely restraining themselves from charging in. It was the closest thing to intelligence he'd seen them display thus far.

The one with the scorpion tail still had its extra arms, and more than that, they looked to still be functional. He tilted his head at that. Was its DNA so utterly fucked that even if it lost the quirk that gave it the extra body part, it could still compensate and control said body part?

Before he could begin to come up with an answer, his earpiece – which had stayed in place when his head transformed. That was something he and Rei had tested the day after he'd gotten the quirk, to ensure that it would. – buzzed to life.

"Izuku." Rei said, sounding a bit out of breath. "What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing much, just growing some new body parts. What's going on with you?"

As he spoke, the Noumu had apparently decided that they'd waited long enough. The pale one, apparently the fastest, surged forward, lunging at him, all limbs present once more. Oni's lips pulled back into the closest approximation of a smile he could manage, scales and claws flashing across all four of his arms at once. A pleasant surprise, finding out that his claws worked with his new limbs, but not one that distracted him.

He caught the Noumu's arms in two of his own, immediately planting a foot into its chest, kicking it away while keeping its arms for himself.

"Izuku I'm watching the news right now. What's happening? What are those creatures?"

"Remember the monster that I told you about? The one from the USJ?" He asked, darting past the big Noumu's lunge, jumping into the air once he was behind it to aim a kick at the back of its head. "These are basically the same thing. Noumu. Things that used to be human, with too many quirks."

The tailed one charged at him last. He stopped its lunge, catching all four of its fists with all of his own. He twisted, spinning it around.

"Does that mean that the League of Villains is responsible for what's happening?"

"I would imagine so." He answered, swinging the tailed Noumu around, before sending it flying straight towards the pale one, which had been attempting to get up without the use of its arms.

"What's the status of the rest of the city?" He asked, tearing another chunk of the road up to attack the winged Noumu, this time punching a hole in one of its wings. "Is this isolated or is there more?"

"You've got the bulk of it with you, but there are others. Two more Noumu, and then something else. I'm not sure if it's too quick for the cameras, or just really good at hiding, but there's something that's attacking people that I can't keep track of."

Oni jumped past the big Noumu's attack to deliver a punch with both of his right arms, caving its chest in and sending it flying back. He followed it, getting around behind it before it could land and repeating his attack from behind, reversing its momentum and sending it hurtling towards the other two.

"What's the status of the other two?"

"Both are fighting heroes. One of them is fighting Endeavor. He and his sidekicks seem to have it under control."

Oni delivered a knee to the tailed Noumu's head. Knocking it back with another double-punch, he caught it by the tail before it could get very far. He swung it up over his head as he'd done a few minutes ago, slamming it back down into the ground. Before it could recover, he stepped up and onto its tail. Using the leverage, he tore the second half of the limb away.

"And the other?"

"Currently being engaged by Miruko."

Oni's eyes widened as kicked the – formerly – tailed Noumu back. "Miruko's here? What about Uravity?"

"She's there as well, though it looks like she's just helping with rescue and evacuation. Miruko seems to have it pretty well handled."

Oni frowned, as much as his new musculature allowed him to. Miruko was one of the more capable heroes when it came to combat, but he still didn't like the idea of Ochako being near a fight with a Noumu.

"Keep an eye on them. Let me know if anything goes south."

"Will do. I'll also keep an eye out for any developments for the mystery villain."

"Thanks." He said, right as he noticed the Noumu recovering.

Oni snarled, crouching slightly, muscles tensed. He could, and absolutely would abandon the heroes around him if he needed to in order to ensure Ochako's safety.

In the meantime though…

Oni's claws vanished, scales disappearing as he deactivated the quirk.

No more games. It was time to start cleaning things up.

As it had before, the pale Noumu was first to charge him. Its arms still hadn't reformed past its elbows, but that wasn't stopping it. Taking a step forward, Oni drove his hand through its chest and out the other side. As its muscles twitched around his arm, trying to repair, he took hold of the quirks he could feel burning through it, seven of them, and pulled them all out. It went limp immediately, and when he withdrew his arm, it collapsed lifelessly to the ground.

Before the big one could even reach him, he darted forward, leaving a small crater in his wake. It couldn't react fast enough, and in the blink of an eye his feet were planted on its shoulders, all twenty fingers digging into the exposed brain. He repeated the process, grabbing the five quirks he felt and pulling them loose. It ragdolled as he pushed off, sent flying one last time.

