Bloodlust for Victory

One week after starting their Work-Studies, the boys attempt to follow behind Endeavor's footsteps, facing off against villains only for Endeavor to capture them. Back at his agency, Endeavor's phone rang, his daughter had called him multiple times. He picked the phone up only for a voice he's never heard before talk back to him.

"Endeavor? Hello there! I can't believe I'm talking to you!" Hametsu chirped.

"Who is this? What are you doing with my daughter's phone?" Endeavor demanded.

"We're just out for a site seeing date on top of the Tokyo Skytree! Why don't you come visit us? She'll be dying to meet you soon!" He cackled.

Hametsu hung up the phone, looking down at Fuyumi, she tried breaking free from her binds but couldn't. Endeavor rushed out of his office, the students watched as he flew towards the Tokyo Skytree.

"Hey, look! Endeavor's off somewhere, let's follow him!" Izuku observed.

They all quickly put on their hero suits as they ran after Endeavor. Leonidus flew past the three, quickly gaining on Endeavor, he noticed how much his flight and control had improved over the past week. A scent hit his nose, he looked up at the tower, Leonidus darted straight up to it. Hametsu grabbed Fuyumi by the throat and dropped her off the tower. A violet blur saved her before she fell halfway down the Skytree. Alyx levitated up the tower, looking down at a grinning Hametsu.

"I knew it, I knew it! There's no way you wouldn't be here too, Leonidus!" Hametsu exulted.

"Yeah, and you're going to wish I wasn't, it's time to do what Mr. Kasai was supposed to do!" Leonidus retorted.

Fuyumi was surrounded by Overdrive and was whisked down to the ground where Endeavor was waiting for her. Hametsu didn't waste anytime and attacked Leonidus head on, an orange blast launched out of his fist, sending Alyx spiraling down to the ground. Leonidus looked up at the sky to see that Hametsu dove after him, Alyx planted his feet through the building, dodging Hametsu's strike. The two locked eyes, Hametsu rained down rapid fire strikes at Leonidus, only for him to dodge each one with precision.

"𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘬?! 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘵, 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴!" Hametsu pondered.

Leonidus' fist lit up with his Hinokami Kagura, "Sunflower Thrust!"

Alyx broke through Hametsu's strikes, driving his fist right into his stomach, Hametsu coughed up blood as he went sailing down towards the ground. Izuku skyrocketed towards him, lifted his leg up as high as he could. He slammed a huge Manchester Smash right into Hametsu's face. Katsuki followed up with an explosion that sent Hametsu flying into Shoto's ice.

"We can't let him get a breather, I'll take the lead!" Leonidus relayed to everyone.

Alyx darted towards Hametsu, throwing punches of his own into his sternum at full power. One last punch sent him flying out of Shoto's iceberg, Bakugo flew past him and held his arm out.

"Hit em, Kacchan!" Izuku told him.

"DIE!!!" Katsuki cackled.

A huge explosion ripped through the air, Hametsu landed on the ground hard in front of Endeavor, completely unconscious. The four boys made their way over to see that he hadn't captured him.

"Wasn't this the guy that was a big deal when flame guy fought him a while back? What gives?" Bakugo scoffed.

Leonidus looked at Bakugo with a smile, "I've stopped holding back, that's why. I can't afford to hold back anymore to see how strong a villain is. This Work-Study's opened my eyes up to that. If I see an opportunity to kill, I will take it given the circumstances."

"I've noticed you didn't use your blade this time, Vanguard." Endeavor observed.

"Yeah, after what you told me about it, I've gotten better at using my arms and legs with my Breathing Styles. Although, I've been trying to decrease the time it takes to pull out my sword. It's gone down from 4 seconds to 2 and a half..." Alyx confirmed.

"2 and a half? That's kind of quick already." Shoto remarked.

"Somewhat, but if I can get it down to just a second, it'll be much better. I'd still like to use my blade though being that I'm not exactly resistant to having my limbs cut off." Leonidus replied.

As the sun set, and their patrol concluded, Leonidus pardoned himself from the agency to head to the Butterfly Mansion. He landed down in front of Ubuyashiki's meeting place, he looked up and smiled at Alyx.

"Ah, Leonidus, it's nice to see that you're doing well. How may I help you?" Ubuyashiki spoke warmly.

