31 Chapter 31 gods among us: end of an era

"Legends tell us that Gods once walked the Earth alongside humans. The ancient heroes of every civilization are almost always never seen as mere men. Until that day, las well as the rest of the world thought that these stories were just that, stories. Now, gods walk among us yet again and they possess terrifying power"

-excerpt from A History of Modern Heroics, chapter 12: The New Gods of Humanity

It's been 48 hours since Katsuki was kidnapped.

The sheer amount of backlash that UA received was surprising. Somewhat unsurprising was the dip in popularity that I received as a result of my failure to protect the students at the camp, though I was surprised at how little I dipped in popularity.

It seems that most of the anger is directed at UA, rather than at me. Whether this is their true feelings or the manipulative hand of the Hero Commission, I don't know.

"Sir, they're ready for you"

The voice of the secretary brought me out of my reverie and I entered the room. This was a private meeting between me and the hero commission's higher-ups.

"Rikudou, it is a pleasure to meet you" said the commission president

I shook her hand

"The pleasure is mine, madam president. Please excuse my bluntness, but I believe that we have more pressing matters to deal with right now"

"Of course. Please, sit"

She motioned to the sofa near the wall. This was a prevy standard meeting arrangement for a top hero. She took a seat in the armchair opposite to mine.

"Now then, what is this about?" she asked

"I'm here to talk to you about the rescue mission of one Bakugou Katsuki" I said

She straightened up immediately as she heard that. Any trace of the pleasant face she used to greet me with was gone and all that was left was cold steel and hard eyes.

"What about it?"

"I have reason to believe that All For One has somehow returned to his full power, or he is very close to it" I said

I see the color draining from her face as she shakily puts the cup of tea she previously had in her hand on the coffee table between us. Without a doubt, she knew that this was bad. Very bad.

"Are you certain?" she asked

"Completely certain? No, but several hours ago I sensed a wave of power unlike any other. Madam President, right now there are only two people in this world capable of such might, myself and All For One. Now it may just be a ploy to shake our resolve, but I'd like to error on the side of caution" I said

She nodded. Even though our relationship started with thinly veiled threats and blackmail, she knew that I was one of the few heroes that she could trust to put the needs of the people before her own. After all, so long as my family was alive and safe there was no need to fear any sort of retaliation from me. And even if I didn't operate as most pro-heroes do, she knew that I was effective, very effective in suppressing criminal activity.

"So, what do you suggest we do?" she asked

"Issue a command to all pro-heroes. We need support so that All Might and I can focus solely on All For One without having to worry about collateral damage. We need a good number of rescue heroes, preferably those known for quick and efficient rescues. As for battle heroes, Mirko, Endeavour, and Edgeshot should be enough. I'm sure that Nezu will pull some strings of his own to bring some more heroes to the fight" I said

She nodded grimly. I nodded back and puffed into non-existence as my shadow clone dispelled itself.

Back at my hideout/lab, I opened my eyes as I received the memories from my clone. With that part done, now it was time to turn my attention to my armor and weapons. Some final tweaks need to be made in preparation for tonight's meeting.

I spent the rest of the day at my hideout with Izuku and All Might, getting ready for the coming battle.

For this, we both put on the MJOLNIR MK2 armor that I had just finished building. While the first iteration of the armor was good, I found out quite soon that using ancient Edo era armor as the design basis for the quantum-locked titanium-chromium carbide outer armor shell was quite stupid as it severely limited my mobility when in flight or jumping across obstacles. I thus decided to scrap the design entirely and replace it with one designed for pure function over aesthetics. I can deal with the aesthetics part by using over armor robes to look cool. In the end, I settled for a simple red cloth that went over both my shoulders and was kept together with a belt, thus allowing the lower part to flap in the wind a bit. Izuku went for a dark green haori with black accents and the kanji for nine etched in red on his back. It was a weird choice, but I said nothing about it. All For One most likely knows that he is the ninth wielder, so it's not like there's a need for secrecy or anything.

That and the general public, while they would be confused, would probably make up some wild story about why he has that on his back.

The more surprising part of all this was All Might's wish to get some armor of his own. Now, I couldn't make one as good as ours on such short notice, but I did manage to modify his costume enough to accept and lock down tightly on several plates of quantum-locked titanium armor. It was a lower quality than ours, but it should at the very least allow All Might to make some mistakes without it costing him his other lung or worse. Though, I have to admit that he looked kind of strange in that black and silver armor over his usual hero costume.