The ground next to him rumbled, and the four-armed Noumu exploded out. Before it could even begin to reach towards him though, Oni's right hands latched onto its face and throat, and it was stopped in its tracks. He pulled six new quirks into his chest.

Oni directed his attention to the remaining Noumu, the winged one, which had for the most part stayed out of the fight, despite not being able to pull its focus away. Before it could react to him, he exploded forwards, launching straight towards it without even using his wings. It tried to avoid him, but one of his hands caught a wing, and he used that leverage to swing himself up onto its back, where the claws on his feet sank into its flesh to anchor him.

Grabbing each wing with two hands, he pulled on them and its quirks at the same time. He gained four more quirks, and the wings tore free, and they started falling. Unlatching his claws, he spread his wings, pulling away from it.

"Which way to Miruko's Noumu?" He asked.

"North, northwest, just under a kilometer out."

Oni dropped to the nearest roof top, taking off running as soon as he had his footing.

Barely a few seconds after he set off, three or four blocks from where his fight had taken place, he saw a small glacier emerge from an alley several buildings ahead of him.

"I have a feeling I'm not going to like this." He grumbled. He already had a pretty good idea of what he was about to find.

Coming to a stop at the edge of the roof, looking down into the alley, his suspicion was confirmed. The space was littered with broken chunks of ice, with even more stretching along the sides of the buildings. On one end of the alley was Todoroki, a fallen Iida, and Pro Hero Native. On the other, was Stain.

"Miruko just finished off her Noumu. And it looks like Endeavor will be wrapping up soon as well."

Oni's lips pulled back in an almost-grin, even as he saw Stain move. He was darting across the space towards the others. Todoroki had an arm raised, which Oni could see was covered in frost.

Before Stain could make it halfway, and before Todoroki could launch his counterattack, Oni appeared, his foot connecting with the back of Stain's head. The man was sent flying, bouncing off of one of the buildings.

"Hello all." Oni said once he landed, more towards the non-psychopaths than Stain.

"Ha. Looking good down there, Stain." He said, stepping closer. "Tell me, how's the asphalt taste? Good, I assume."

"Oni." The man growled, picking himself up. "What are you doing here?"

"You really feel the need to ask that after I just kicked you into a building? Really, I thought you were smarter than that."

Oni crossed his arms, all four of them, which definitely did not take him a split second to figure out before he accomplished it.

"I'm here because I finally decided to put a stop to your nonsense, Stain."

"Nonsense…" He repeated, anger skyrocketing, his bloodlust quickly following. "I am purging this world of fake heroes."

"Yes, nonsense. Your ideals are flawed. You have a set of nearly unrealistic standards that you expect every hero to match up to. I mean, what reason could you possibly have to want to purge Native of all people? He's not overly flashy, seems to do his job well enough, and hasn't committed any crimes."

"He is not a true hero." Stain hissed. "He, like so many others, pursue heroics only for the money that can be gained from it."

"You act as though that's a problem." Oni said. "I don't know if you've realized this, but with how widespread quirks are, and how they grow stronger with each generation, heroics is becoming an increasingly achievable career path. Of course people are going to get into it because it pays well if you happen to be good enough at it. Which, again, I don't know if you know this or not, but that's how most jobs are. Typically, the better you do, the better you get paid. So long as they still do the best they can, what does it matter if their reason for pursuing heroics is because they want to be well paid and live a comfortable life?"

"You… You do not understand… I thought that you might, we both seek to cleanse this world, but it seems that you must become a target of my mission as well."

"Oh please. Don't compare the two of us. I don't have any delusions about trying to 'cleanse the world' or anything like that. I just do what I do because each criminal taken down is one less person that can cause someone else pain. I punish those that deserve it, but I generally follow actual societal laws as the guideline, and I don't go around killing those that break the law."

"Enough…" Stain said, bloodlust spilling forth as he picked up his fallen sword. "I will not allow you to stand in my way."

Oni let out a laugh. "It's funny that you think you have a choice, that you have any way whatsoever to prevent me from stopping you."

Stain raised his sword. "I've put down stronger foes than you."

Oni shook his head. "No, you really haven't."

