Chapter 98: The Power of us

[3rd POV]

The gruesome battle has finally ended. Kaede's Chibaku Tensei sealed Gigantomachia while the rest of the nomu were dealt with. The heroes won, but at what cost?

The entirety of Jaku City was obliterated, leaving many people homeless. Other cities weren't left unscathed either when Gigantomachia destroyed everything in its path on its way to Jaku. Nothing could stop him from getting to Tomura.

News also revealed that after Tomura escaped, the League of Villains invaded Tartarus, which everyone thought was an inescapable prison. Tomura successfully set free many dangerous criminals, including AFO himself. It didn't end there as the other max security prisons were attacked, spreading villains all around Japan.

The public criticized the heroes for not defeating Gigantomachia before it was too late. Many pro-heroes resigned and they couldn't bear the pressure. Itachi, Endeavour, and Hawks held a press conference to ease the crowd, explaining that UA would protect the citizens in need by using the campuses as emergency shelters.

Unfortunately, that didn't calm them down and people decided to put the matter into their own hands and tried to fight the villains with support tools. However, this just led to more unnecessary casualties. Their trust in the pillars of society was shaken as the true meaning of a 'hero' were put to the test...

[Kaede POV]

Using Chibaku Tensei has sapped my strength, and I was asleep for two days. When I woke up, I was immediately confronted by my family, who were very concerned. Itachi-onii-chan wanted to know what move I used to seal Gigantomachia. They were stunned when I showed them my Rinnegan, knowing there was a further evolution of the Mangekyou Sharingan.

Speaking of Mangekyou Sharingan, I felt that my eye's power has increased tremendously. As Hagoromo said, this was because of the influence of Rinnegan and I could tell that there won't be barely any backlash now as I utilize Mangekyou. However, one thing I noticed was that I couldn't use Rinnegan and Mangekyou Sharingan at the same time, which was something I need to adapt to.

I asked Itachi-onii-chan what happened during my sleep and was devastated to know that everything had turned to the worst. Many pro-heroes quit as they couldn't handle the backlash from the public. Will this be the end of the hero society? No, I won't allow that to happen! I was determined to make things right!

Shoto and I are currently looking for Midoriya per Gran Tornio's request. Thankfully, Gran Tonio lived through his injuries with the help of my healing while I also fueled him with strength using my Daikoku. After the fight, Midoriya was in a coma for three days! But he immediately left when he gained consciousness.

"Hey Shoto, are we good heroes?" I asked as we walked down the hospital hallway in search of Midoriya.

"What do you mean?" Shoto replied all confused.

"In the end, no matter what we did, the villains still manage to succeed. Now Japan is in chaos...." I muttered sadly.

Shoto smiled and patted my head: "We have tried our best, don't worry, there's still time to fix this. Let's save our home one step at a time."

I chuckled and nodded, we eventually found Midoriya on the rooftop of the central hospital. He was overlooking the city with a gloomy face and wasn't aware that Shoto and I were behind him.

"Midoriya-kun." I called his name, and he turned to face us with a solemn expression, "Gran Tornio-san wanted to give you this," I said and handed him the old hero's yellow cape.

Midoriya took the small cape and gently rubbed it between his fingertips. He smiled sadly and wrapped the cloth around his neck: "How is he?"

"Gran Tornio-san's condition was stable, but he needs rest," I explained.

Midoriya nodded and clenched his fist. There was silence as he took a deep breath: "I will be leaving."

"Leaving?" Shoto repeated.

"All of this happened because of my quirk so I will fix this by myself. Please don't come after me, I don't want you to get hurt." Midoriya said and barged past us.

I grasped his shoulder, and he stopped: "Tell me you're joking." I muttered with a frown.

"I don't want to trouble all of you," he answered while smiling wryly.

[3rd POV]

The atmosphere was tense as Kaede and Shoto looked at Midoriya with disbelief: "We're a class; you don't have to do this alone." Kaede uttered.

Izuku shook his head, shrugged Kaede off, and walked to the roof exit, but Kaede and Shoto blocked his path: "What are you doing?" Izuku asked with slight agitation in his voice.

"We won't let you leave." Kaede declared, Shoto nodded, and he covered the exit stairs with ice.

Izuku frowned, and a greenish aura covered his body as One for All activated. Before he could do anything, Kaede appeared in front of him, a black portal manifested from her right eye and she pulled Izuku into the portal.

Izuku's danger sense was blaring and the past users of OFA in his head were warning him. He was in a place composed of an innumerable amount of randomly arranged and differently sized rectangular prisms amongst a dark and seemingly endless void.

His expression darkened when he spotted Kaede and Shoto standing on one of the tall platforms: "Where did you take me?" Izuku questioned as his eyes darted around.

"This is my Kamui space, a separate dimension under my control, and you won't be able to leave unless I say so."