With that done, I headed to the armory. In there, I found Izuku, looking over a giant scroll that had been spread over the floor.

"Izuku" I called out

"Ni-san" he replied but didn't acknowledge me

"What are you doing with the barrier scroll?" I asked curiously

This made him look at me. It pained me to see his once so bright green eye turn steely. This had been his default expression for the past two days.

"I'm coming, ni-san" he said

I opened my mouth to reject it, but stopped as he raised a hand to stop me. I closed my mouth and sat down next to him

"I need to do this, ni-san. Katsuki is my friend, despite what I said to him at the sports festival, I still consider him my friend. He's the only one besides you that got me, even if he was a jerk most of the time. Even if I don't fight directly, I can still be useful and try to protect others with barrier seals"

I was quiet for a bit. Inside me, two sides raged.

One side told me to take up this offer of help and think logically. After all, having someone protecting the bystanders from the blowback and odd stray shot that was surely bound to happen in this fight would be a really good idea. On the other hand, this was my brother we're talking about and my protective instincts were screaming at me to wrap him up in bubble wrap and hide him away until he's 30.

"Izuku" I began "Can you promise me that you won't engage All For One?" I asked

"No. If he tries to attack me, all bets are off and I'm going after him with my full might, but I won't actively seek him out and leave that to you" he said

I breathe a sigh of relief. If he had instantly said no, then I would have left him here, but now I know that I can trust him to keep his cool in this fight

"Very well, you can come, but if there's even an inkling that you might be overwhelmed, I want you to withdraw immediately. As much as I know you were told this, as the ninth user of One For All, you are not expendable. Not when compared to me and All Might" I said

Izuku clenched his fist, finished looking over the barrier scroll and packed it up. I watched as he went and picked up a Gunbai along with another scroll and left.

Despite him not talking, I knew what was going on in his head. He listened to my part and had acknowledged my sound reasoning. There was nothing more to talk about, after all, there were still preparations that needed to be made.

Iwent and picked up a chakra rifle, several seal tags and a second sword, just in case I lost my current one.

The meeting room was buzzing with activity.

Heroes from every part of the billboard charts were mingling with one another, wondering as to why they had been called here and why there were so many top ten heroes around. All in all, Endeavour, Best Jeanist, Hawks, Edgeshot, Mirko, and Ryukyu all answered the call sent out by principal Nezu and the Commission president. In that crowded room stepped All Might standing shoulder to shoulder with myself and Izuku, all of us dressed in armor and all of us with a serious expression.

"Thank you for coming" I began "there is no easy way to say this, but the enemy we are about to face may very well be the most dangerous criminal ever to exist in the world. Some of you may know of him, either through rumors, or you were told about him. Regardless, know this. All Might faced this enemy six years ago and emerged victoriously, but gravely wounded. Until a few months ago we thought that he was dead, but it was discovered that this enemy, All For One, was in fact very much alive and active as the mastermind behind Tomura Shigaraki and his League of Villains"

Murmurs spread through the crowd and a few of the pro heroes narrowed their eyes at Us.

"If All For One is back again, why weren't we announced ?" asked Endeavour

"We didn't know in what capacity he had returned and I did not want to involve anyone else in this matter" said All Might

"And yet you involved these boys in it" pointed out

Best leanist

There was silence for a while. After all, it was obvious that he did not approve of us being here.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Izuku shifting slightly, denoting his nervousness. Though, Thave to say that his poker face is quite impressive, especially for an emotional person like

him.

"Our involvement is necessary. You don't have to know anything else. We all asked you here today to help with the rescue of Katsuki Bakugou. We will handle All For One" I said

"Why do you need so many heroes then? I mean, even if All Might was injured, he has recovered, right? If he beat this All For One once, surely he can do so again" asked a no-name hero

A murmur of agreement swept across the crowd, but the top ten heroes were frowning at what he said, even though they kept quiet.

Suddenly, All Might stepped forward.

"Everyone, I am sorry for keeping this from you, but in the state that I am right now, I can't hope to match All For One's true power" he said as steam began to rise from his body

In front of an entire room of heroes, All Might reverted into Yagi Toshinori, the decrepit old man far past his prime. The sight of his decrepit form shocked all the people in the room, even the police and commission higher-ups that were sent to supervise this meeting. All Might did not stop to listen to any questions, but instead, he showed them the wound he incurred from All For One.

