73

Chapter 73: Butcher

A/N: And here goes the second chapter of the story that revolves around the second BNHA movie, Heroes Rising. Some action here, though not all of it! The finale's for the next chapter. Anyways, hope you all enjoy it!

"Look, you extra. You're going to listen to me or I swear—"

"Oho ho! That's cute; thinking that I'd listen to you. Let me remind you that the only reason that you were set up on patrol duties last night was because of your inaction throughout the entirety of yesterday. With that in mind, why should I have to listen to anything you say?"

"You were put on patrol for the same fucking reaason!"

"That's besides the point, you feral pomeranian. What I—"

"What the fuck did you just call me!?"

Izuku groaned, rolling in his futon until he was facing the ceiling. After a moment, he wiped at his bleary eyes until the wooden ceiling of his room slowly became clear.

However, before he had the time to gather himself properly from his sleep, a cacophony of explosions and irritated yells rang out throughout the building.

Welp. Izuku let out a sigh, rubbing his hand over his face. There goes any chance of me sleeping in.

"Not that your late night schedule had to do anything with you being tired or anything."

"Or maybe, you know, Manga's whole golf cart thing?"

"Hmm. Maybe."

"Yeah yeah." And thus, Izuku began the process of getting himself ready for the day.

All through breakfast, the scuffle between Monoma and Bakugo didn't recede. It was only through sheer luck that the two avoided the kitchen, allowing everyone else to eat with relative peace (aside from all the noise in the background, that is).

Unfortunately, it was only a matter of time until said luck was bound to run out. While in the midst of his food, Izuku had to duck his head down to avoid some wayward debris jostled from Bakugo's explosions. As to avoid any further mishaps. Izuku decided to leave at that point, bidding those remaining of his classmates goodbye.

Once he made it outside, Izuku made his way towards the building's garage. After all, it was his allotted time slot to go on patrol. And — by the insistence of Manga, and however much Izuku dreaded it — that meant more time for the use of the golf cart.

When he entered the garage Izuku was only a little surprised by the scene he came across, his eyebrow raising in question. Manga was head deep in the golf cart's engine, his obvious expertise allowing his examination of the vehicle's interior. And, just behind the bent over form of boy, was Kendo supervising the entire thing.

"Hey Kendo," Izuku greeted the 1-B class representative. "Didn't expect to see you here."

"Oh, Midoriya!" Kendo greeted back, turning her attention away from Manga to wave at Izuku. "Seems like you're finally here. Perfect timing actually, seeing as Manga here is nearly done."

"Yup!" Manga exclaimed, not raising his head from the golf cart's engine. "I may not be the technical genius that Mei is, but I at least know my way around an engine. And I'm glad to say that there's basically nothing wrong with this baby. It's almost as good as new, even!"

"And what spurred this exactly?" Izuku questioned, walking over to peer at the golf cart innards that Manga was working on. "You didn't seem all that concerned with this thing's integrity yesterday."

"And that's exactly the thing!" Kendo butted in. "This idiot," she made a slight smack over Manga's back, eliciting a small yelp from the boy, "was just telling me over breakfast about his, and I quote 'exhilarating and over the top experience yesterday with one of his bestest of friends and a probably unregulated, highly superfast golf cart.'"

"I wouldn't have said anything if I knew you were going to snap at me," Manga said with a pout.

Kendo huffed. "I wouldn't have had any need to snap at you if you actually did a checkup on this thing before going on a joyride with it!"

"It wasn't a joyride though!" Manga retorted. "We were looking for that missing kid!"

Kendo crossed her arms, tilting her head forward and bearing an unamused look. "And those thirty minutes afterwards that you spent dragging Midoriya around the island?"

"It was a mutual thing!" Manga pleadingly looked towards Izuku.

"It wasn't," Izuku added in with no hesitation.

"Ugh." At this point, the engine was mostly cleared, with Manga getting just to placing the hood covering back over the cart. "Fine, you win. With the two of you ganging up on me there's nothing I can say; you're literally two of the only three people I can't win an argument with."