Oni moved, appearing behind Stain faster than anyone could track. The man reacted a bit faster than the others, swinging his sword back without the slightest bit of hesitation, but by the time Stain turned around to look at him, Oni was already back in his original position.

"You've no idea just how outclassed you are, Stendhal. I could end you faster than you have any hope of reacting."

Stain grimaced. "Just one cut, and you would be over."

"Hm, one cut you say?" Oni said. "Here, let me help you with that."

With a thought, Oni's knife appeared in his hand. He raised it to one of his other hands, laying the edge against his palm. He ignored the slight sting as he dragged it across his hand. Compared to everything else he'd been through, it barely even registered. The cut was already closed before he even fully pulled the knife away, there wasn't so much as a speck of blood to be seen on the knife or on his hand. The weapon disappeared as fast as it had arrived, vanishing into thin air.

"Huh. That's weird." Oni said. "Are you sure just one cut will manage it?"

"Enough! Enough playing ar-!" Stain's shout cut off as Oni's fist connected with the side of his face. Stain's quirk was pulled free the moment it connected, and the man was sent crashing into the same building.

"Dumbass." Oni muttered, picking up Stain's sword from where it had fallen, again.

He walked over to where Stain lay, the sword adjusting in his grip with the help of 'Weapon Mastery.' Humming to himself, he placed a scaled foot on Stain's leg, applying enough pressure that he heard the bone break within. Then, for good measure, he positioned the sword over what he thought was the right spot, before plunging it into the limb.

"What are you doing?" Todoroki asked from off to Oni's side. He hadn't moved since Oni intervened.

"Cutting a few muscles. That's all. Nothing that can't be treated eventually, but enough that he ought not be able to move when he regains consciousness, which he most likely will fairly soon. He's not weak enough to let a simple blow to the head keep him down for long."

"Ah! I almost forgot!" He exclaimed, glancing up from what he was doing. "How are you three? Any significant injuries?"

Todoroki eyed him warily, likely suspicious of the person he saw wiping the floor with several Noumu, who just so happened to arrive to save them from Stain. "Nothing immediately life threatening. These two are both paralyzed, and Ingeniumu is losing a bit of blood."

Oni nodded, moving to continue his task on Stain's other leg. "You should use your ice to seal his injuries. Help should arrive soon enough to prevent any damage from the cold, and it'll help to keep the swelling down. Just make sure you don't freeze any veins, if the cut is that severe. Keep it on the surface."

Todoroki eyed him for another few seconds, before complying, kneeling next to Iida.

"Who are you?" Iida asked, wincing as Todoroki place his hand over what must've been the injury.

"My name is Oni!" He answered with a bit of flair. "Infamous vigilante, 'protector,' so to speak, of Musutafu, long-standing headache for Eraserhead."

"You know Eraserhead?"

"Oh of course! We're best friends!"

Neither of them responded to that.

Oni took a few steps closer. "What about you, Native? You alive over there?"

"Uh, I think so. My only injury is a cut along my arm, and I'm slowly starting to get feeling back in my toes."

"That's good. Couldn't have him take out another hero that didn't deserve it."

"Uh, yeah. Thanks for that, by the way."

"Not a problem. I just happened to be passing by, literally, when the walking glacier over here gave away what was happening here."

"Oh…" The hero said, apparently just starting to realize how close he and the others had been to dying. "That's good… But, uh. What about the rest of the city? I heard about a lot of fighting going on before he ambushed me."

Oni pulled his lips back in an attempt to smile. And Stain had thought it was a good idea to try to purge Native. Even injured and still unable to move, he was asking after the state of the city he worked in.

"Everything should be pretty close to being under control. Most of the threats have been dealt with, and there are a number of high-ranking heroes in the area that should be able to handle anything else that comes up."

Before Native could respond to that, all the shadows in the alleyway suddenly began to shift and pulse. Oni's smile widened.

"Ah! Shadow! You've finally decided to arrive! A bit late though, I'm afraid."

"Oh, Shadow's there?" Rei said. "Say hi to him for me. It's been a while."

He turned to where he could feel the new presence in the alley. "It's been far too long my fr-."

The words died in his throat as his eyes caught up to 'Proximity.'

It was another Noumu. Yet another with purple-black skin. It was halfway between the size of the pale one and the big one from his earlier fight, just slightly taller than Oni.

It was Shadow.