"I'm not telling you this to gain your pity. This is a warning against the level of power that All For One wields. We don't know if he will bring forth to battle any of his old allies, or if he has any other Nomu completed so we decided it was prudent to get some help so that the two of us can deal with All For One without distractions" said All Might making a gesture towards me

"I won't blame anyone that wishes to withdraw from this battle. The enemy we are about to face has struck terror in the hearts and minds of Japan's citizens for more than 100 years. However, I will ask you to help with the evacuation of civilians from the sight of the battle" I said

"So, what you're telling us is that you called us up to deal with any second rate villain that the big boss might bring to the table and get the civvies out of there so you can go all out on each other" said Mirko crossing her arms

I nodded "That's the gist of it. My brother, Izuku, will provide cover for the other heroes with barriers. This being said, the level of this battle will be such that there will inevitably be casualties, both pro-hero and civilian alike. Your main priority is to evacuate as many people as fast as possible.

Tell them to keep on running until they can't anymore"

"You make this sound like you won't be able to control the damages that this battle will incur on the surrounding structures" said Edgeshot

"That's because we won't be able to do that" said

All Might grimly "The first time I fought All For One, it was I who decided where to engage him. Now, it's the complete opposite. If we are to fight him at full strength, we can't be worrying about property damage"

Katsuki was pissed, but that wasn't anything new.

Rather, it was what he was pissed at that was new.

After he was released from that marble that he had been stored in by the clone of the jester maniac in a top hat he had been instantly put in chains and strapped into an uncomfortable chair as he listened to the hand maniac go on a rant about everything he believed to be wrong with today's society.

The bastards wanted him to join them, so Katsuki told them no, repeatedly and with varying degrees of cursing mixed in for good measure.

Now, Katsuki wasn't stupid and he hadn't been forced to go to therapy for nothing. He knew that the world was far from perfect and he would grudgingly admit that he too had been part of the problem, but he was willing to change and be a hero that All Might would be proud of. So, when the previously closed back door opened and the hands man stopped his ranting, he paid attention.

"Sense" said Shigaraki with reverence

"Tomura. It seems that you have failed again" said the man

Now that he was closer, Katsuki couldn't help but gulp at the mere presence the man was exuding as he stood there, with hair whiter than Todoroki's white half and dressed in an immaculate black suit that would surely cost an arm and a leg for any normal person out there. For a split second,

Katsuki was five again and facing down an enraged Madara, seeing death appear before him for the first time in his life.

"I'm sorry sensei" he murmured

The other villains of the League of Failures all stood quietly to the side, not daring to even speak up against such oppressive pressure.

"Don't be. Learn this lesson and start again.

Remember, everything I do is for your sake" said the white-haired monster

Suddenly, the wall exploded inwards and All Might stepped in the room shaking with rage. Faster than he could see, All Might smashed into the villain

"You're done for, ALL FOR ONE!"

"Here to kill me again, ALL MIGHT?"

Finding the warehouse where Katsuki was kept was a hassle. It's times like these that I come to appreciate my paranoia. On the first night at summer camp, placed a tracker seal on each student. They were prototypes, so their range wasn't great and they were meant to help me keep track of them without using a shit ton of chakra on sensory techniques. I'm just thankful that I found the warehouse quickly. I can't afford to be wasteful with chakra today. This fight may very well take every shred of Chakra I have and more. At least I have All Might to back me up. Between the two of us, we may just win this. If I was alone, I don't think I would have been able to beat All For One.

I looked at the soon-to-be battlefield as police and lower-level heroes began evacuating the civilians from the surrounding area. I could still sense Katsuki in the building and since Nezu was running interference with the press along with Aizawa and Vlad, I don't have to worry about nosy reporters blowing the operation, not that I would have allowed such a reporter to live very long if I had found him.

Suddenly, I felt a spike of power with my senses.

"Get ready!" I yelled "He's here"

All Might didn't wait for me to issue the order as he smashed through the wall of the building and clashed with All For One

"Secure the perimeter. Don't let the League escape!" I ordered

Suddenly, a wave of highly pressurized air came from the building, wrecking it and several other buildings behind us. I jumped into action and slammed my hand on the ground, pushing earth natured chakra into the ground

Earth Style: Earth Wall

A wall of compacted soil rose from the ground and in front of the heroes, shielding them from the winds, but it collapsed in the process.

As we were getting up, Iheard a slow clapping sound coming from the now half-destroyed warehouse.