"Thanks!" Kendo responded.

"You let Mei get to you. That's why."

Manga flinched slightly, but otherwise mostly ignored the sudden appearance of the swarm clone beside him. "You can't blame me!" He said, waving a wrench in the air. "You know how scary she can be! And where the heck did those bugs even come from?!"

"Broken vent near the back wall. And I think I can put some blame on you. I mean, referring to the golf cart as 'baby' as you're fixing it up?"

"I— it's— that's different!" Manga shook his head. "Well," he said, patting the now covered hood of the golf cart, "at least I'm done. We can roll out on patrol in a few minutes!"

"Good to know that the thing's structurally sound," Kendo said. She placed her hand under her chin, looking at the golf cart in its entirety. "Though, with that in mind… I suppose that I wouldn't be adverse to taking a ride on it now. Mind if I join you two out on patrol?"

"Sure!" Manga immediately said. "You better be prepared for my insane driving skills though!"

Kendo giggled. "But of course, Manga. Like I should expect any less."

All the while, Izuku shook his head with a smirk. "That's fine with me. You can take shotgun Kendo," Izuku said as he made his way to the back of the cart, calling forth his swarm yet again. "I'll take on the back seat with my bugs."

The three of them spent the afternoon traversing the island and doing odd jobs of all sorts. And as the past few days had shown, it wasn't any surprise that the tasks were rather simplistic. The most serious situation they had dealt with involved transporting a man to get medical attention after he sprained his ankle. All things considered, it was a relatively quiet day on Nabu Island.

Eventually, their time for their patrol reached its end. And with the three of them heading back to UA Agency Headquarters, they finally had the time to talk to ease the way of communication, Izuku had turned his entire body around and rested it against the backboard of the back seat, leaning towards the front to make his words more audible.

"So, fellow class rep," Kendo began, swerving her head around towards Izuku in the back seat, "mind me asking how Bakugo's been doing?"

Izuku shook his head. "Bakugo's still a lost cause. I mean, don't get me wrong, he's become somewhat tolerable since after our…" Izuku sighed. "Well, you know."

"Your unsanctioned spar in Ground Beta that left two whole city blocks in explosive shambles and left the both of you in month long punishments?" Manga called out.

Izuku held back the urge to incite a small, bug-induced nibble on Manga. "You know that that wasn't my fault."

Manga shrugged. "The fact that your punishment time has only increased since then says otherwise."

"Anyways," Izuku all but shouted, "like I was saying, Bakugo's gotten marginally better. He's still… really rough around the edges, but at least he's cooled down a bit. Sort of. Kinda."

Izuku peeled his mask off to let the cool air rush past his skin. "And how about Monoma?"

"Honestly?" Kendo stifled a laugh. "Monoma still doesn't hold much of a positive opinion towards anyone in 1-A. Well, except you of course."

Kendo tilted her head, looking back at Izuku. "Speaking of which… Why is that, exactly? We never got the full story out of him. Nor Manga or Pony for that matter. And Hatsume claims no memory of the event. Not important enough to take up any of her much needed brain space, apparently."

"Heh." Izuku let out a nervous laugh. "Well, you see, it's kind of… complicated? I guess?"

"Not something you really need to know if you know what's good for you," Manga added.

"That only makes me more curious," Kendo said. "Go on," she urged Izuku. "Lay it on me."

Izuku shrugged. "Well, if you say so. Let's see… It all started one day when Manga, Pony, Mei, and I were at the local park. We were practicing for UA you see, and—"

A ear shattering boom interrupted their talk, a giant cloud of fire and smoke shooting into the air a few miles away from where they were.

"What the fuck was that!?" Manga yelled out, very nearly swerving off the road before regaining control of the vehicle. Though, once he did, he was already turning the vehicle towards the origin of the explosion.

"Heck if I know!" Kendo yelled, bracing herself from the cart's sudden movement.