He could see it. There wasn't a doubt in his mind. The shadows all writhed around him, his eyes were a cloudy white, he even had the same scar trailing down his face, in addition to the number that decorated the rest of him, as what seemed to be the norm for Noumu. The tattered remnants of his cloak hung around his shoulders.

"Shadow…?"

The man- Noumu stepped backwards into a particularly thick patch of shadows, and vanished from sight. He didn't sink into them as he would when he used them to teleport around, but seemed to go invisible as soon as the shadows passed over him. Even 'Proximity' was having trouble keeping track.

Then a fist appeared from the shadows next to Oni, hitting him. He vanished again before Oni turned back to look.

No… It couldn't have happened to Shadow, could it? The man was far too skilled to get captured. He had a guaranteed method of escape no matter where he was.

Another fist appeared from the shadows, hitting him from behind. It was gone again by the time he turned around.

Why had it even happened in the first place? It wasn't like Shadow was one to really stir up trouble, like Oni was. All he wanted was to do what he could to protect his part of the city.

Another hit.

Unless… It couldn't be their escapades against The Triad, could it?

Another.

Of course. The wide-scale quirk trafficking. Picking out powerful quirks from the darker areas in the city. Of course it would be related to All For One. It was stupid of him to not make that connection the moment he knew about the villain.

His hand flashed up, catching the fist that appeared from the shadows. Another came up to catch the next. He turned to face the empty darkness that the arms led to, before slowly stepping back, pulling him from the shadows. As he did, Shadows mutilated face came into view. It retained a far more human appearance than the others had, aside from the exposed brain. It hurt to see such an expression of utter fury on the face of someone that had never so much as displayed even the slightest bit of anger.

"Oh, Shadow…" He said, his free hands coming up to the man's face, while the other two kept Shadow's under control. "Oh, you poor man. I'm so sorry. I should've known. I should've gone looking for you, instead of assuming you were just running off to tackle things on your own. I would've come for you."

The thing that used to be Shadow continued struggling in his hands, trying to wrench itself loose.

Oni was torn as to what he should do. Obviously, he couldn't let Shadow continue to rampage around the city. He couldn't be left alive, not when practically no method of containment would keep him secure. Oni could easily crush the man's skull between his hands, end it quickly and definitively. But Shadow didn't deserve that sort of messy end. He was also loathe to take the man's quirk, or quirks. He didn't want to do that to a friend.

All the same though, that would be the cleanest end that Oni could grant the man. And if nothing else, it would allow Oni to preserve Shadow's memory in his own special way.

His mind made up, Oni tightened his grip on Shadow's head.

"I'm sorry." He whispered again, closing his eyes. Grabbing onto the quirks, he pulled them as quickly and smoothly as he could, all four of them. They settled into his chest as Shadow ceased his struggling, going limp in Oni's arms.

Oni lowered him to the ground, setting him down as gently as he could, before falling back, legs no longer quite able to support him. He swallowed back the rising heat in his throat.

The rain seemed to fall heavier around him as he sat there, staring at the mutilated corpse of his friend.

"I'm sorry." Tamako said, radiating as much sadness as Oni felt. "I saw him through your memories. He seemed like a good person."

'He was. You would've liked him.'

"It wasn't your fault." Rei said, sounding a bit choked up. No doubt she was able to infer well enough what had happened, or she found a camera somewhere close enough to see.

Oni didn't quite agree with her. It certainly was his fault. He'd dragged Shadow into his fight against The Triad. He'd dragged the man along with his gung-ho method of dealing with crime, instead of approaching with any degree of subtlety. He'd assumed everything was alright when Shadow failed to meet up or communicate with him at all. If nothing else, it was as much his fault as it was whoever had actually captured him and turned him into monster.

A sudden thought had him pulling on a quirk. He couldn't let the authorities take Shadow's body. No doubt they would cut him up, dissect him in an attempt to figure out just what he was.

No, he couldn't let anything of the sort tarnish Shadow's memory. Any information they needed could just as easily come from the other Noumu corpses.

Closing his eyes, and putting his focus into 'Tempest,' he willed the thunderclouds over his head to disperse. The rain dissipated after a few short seconds, revealing a clear night sky.

Heat bloomed in his chest as he activated the other quirk. Real heat, not the almost-heat that he felt from his quirks, or even the heat of increased muscle activity that he felt when his enhancers activated. It was a heat that came from fire.