"I'd like to go back into the forest, please." Alyx requested.

"Are you certain? The Forest of Spirits only will show you your path once. Going in there a second time won't result in anything." He advised.

Leonidus nodded at him, Mr. Ubuyashiki got up and guided him towards the forest. Alyx entered the forest, Ubuyashiki became worried as he felt the change in the air, but he couldn't muster up the words to stop Leonidus. Alyx walked deeper into the Forest of Spirits before returning to the site where he met Yoriichi. A cold wind blew against his back, he felt a presence behind him.

"Those earrings... My brother wore those, where did you get them?" A voice asked.

As Leonidus turned around, both of their auras clashed instantly, shaking the trees around them. Without saying a word to each other, the two had already began to understand one another.

"I see, you were striving for power just like me, how do our fates line up exactly? Are you willing to align yourself with the enemy to get stronger?"

"I don't think I will, that I'm sure, but why you're here instead of Yoriichi, that I can't answer."

"My name is Michikatsu, the man you just spoke about is my brother, were you expecting him instead?"

Leonidus watched as Michikatsu turned away from him, "I guess I was, but if you're his brother, then I'm grateful that I came across you."

"I can tell you're strong, boy. I would've envied you if you were a part of my family. I'm still perplexed as to why I'm here."

"I want you to teach me everything you know!"

Michikatsu looked back behind him, "You... What? Boy, you need to realize something, I cannot teach you 400 years' worth of swordsmanship in just one night. I admire your tenacity, but being foolish like that..."

Tsugikuni stopped speaking as he saw a glimpse of his brother as a child where Leonidus stood.

"...𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘢 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘪 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘪." A young Yoriichi smiled.

"𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘸, 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘠𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘪, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦. 𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴... 𝘐𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬, 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳?"

He walked over to Leonidus, "Whatever it is you're about to venture into, I'll bestow my techniques to you, boy. Unsheathe your blade, I'll demonstrate to you my Breathing Style."

The two got to work on their training, day after day, night after night, Michikatsu taught Leonidus not only his Breathing Styles but his impressive swordsmanship. Mr. Ubuyashiki waited outside of the forest, anticipating Leonidus' return. He heard sticks and twigs break as something approached him. Ubuyashiki looked awestruck at Leonidus' appearance, his hair was much longer, he wore it in a ponytail as two strands of hair fell around his face.

"Mr. Ubuyashiki? How long have I been in there?" Leonidus wondered.

"Only for a couple of days, my boy. Are you alright?" Ubuyashiki informed him.

"I'm... I've learned much. Like, a whole crap ton of stuff!"

Alyx rested his right hand on the top of his hilt, "I think I'm finally ready for whatever comes next, Mr. Ubuyashiki. Thank you."

Without saying another word, Alyx turned away from him, Kasai walked outside of the mansion after feeling an incredible pressure surrounding the area.

"Young Leonidus!" Rengoku shouted to him.

Alyx stopped walking and looked behind him, giving him a smile. He lifted up his arm as he waved at Leonidus.

"Set your heart ablaze, young man! Good luck!" Kasai exulted.

"Thank you, Mr. Kasai!" Alyx waved back.

Leonidus made his way back to U.A. High, as he crest the hill that the school was on, he smiled and sighed as he looked upon U.A. Leonidus had sensed them on the P.E. Grounds, he made his way through the school towards the grounds. As he stepped outside and walked over to All Might, he jumped as he didn't realize who was standing next to him.

"Holy... Young Leonidus? Is that you?" All Might chuckled.

He looked at Leonidus' much longer hair, the ends of his hair faded to black, the same color as his Father's hair.

"There you are! We were wondering where you were at!" Mina huffed.

"Yeah, you kinda missed out on your Work-Study, Leonidus. They're almost over! You must've been slacking off somewhere if your hair's all long as hell now!" Sero chimed in.

"Really? Is that what you think?" Alyx pointed behind them.

Everyone turned around to see the remaining robots were destroyed, they turned back around to notice that Alyx was gone. Kirishima looked up above to see him laying across the head of a giant robot. He waved at them as he smugly grinned.

"Woah, how'd you do that?! We didn't even hear you move!" Kaminari asked.