"Wonderful, as expected of you, Rikudou, or do you prefer Madara?"

looked up as my eyes bled crimson and the Sharingan spun into existence just in time for me to glare at him

"All For One, we meet at last" I said as I rose from my previously crouched position at the front of the mass of heroes I had just defended from his attack

He laughed

"Oh, how nice of you. You know, this really makes me nostalgic. I would have never pegged you for a connoisseur of early 21st-century culture"

I narrowed my eyes as I drew my sword and pushed lightning-natured chakra into it, giving it a blue glow. All For One's eyes widened and he grinned.

"Oh, I will enjoy this"

Metal groaned as it was torn from the concrete around us and reformed into his hand, making a perverted mockery of a sword. It was ugly, unwieldy, and if you were a normal person straight up unusable. Suddenly, it began sparking with red lightning and glowing with a red hue. I couldn't help but grin as I too, took a stance.

I jumped forward and clashed with him. I entrusted Katsuki's rescue and the defeat of the League to the others and I focused on trading blows with AFO. Strangely enough, the man was clumsy in his handling of the blade. I would have thought that All For One would have had more skill in battle.

I heard him growl and his other arm expanded. I flash-stepped out of there as another huge ballast of air destroyed a good portion of the surrounding city. As Hooked closely at AFO, I could see a healed cut on his arm. It was evidently fresh, and given that I was the only one engaging him, that means that I made that wound. I grinned at him.

"Well, would you look at that? The big bad king of the underworld is nothing more than a brute. How sad" | mocked

He gritted his teeth and broke apart the monstrosity in his hand into spikes, which he threw at me. I parried all of them and jumped to avoid another air cannon attack.

At this point, All Might had rejoined the battle, though he was unable to face AFO directly as he was more concerned with evacuating all nearby civilians, which was fine. I can tell that my opponent isn't serious yet, so there's no need for me to switch to ninjutsu yet. I have to be careful, though. Even if AFO is a brutish fighter, he is still intelligent and mustn't be underestimated. I must take care to not exhaust myself. If I can keep up this game of tag just a little while longer, then more people would be safe.

"Enough of this! Face me, you pathetic creature!" he screamed

I replied by spitting a fireball in his face. That angered him

"Ok, that's enough. The gloves come off now" he said in an oddly calm voice.

The next thing I knew, I was being flung out at high speed and a crater, nearly a kilometer in diameter had formed at our battle sight.

Izuku jumped into action only a moment after his brother had all but teleported to meet All For One in combat. Even though he wasn't a part of the main attack force against the league of villains, he still had a vital role to play in this engagement.

Reaching back, he unfurled one of the two giant scrolls he carried and laid it on the ground.

Another puff of smoke made when he withdrew the control key to this particular invention of his.

Said control key was made from two pieces of granite held together by heavy-duty hinges. On both sides of said pieces were engraved hundreds of seals that interlocked with each other in very complicated ways. This was a weapon meant to use the power of One For All in full. It was a means of manifesting into the world that very quirk whose only purpose was the destruction of All For One without necessitating the current wielder to actually use it himself.

'Fuinjutsu Blood Art: Abel's opening of the Golden

Vault: Varuna'

The fuinjutsu glyphs on the stone tablets glowed with green energy as nature chakra crackled violently around Izuku. From the scroll on the ground, another great fuinjutsu circle spun into existence and the energy around him took the shape of a massive six-armed Buddha with three heads that held in each hand a ball of different colored energy surrounded by complex fuinjutsu structures. Curiously, Izuku noted that something was different from when he last used this fuiniutsu to bring forth the manifestation of One For All into the world. One of the energy balls in the Buddha statue's arms now lacked the fuinjutsu lattice around it and instead, strands of a black whip-like substance came out of that ball of energy.

'I see, so those balls of energy are the manifestations of the previous wielder's quirks. I'd better contain it so it doesn't rampage thought Izuku as he folded his right hand into a half ram sign and a new lattice of fuinjutsu appeared over the previously freed sphere, though it was only tight enough to restrain the whips from hurting somebody and didn't prevent their manifestation.

'Now, for the final piece'"Fuinjutsu Blood Art: Six-Armed Buddha Heavenly Sun Wheel!"

As he spoke, Izuku opened the previously closed stone tablet in his hands. The seals on the inside glowed bright gold as filtered Chakra entered them. Behind the great statue-like chakra avatar a golden fuinjutsu circle appeared and like the sun it gave off rays of golden light. At the end of each ray sat& simpler smaller circle.