His neck began to emit a soft orange glow as he climbed to his feet, slowly building in intensity.

When it reached his limit, and he pushed it just a bit further for the burn, he let it loose. Bright white flames spilled from his mouth, washing the alley in its pure light. Flesh and muscle, even enhanced as they were from the quirks forced into him, bubbled away, falling from the body, before burning away completely from the heat, bone quickly followed, cracking and crumbling.

In a few short minutes, with several more breaths that had his throat feeling sore and dry by the end of it, all that remained of his friend and former partner, was a pile of white ash with a few scattered chunks of bone.

He knelt down, ignoring the partially melted asphalt that he set his knee in. Setting a hand in the ash, he activated 'Hotbar,' pulling in that which was immediately touching his hand. Seeing that it vanished from sight, he drug his hand through the ash, continually activating the quirk to pull in more. It took a few passes through, with his other hands joining in, but eventually he had as much as he could pull away, all that remained being the little bit that mixed in with the molten asphalt.

Oni closed his eyes again. He would be sure to do something meaningful with Shadow's remains. He would spread them somewhere, rather than leave them in some random alleyway in Hosu.

Footsteps sounded out in the distance, pulling him from his thoughts.

"Iida!" Someone shouted. "We saw the flames! Are you alright?"

"Flashpoint! Why'd you run away?"

The trio he'd saved, who up to that point had been silently watching him, turned to the party that was rushing towards them.

Oni sighed, standing back up. They were safe, and all the threats had been dealt with. It was time for him to take his leave.

The ground cracked slightly under his feet as he launched himself into the air, disappearing into the darkness.

---

Oni took a deep breath as he walked up the side of the hospital. The night had passed, and the sun was beginning to peek at the horizon. In the meantime, he'd freshened himself up a bit since leaving the heroes to clean up the mess that was Stain. He'd pulled back his scaled legs and replaced his socks and boots, and he'd pulled back his extra arms so he could put a shirt back on. He hadn't even needed to go home to do so. The same pack that he'd stored his 'Izuku' phone in – which upon retrieving the pack he saw it had a location ping from Iida – also had a number of thing he might find useful as Oni, including, but not limited to, an extra change of clothes. His pants, though, were still the same pair, and as such were slightly tattered, and he'd decided to keep his head transformation active for a bit longer, if for no other reason than for how much easier it made it to control his facial expressions.

Crouching, he peeked in through the window that Iida and Todoroki were sharing. From what he'd seen in the alley, Todoroki's injuries were superficial – though something like that meant nothing against someone with Stain's quirk –, amounting to little more than a few cuts and scrapes. Iida's though, had seemed a bit more severe. Oni wanted to check in on them to see how they were doing. That, and he had a good idea of the sort of discussions that would be taking place, and he wanted to be present for them.

Reaching out, Oni pulled open the already partially opened window, maneuvering his way inside. Both students' eyes were on him immediately.

"You!" Iida exclaimed, wincing slightly as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. "What're you doing here?"

He almost made as if to get up out of bed, but apparently decided against it. Oni could see frost spreading around where Todoroki's fingers touched the bed though.

"I came to see how you two were doing, of course!" Oni said, forcing a cheerful tone. "It's not every day that you run into someone like Stain, now is it?"

As he spoke, he turned and set a foot against the wall, lifting himself up and adjusting his balance to walk up the side, before repeating the process to transition to the ceiling.

"What are you doing?" Todoroki asked, staring up at him.

"Getting comfortable while I wait for the inevitable storm that's coming for you." Oni said, sitting down on the ceiling, before shifting back, lying down with his hands behind his head and his feet crossed.

"I think he meant, why are you on the ceiling?"

"Oh, that's because I get the feeling that it'll give Eraser a migraine the moment he sees me. And that's an opportunity I can't pass up."

A few minutes passed in silence, with the two students staring at Oni almost the entire time.

"Are you the same Oni that saved out classmate a few days ago?" Todoroki asked.

Oni opened an eye to look down at him. "I save a lot of people. You'll have to be more specific."

"At a concert."

"Ah yes. That was indeed me, unless of course there was another concert-turned-hostage-situation since then that I'm not aware of."

A few more minutes went by before, "Thank you."