"Why are you doing this?!" Izuku shouted.

"This is for your good, Midoriya-Kun. What do you think the others would feel?!" Kaede yelled back.

Kaede whispers something into Shoto's ear. He seemed hesitant but agreed as she created a shadow clone and brought Shoto out of the dimension.

"I don't want to fight you!" Kaede pleaded, "Let us help!"

Izuku gritted his teeth as he went to full cowling 45%. He leapt at Kaede and dozens of black whips shoot out of his wrist. Kaede unsheathed her katana and slashed all the tendrils into pieces. During his coma, Izuku earned the support of One For All's previous users and gained their powers.

The tiles started to shift as if they got their own will and launched themselves at Izuku. He dodged the moving pillars and generated a thick smoke cloud from his palm to obscure Kaede's vision. However, his danger sense triggered as Kaede located him with ease.

Izuku blocked Kaede's kick and the force send him crashing onto a tile, leaving a crater: "Smoke won't work against me." Kaede calmly stated.

Izuku gasped as he felt a massive amount of energy vanish from his body as he slowly got up. He knows Kaede was more powerful than him, but Izuku won't let that stop him. He has to fight alone, for their sake.

Izuku suddenly felt himself being pulled towards Kaede and he was met with her fist.

*BOOM*

Izuku was knocked away like a ragdoll but he quickly recovered and the battle resumes. As time goes on, the injuries on Izuku's body increased as the young man was getting tired and he collapsed onto his knees: "Midoriya-kun....." Kaede muttered sadly, she continuously begged Izuku to stop, but it was no use.

"This is my fight... Why can't you understand!?" Izuku angrily yelled.

Kaede shook her head: "I don't understand your decision, it's selfish and disrespectful."

Izuku's costume, cape, and gloves become more damaged and torn, his respirator appears to have chipped edges, and his iron soles become crooked like talons. Black whip tendrils sprout from his back and give him a monstrous-like appearance.

[A/N: Damaged Midoriya costume looked awesome, prove me wrong.]

"Let me go!" Izuku roared

"No!" Kaede shouted.

"Why?!"

"Because you're my friend!" she screamed.

Izuku leapt towards Kaede and readied his fist; seeing this, Kaede also jumped high into the air, and a large chakra sphere gathered in her palm.

"DETROIT SMASH!!!"

"RASENGAN!!!!"

"PLEASE STOP!" A voice echoed throughout the dimension.

Kaede and Izuku tilt their body to the side, barely missing each other. Kaede's Rasengan smashed into one of the stone tiles, completely obliterating it, while Izuku did the same. They raised their heads and saw Ochako looking down at them. She was on the verge of tears as the rest of Class 1-A entered the dimension.

They were all in a state of disbelief at Midoriya's decision: "Deku-kun, please...." Ochako pleaded.

Following along, everyone in Class 1-A urged Izuku to stop as they recounted their experience as a class in UA, and Izuku was just going to leave everything behind. Izuku was speechless and he remained silent. Kaede brought the rest of her friends down, and they approached Izuku.

"I don't want you guys to get hurt...." Izuku muttered depressingly.

"Stop trying to win on your own!" Ochako yelled as she walked up to him and pulled Izuku into a hug.

Izuku was shocked and was speechless as all his other friends moved in and hugged him as well: "We're a team, so let us bear your pain too...." Ochako muttered.

Izuku eye's widened as he unclenched his fist and sighed: 'I'm sorry...."

Everyone let go and exhaled with relief as their friend seemingly returned to his old self. Izuku then explained the true meaning behind One For All and his connection with All For One and Tomura. Everyone (Except Shoto, Bakugo, and Kaede) was shocked by this news, but they were even more surprised by what Izuku said next.

"I want to save Tomura," Izuku announced with a serious tone

"What?" His friends exclaimed.

"During our battle, Tomura's conscience manifested in One For All, I felt what he felt and in the deepest part of my mind, I saw the image of Tomura as a scared and helpless child crying. I know countless people died, and you guys were hurt because of Tomura, but I still believe he could be saved."

Kaede and her friends looked at each other: "Are you sure, Tomura may already be too far gone at this point."She reasoned.

Kaede also wanted to save everyone and be the perfect hero, however, unlike Izuku, she's not naive enough to believe that some people could change into a new light. Sometimes the best way to save someone was to end them...

However, a small part of her thought that maybe she just chose the easiest method and not actually tried it.

"I have already accepted that Tomura may have to be killed. However, I still want to try....." Izuku explained.

There was a pause as Kaede pinched the bridge of her nose: "That's so like you, Midoriya-kun," Kaede sighed: "We will support your decision. After all, that's what friends are for right?"

Kaede glanced at her classmates, who nodded in agreement. Izuku exhaled in relief as a huge weight was lifted off of him: "Okay, let's do this together....."

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I hope you enjoy it!