"Fire!" shouted Izuku

At one every golden circle filled with golden energy and fired at once, turning night into day as the warehouse where the league was previously held and much of the surrounding area behind it was turned into rubble.

With this task complete, he tuned the avatar to point towards the crater where his brother and All Might were duking it out with All For One

As soon as All Might leaped through the building, Endeavour was quick to follow him. Behind him were Best Jeanist, Mirko and Edgeshot. They managed to take cover behind the earth wall that Rikudou had raised and then they continued onwards. As soon as they arrived, Best Jeanist used his quirk to pull Bakugou back and free him from the restraints he was in.

"Get to safety kid! We'll handle it from here" yelled out Mirko

"You damn heroes, why do you have to mess everything up!" yelled the man child as he slammed his and into the ground, causing a part of it to decay and collapse

"You're done, League of Villains. Surrender!" called out Endeavour

"Hah! That's what you think?" called out Dabi as he launched a ball of blue flames at the heroes

Endeavor countered it with his own flames, but he noticed that the blue fire seemed to be slightly more powerful than he had expected.

"Kurogiri! Get the others and the Nomu!" yelled

Shigaraki

"Stop him!" yelled Endeavour

Edgeshot tried to reach him but it was too late and several gigantic warp portals had opened through which countless Nomu and several other villains emerged

"Withdraw, we can't fight them here!" called out

Best leanist

As soon as he said that, a gigantic quake came from the side followed by a wave of air. As he looked over, Endeavour couldn't help but be shocked. What was once a vibrant part of the city was now turned into a crater with collapsed buildings all around. On one such collapsed buildings, two figured were fighting, one clad in a red hue and another in blue lightning, as they tore the land around them asunder.

Just then, another wave of power hit them, and as he looked behind, Endeavour couldn't help but mimic Bakugou as he looked stunned at the sight of the massive avatar surrounding Rikudou's younger brother. Just when he thought that things couldn't get more insane the six-armed Buddha suddenly sprouted a sun out of its's back and fired golden bolts at the warehouse that was now teaming with Nomu. Thankfully, there were no heroes inside.

"That damned brat. He could have killed us all!" said Mirko laughing

"Can it!" barked back Endeavour "This is not over"

The pile of rubble that formerly was the warehouse suddenly shifted and exploded outwards. It seemed like the quirk of one of the new villains had protected them. Just then an earth-shattering roar was heard through the city as a massive villain came out from Kurogiri's still opened portal.

"What is that?" cried out one of the lesser heroes that rushed forward to back up the top ten

Gigantomachia had taken to the field.

Izuku couldn't help but curse in his head. Just as he was about to unleash another attack from his Varuna, this time at All For One, another giant villain appeared from the ruins of the warehouse.

Izuku turned his avatar around and lined up another shot. In the back of his mind, he knew that he had to deal with this fast. Thinking back, it may have been a mistake to use this as his opening move.

The Varuna was the logical progression of the special fuinjutsu pellet that he had used in the Sports Festival against Todoroki. Each of the bolts fired by the Varuna was of equal strength to the one he used against Todoroki. The only problem was that he could only take so much stress before his coils cracked under the tremendous pressure that using One For All in such a way creates. To be honest, the giant scroll on the ground was used to regulate the pure nature chakra that was exuding from him. This was quite a bothersome fact. While he was a sage, he couldn't use the nature energy actually present in nature. The fact that it looked like a six-armed Buddha was an aesthetic coincidence on Izuku's part. Still, the avatar was paper thin and had just as much defensive strength as a piece of paper. This was no ultimate shield and sword, like the Susanoo that his brother has told him about, and the less said about its defense, the better.

The giant villain roared again as an almost endless number of Nomu began rushing forward into the lines of heroes. Izuku cursed in his head. He just had to show off the Varuna right at the start, and now he was useless. Still, it wasn't that big of a problem. After all, the beauty of fuinjutsu was that it was always ready for use.

Izuku slammed the stone tablet shut and dropped it onto the scroll at his feet. As he did that, the Varuna began to disperse. Without wasting time, he took the second scroll from his back and set it on the ground. As soon as he did that, he began working through hand seals.

Fuinjutsu Barrier: Heavenly Ten Pillar Containment

From the scroll, a fuinjutsu circle appeared and let loose ten tags that each were shot out to a different corner of the battlefield. From each of them a blue line stretched up to reach for the heavens and from those lines, blue field barriers stretched from one to another, thus trapping the villains inside.