"Training, simply put! I've learned loads of new things I can use in battle!" Leonidus smirked.

"Maybe you could show us some other time, Young Leonidus?" All Might smiled.

[Several Hours Later...]

Thanks to his training with Michikatsu, Leonidus was able to withdraw his sword at his planned one second goal. As he walked downstairs after sheathing and unsheathing his sword, he was met with a shocking surprise.

"What the hell?!" Kirishima shouted.

Alyx looked at the TV, noticing that Izuku was wanted for murder! Everyone proclaimed his innocence, Alyx stood behind everyone, remembering how quick they were to go against him when he was under the same circumstances.

"We gotta do something! This isn't right!" Jiro added.

Class A all began to make their way towards the dorm doors to inform All Might. But Leonidus still stood, staring at the TV.

"Come on, Alyx! We do not have-" Iida told him.

"I'm not going." Leonidus interrupted.

"What? What do you mean? Deku's in danger!" Uraraka puzzled.

"So, because it's Izuku," Alyx continued, "That's the deciding factor here? Because it's him?"

"Of course, it's Midoriya, he'd never do something like that!" Kaminari agreed.

Leonidus looked over towards them, "But I would, right?"

"This isn't about you Alyx, now come on already!" Hagakure replied.

"It's not about me? You've all forgotten already? You all are so quick to save Izuku, but what about me, huh? Where were you all when I was clinging to my life in the middle of nowhere? Sitting comfy here while Pro Heroes 'tracked' me down, wanting my head on a plate for something I 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 do?"

"We're sorry, alright? We should've listened to you." Momo apologized.

Alyx threw his kimono and his shirt off, revealing dozens of scars on his body.

"Is sorry going to make up for this? Is sorry going to make up for the thoughts I have, that nobody is truly going to save me when I need it? It all goes back to my Quirks, each and every time. Do you guys wanna know something funny? The same people breathing down our necks were the same people that saved me. What are the odds of villains saving you over your own friends? Over Pro Heroes? I'm only here because of what I can do, not who I am. I'm just an asset..." Alyx replied.

He picked up his shirt and kimono, "...Nothing more, nothing less. Good luck finding your real 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥."

Alyx walked away from them, heading up to his room, locking the door behind him. He turned his phone off then laid on his bed, staring at his ceiling. For days on end, he stayed in his dorm room, unaware of the events that had transpired. There was a knock on his door, he reluctantly got up to answer it. Izuku stood in front of him, Leonidus sighed as he went to sit down on his bed.

"They sent you up here, didn't they?" Alyx questioned.

"Yes, they did." Izuku nodded.

Midoriya sat down next to him, the boys were silent for a while, not making eye contact with each other.

"I'm glad you're okay, Izuku." Leonidus spoke gently.

"Are you okay?"

Alyx thought for a bit, "...No. No, I'm not. What makes you so different from me, Midoriya? All of you were so quick to calling me a murderer, but when you were in the same situation as me, everyone was the complete opposite."

"Because we were scared," Izuku answered, "Your Quirks, they're strong, but- Alyx, what are you doing? Where did you get that?"

Leonidus held up a small red vial with a small needle on the end that he pulled out from his desk drawer, putting it close to his neck.

"This stuff destroys Quirks, right? Maybe you'll see me as a friend once my Quirks are gone. I wouldn't have to worry about scaring any of you again." Leonidus monotoned.

Izuku calmed down as Alyx placed the vial back into his drawer, "But that'd be too inconvenient for you all. You still need me, but once I slip up again, it's like you never wanted me in the first place. It's because I said I'd kill for you guys, isn't it? Well, don't worry, because now you won't have to worry about me saving anyone anymore."

In the Seventh Plane, Amaterasu watched over him alongside the other Gods, she looked sorrowful as she looked away from her orb.

"Here it is, his final stretch. I'm curious to see if this will end up like the scripture has told us." Omoikane pondered.

"It won't be, I'm certain of it." Amaterasu told him.

They all looked at her with curious glances. As the days passed on, so did Leonidus' dive into solitude. Everyone hung onto that last glimmer of hope that Alyx was still lingering inside of the husk that surrounded him, still, he treated his classmates with kindness, but as if they were acquaintances instead of friends. Alyx stumbled upon the copy of the Meta Liberation War in his room, remembering the message Hawks highlighted throughout the text. He looked down towards his drawer, Leonidus slid it open, the vial shined red as light hit it. Alyx shut the desk drawer as his sister Annie walked into his room.