Oni looked down at Todoroki again, who continued. "Thank you for saving us. I doubt I would've been able to hold out much longer against Stain."

"Not a problem." Oni said, shrugging. "Like I said earlier, I just happened to be passing through the area, noticed you by chance. Couldn't just let it be, now could I? Besides, it was very heroic of you two to jump in and try to save Native like that. Had you two not intervened, I likely wouldn't have made it in time, or perhaps I wouldn't have even noticed in the first place."

Oni noticed the way Iida's head lowered in guilt at his words. Good, at least he felt guilty for needlessly pursuing Stain. And at least he had come to his senses soon enough to send a call for help.

The room fell into silence once more as they waited for the people that Oni felt certain were coming. Thankfully, they didn't have to wait for long. He heard the cacophony of footsteps as they approached, and subtly shifted himself to get a better view of the door.

The heroes burst through all at once, with what looked to be a police detective – or maybe the chief? – trailing after them. Manual and Fly came through first, heading straight for their respective intern. As expected, Eraser was there too, though he stayed back with the detective.

"Hello Eraser! What a surprise to see you here!"

Oni watched in amusement as Eraser's expression fell – further than was his normal resting expression – the moment his words left his mouth.

"Oni." He said, turning towards him. "What are y-."

His words cut off as he looked up at Oni. They stared at each other for a few moments, and Oni could practically feel Eraser's desire to curl up in a corner.

A sigh. "So many questions. I doubt I even want to know the answers to most of them."

He pinched at the bridge of his nose. "First, why are you here? Second, why are you on the ceiling? And Third, why do you have a lizard head?"

Oni's lips pulled back in his version of a grin. "First, I came here to make sure your students here were okay, and because I knew I would run into you. Second, I'm up here because it's simply the most comfortable spot in the room. And third, it's a dragon head. And don't worry about it. When's the last time anything about me made sense?"

Eraser pinched at the bridge of his nose even harder, and mumbled something about 'needing more coffee to deal with this bullshit.' At the same time, the maybe-chief, who had a dog head, stepped forward.

"Excuse me. As… interesting," he glanced up as Oni as he said that, "as this conversation is, there is something important that must be discussed. Regarding punitive action to be taken towards the two of you." He said, gesturing at Iida and Todoroki.

Todoroki made as if to say something – probably rude – in response, with Iida just sinking further into his bead, when Oni spoke up.

"Nope. No you don't."

"Oni…" Eraser sighed.

"Nono, hear me out Eraser. Believe it or not, I did come here for a legitimate reason."

He looked over at the maybe-chief. "I assume the 'punitive action' you're referring to is in regard to Iida and Todoroki's actions against Stain, which would technically qualify as vigilantism?"

The man – dog? – stared at him for a few moments, before nodding. "They engaged in heroic activity with the use of their quirks outside of the purview of their internships."

"No, they didn't. They were both completely in the right with what they did, both morally and in the eyes of the law."

The room was silent for a few moments as they all waited for him to explain. Eventually, Eraser sighed. "Care to explain, Problem Child?"

"I'm so glad you asked, Eraser! Well, you see, at the time the attack on Hosu started, both Fly and Manual were on patrol with their respective interns."

He looked over at the heroes. "Am I correct?"

They both nodded.

"So, they were already out, and permitted to act as a hero in a limited capacity. And then everything went to shit with the appearance of the monsters all over the city."

He looked down at Eraser and the maybe-chief. "Now, I don't know about you, but that's certainly something that I would consider to be an 'emergency situation,' wouldn't you?"

The dog nodded after a moment, and Eraser just continued to stare on, looking every moment like he needed coffee even more.

"So, given that they already had limited permission to act as a hero, and they were in the middle of an emergency situation, their actions to rescue a hero, which inadvertently resulted in them defending themselves from a dangerous criminal, are completely justified. I would think that you would be faced with a bit of challenge to find anyone whose opinion held any weight that would disagree."

Oni shrugged. "But, what would I know. I'm just a simple vigilante. If it really is that big of a deal, just put the blame on me and credit me for Stain's defeat. What's one more crime added to the pile?"

The maybe-chief glowered, as much as someone with his facial structure could do so. "I was going to get to that eventually." He said, sounding put-out. "The point was to try to scare them to dissuade any further actions such as this."

"Well then, I'm glad I spoke out. It wouldn't do to discourage basic heroic instincts."