"Go! I'll hold them in. Go and defeat the villains!" yelled Izuku

That seemed to embolden the heroes as they too, let out a thunderous war cry and headed into the mass of Nomu.

Amidst the chaos, lzuku could see that the heroes had lost sight of Katsuki. Fearing the worst, he used his senses to try and locate him.

Unsurprisingly, he was still inside the barrier, but what was surprising was that he was with Kirishima, Todoroki, Yayorozou, and lida of all people.

They were too close to the main conflict, so Izuku took it upon himself to get them out of harms way.

During the chaos of the warehouse being destroyed by Izuku's fuck you to common sense and what he considered to be normal reality, Katsuki was separated from Endeavour and the other heroes that had helped rescue him. Just as he was about to get moving once again, he was pulled to the side by Kirishima.

"Bakubro, you ok?" asked Kirishima

Katsuki grunted, not willing to show his thanks to his arguably only friend, and yet not fully trusting his voice

"We need to leave. We'll only get in the way if we stay here" said Shoto in his normal tone

It was only then that Katsuki noticed them

"The hell are you doing here?"

"We came to rescue you, what do you think" came a droll response from Shoto

"Huh? Go die you motherfucker, I didn't need no rescue"

"Clearly"

"You want to go Half n' half?"

"Enough you two!" came the firm voice of lida "We can't stay here or we'll risk getting stuck in the crossfire between the villains and... that" he said gesturing to the gigantic statue that Izuku seemingly created only to flex on reality.

Katsuki didn't reply. He had had a front-row seat to the sheer destruction that thing caused. It boggled the mind that not even a year ago he had thought of Izuku as that quirkless waste of space. It made him, heck it made even the heroes in the top ten look like small children compared to him, and the less said about his brother the better. Looking over his shoulder, Katsuki could see from here the area where Madara and All Might were fighting the villain boss. All in all, the writing was on the wall.

Izuku had long since surpassed him in every way possible.

"Let's go!"

Katsuki stopped staring and followed Kirishima, only to be shoved back down by Ida as a massive villain burst forth from the wreckage of the warehouse. It easily matched Izuku's 'fuck you reality' statue in height. what surprised him, was when said statue suddenly began to collapse and scatter in the wind. Katsuki could not think of any reason why you would put away your biggest gun, especially at a time like this.

"Shit" cursed Shoto

Turning to look back, Katsuki saw a giant pillar of blue light appear mere feet in front of them.

Before any of them could get their bearings, the pillar gave off a curtain of light that merged with what appeared to be 10 other pillars, effectively trapping them in. It was clearly Izuku's work.

"What now?" asked Momo

"Now we- get down!" yelled Shoto as he sent out a wall of ice that blocked a ball of flame from the villain Dabi

"Oi, brats, where do you think you're going?" called out another villain with blades for arms

Katsuki grinned as he flexed his hands and prepared himself for the fight of his life.

The sword arm guy charged, but right as he was about to make contact, Katsuki felt something pull at his collar from behind as a giant war fan came between him and the sword maniac. Instantly, he knew who it was.

Izuku came up from behind Katsuki and kicked the blade guy away before turning and batting a fireball from Dabi away from him and finally swinging the war fan to produce a gust of wind that wouldn't be out of place in a hurricane to blow the two villains away.

Finally, he turned and Katsuki could see him, truly see him for the first time since they were young.

Izuku looked at him for a second and nodded to himself. He was checking him for injuries, Katsuki realized and a feeling he wasn't quite familiar with rose within his chest. It wasn't the usual anger that accompanied any thought of Izuku. At any rate, it was something to think about later.

Izuku did a few weird hand signs and a portion of the barrier that had trapped them opened.

"Go! Get as far away from here as you can!" yelled Izuku as he turned back to face the now oncoming League of Villains. Katsuki noticed that this was their full roster

"Come with us! You can't win against all of them!" yelled back Shoto

Katsuki felt himself be pulled up. Looking up, he saw that it was Kirishima who was doing the pulling.

Izuku smiled at them as let loose a gust of wind that sent them tumbling through the hole in the shield. Before they could even get up, the shield had closed back up.

As they gathered themselves, Katsuki couldn't help but look back. He saw Izuku's back, his coat fluttering in the wind, war fan held up high and a war cry coming out of his mouth as he charged at the horde of enemies. At that moment, Katsuki couldn't help but feel that he was witnessing the birth of a hero, and after all, heroes never lose.