"Now you show up?" Leonidus wondered.

"Woah, what's with the subtle hostility?" Annie replied.

"I'm just tired of being used for my Quirks, that's all. I never belonged here, Annie." Alyx admitted.

"What do you mean? Are you talking about that whole reality stuff? If so, that's bullshit, and you know it." Annie responded.

"No, not that. I'm saying that things would've been better if I died in Vegas. I wouldn't have to worry about people assuming that I've killed someone, but when someone has the same accusation on them, they instantly believe that they didn't do it. Where were you even at, Annie?" Alyx remarked listlessly.

Annie walked over to him, "I was trying to clear your name, and so was Kariya. Your wifey told me everything that's happened, they truly are sorry for what they've done."

"If they were, they would've believed me in the first place." Alyx muttered.

Leonidus walked past his sister and made his way downstairs. Everyone looked over to see Alyx looking through the fridge,

"Hey... Man?" Sero spoke up.

"Hey."

The room was filled with an awkward silence. Alyx closed the fridge door before sighing, still holding onto the handle.

"If you're all wanting to say something, say it. If not, I'll see you all tomorrow."

"We fucked up, okay? What we did to you was unacceptable, but that doesn't mean you need to shun us, we went through hell trying to clear Midoriya's name. Humarise was-" Jiro spoke up.

"I do not care. What I've gone through, clinging onto my life, I gave up that day. What did you all go through? A few missions against Humarise? You did all that to clear his name while my siblings were struggling to do the same with no help. If you've got nothing else to add, I'm leaving."

"You're going to just give up on us exactly like you did to yourself?" Momo chimed in.

Alyx looked over at her, "You never asked us what we did, we screwed up, we all knew that after Arlen brought himself to Tartarus. I fought tooth and nail to let you stay in this class, to stay in this school, considering that the HPSC was completely against you. They still think you're a threat. But acting like this isn't going to get you anywhere and you know that. Stop treating us like we never cared when we've been trying to fix our mistakes all this time. I fully understand that it's not something you can just get over, but you can't cope like this."

He slowly made his way over to her, Leonidus nodded in agreement with Momo's statement.

"Yeah, you're... You're right. I may have gone a little too far on you all. Do you guys wanna go get something to eat I guess?"

"I do." Momo firmly agreed.

"Same here." Midoriya added.

Denki leaned over towards Jiro, "Does that mean they're gonna talk? It sounds like a cover up for something."

[Several Hours Later...]

Leonidus was in his room mediating as Yaoyorozu read a book in his bed. He suddenly gasped as his eyes shot open.

"Alyx? Is everything alright?" Momo fretted.

"Y-Yeah... It's just that I sensed my Dad's Heat Energy for a split second, I don't know how though. Unless he entered the Seventh Plane?" Alyx reassured her.

Alyx resumed his meditation as the tension quickly ceased. Meanwhile, at the Butterfly Mansion, Kasai Rengoku studied up on the Forest of Spirits. The forest was only about 40 kilometers on the outside, but once inside, it's estimated to be 500 kilometers maximum, depending on the person who ventured in. Many who do wander in typically don't make it out. Time there ceases to exist seemingly, meaning one day could be weeks, months or even years. Unlike the Seventh Plane where one day is roughly a year. It is advised against to enter the forest more than once, for death is soon to follow. Kasai placed a book regarding the forest back onto a shelf.

"Young Leonidus... I should have warned you before you went in." Kasai muttered.

Rengoku made his way back to his room, only to be stopped by Akua Tomioka, who was looking for him.

"The kid needs to be protected. I don't understand why we didn't warn him." Akua told him.

"That I am not sure, but wherever that boy goes, we must follow!" Kasai nodded.

"Even with death on the horizon, you're still as bright as ever, Rengoku." Akua sighed.

Kasai chuckled as he patted Tomioka on her back. Death was indeed looming on the horizon, miles away from them, in the Jaku City hospital. Tomura floated in a pod of purple liquid, he grinned as he felt the time come near.