The dog sighed. "Well, as he said. I mainly came here to tell you that, in the end, you wouldn't be facing any disciplinary action, that the vigilante 'Oni' would be credited for the capture of Stain, and that because of that, no one would be told of your actions last night. Though I did also come to warn you against acting as a hero without permission before you have your license. The law takes such matters seriously, and it would be a shame to see any or your careers ended before they even begin."

"He's right, you know." Oni added. "Remember children, vigilantism is bad."

"Oni…" Eraser sighed. "Must you stay here and continue to cause problems?"

Alright, alright. Fair enough." Oni said, moving to stand up, still on the ceiling. "That's pretty much all I came here to do anyway."

He reoriented himself to walk down the wall, before reaching the floor, taking pleasure in the way the other occupants tried to follow him and make sense of his orientation as he kept switching it. Both of the pro heroes – excluding Eraser – looked slightly green.

Stepping over to the window, he maneuvered through it, launching himself into the air as soon as he was out and had room to extend his wings.

---

Oni sat on the edge of the roof just opposite the hospital, his head finally reverted to normal, displaying every bit of the emotion he felt as he stared down at his hands. He could still feel the ash on his skin, could still feel where it sat in the pocket of his quirk.

Eventually, after some time of him sitting there, thinking of nothing, he heard a door open somewhere behind him. He knew who was walking towards him without looking.

"Hello Eraser." Oni greeted when the man stopped a bit behind him.

"Oni."

Silence stretched out for a few moments, before, "I know they were both your students. I hope that none of the others that happened to be in Hosu were injured."

"They're all fine. Iida was the only one with any sort of significant injury."

"That's good." Oni said, nodding. He rubbed his fingers against his palms.

Silence stretched out once more, drawing out into minutes this time.

"Oni-."

"I lost a friend today, Eraser." Oni said, silencing him. "At least, I assume we were friends. We'd certainly fought together enough times, and he put up with my shit."

Eraser went still behind him. "What happened?"

"One of the, ah, the creatures in Hosu. He was one of them. He had a few distinguishing features, and a pretty recognizable quirk. Made it easy to tell."

"What did you do?" Eraser asked, stepping closer.

"What else could I do? I put a stop to the mindless rampage he'd been forced into. I put a stop to him. His quirk wouldn't have allowed for him to be arrested. There wouldn't have been any secure place to put him."

Eraser was at his side, within arm's reach.

"I didn't have a choice. There wasn't any other way, certainly no other way that was immediately available to me."

"I'm sorry, kid."

They went silent for a minute, before Oni spoke up again.

"This is the first time I've lost someone, especially someone with this sort of significance. Probably doesn't help that he was one of the first actual friends I'd had in a long time."

He swallowed back the lump in his throat. "You would've liked him, Eraser. You both had pretty similar 'no-nonsense' attitudes, and he approached his vigilantism with a seriousness and focus that I think would match up to how you approach your hero work. Even his fighting style was fairly similar to yours. But most of all, he really cared about keeping people safe. The people we were going up against… Even though he knew that he was going into a fight completely outmatched, that never stopped him, it was too important to him that he save the people that needed it."

"He sounds like a good person." Eraser responded, voice soft.

"He really was…" Oni sighed.

Another pause. "Who was it that you two were fighting? They must've been somewhat significant."

Oni shook his head. "Nope, sorry Eraser. Not gonna tell you. I don't intend to involve anyone else. These people have ties with some extremely dangerous groups. The kind that one should not engage lightly."

"You could bring this to the attention of the police force, get their help."

"Can't do that either. Some of those ties extend into places such as the police. And like I said, the fewer people involved, the better."

Taking a deep breath, Oni stood up on the barrier that bordered the edge of the roof.

"Last night was something of a wake-up call. Both in how dangerous these people are, and in how seriously I'm going to have to approach them moving forward. I can't involve anyone else. Not without having to worry for their safety."

"And what about you, kid? What about your own safety?"

Oni shook his head once more, and a hand raised to wipe at the wetness in his eyes. "You have no idea the sort of effort it would take to kill me. No, I'm not the one that needs to fear for my well-being."

His expression darkened, his fists clenching. "It is them, who shall come to fear for theirs."

He tipped forwards, falling off the edge, before flaring his wings, driving them downwards to propel himself into the air.