Izuku, though he was doing the same as Kendo, sparred the chance to take out his phone and call back headquarters.

The call didn't ring back.

"Phone's down!" Izuku exclaimed. "That or nobody's manning the phones back at base.

"Which is highly unlikely with forty of us on the island!" Kendo said back.

"Well, whatever it is, we're going to find out soon!" Manga said, barreling the golf cart rather recklessly towards the explosion site. "You see anything with your bugs, Izuku?!"

Izuku grunted, pushing the bugs already in the area towards the site of the explosion. "A bit closer and… there! It's— Some guy with a mask. I haven't seen him on the island before."

"Just… some guy?"

"Well yeah. But— Shit! Those Shimano kids are there! And that guy is heading right for them!"

The man known as Nine stared down the two young children before him. The whimpering cries of the young boy and girl meant nothing to him of course — all that mattered was the boy's quirk.

A pink dragon ran towards him, courtesy of the girl's quirk, but he allowed it to flow through him. After all, it proved no threat to him.

"I already know that's an illusion," Nine said, his tone flat. He reached his hand out towards the boy, primed and ready to take his quirk.

However, a low hum caught his attention, steadily growing in volume as the seconds flew by. His head jerked to his right, just in time to see the speeding golf cart as it collided with him, sending him sprawling into the trees.

Kendo, Manga, and Izuku rolled to the ground, abandoning the golf cart at the last moment.

Manga was the first to recover, raising his head to look solemnly at the wrecked remains of the vehicle. "Farewell, my friend," Manga sniffled. "Wrest from this mortal coil far too early, you were. May you rest in— OW!"

Manga recoiled, rubbing the spot on his shoulder where he was just slapped by an oversized hand.

"Snap out of it Manga!" Kendo yelled. "We're in the middle of a villain attack, just in case you didn't notice!"

"Oh come on, it's fine." Manga waved her off. "The guy was hit by what? Five thousand newtons of force? He's unconscious and has a few broken bones for su—"

The wreckage suddenly shook, the sound of screeching metal piercing the air. With a single display of force, pieces of metal flew every which way. A single hand then shot out of the crumpled remains of the golf cart.

(ﾟ□ﾟ*川 "Unless he has some sort of durability quirk, I guess. Why'd we kill the golf cart again?"

"Kendo!" Izuku called out. "The kids!"

"Right!" Kendo grew her hands, taking one kid in each. "Fend him off!" Kendo ordered her two classmates. "And make sure you stay standing! I'll be right back!"

Kendo ran off into the woods with the children, leaving Manga and Izuku free to do their things. Manga struck first, cracking his neck in preparation.

"Just so you know: you were threatening those kids, so I won't feel bad about this!" Manga reared his head back, and yelled at the top of his lungs.

"KAPOW!"

The enormous letters crashed into formation, creating a massive divot in the ground as they spurned forth. The concussive force of the words and the enormous wall that formed from the words slammed face first into the villain, sending him off with great force.

"Ha!" Manga cheered. "That got him!"

Izuku narrowed his eyes, utilizing a few of his bugs to search around. What he saw was quite a bit worrying. It didn't," Izuku said, pointing through the smoke.

True to Izuku's words, the dust quickly cleared up and revealed the villain to be unharmed, a near-transparent barrier having been erected between him and Manga's quirk.

"Defensive barriers?" Izuku questioned aloud in both shock and awe of the display.

Manga huffed, catching his breath. "Pretty strong ones if I've got anything to say about them. I yelled out with all of my might with that one!"

The villain sent his gaze towards Manga. "Interesting quirk that you have there."

And then Nine's hand shot up, and before either Izuku or Manga could react a blast of wind was shot forth. Manga was sent flying back far off into the distance. Thankfully, a cursory check with his bugs revealed Manga to be mostly fine, if not a bit bruised. Though he was a bit far off; it'd take him a little time to get back.

"Aerokinesis," Izuku corrected himself, his stance defensive, but ready to dodge at any moment.

"And a pretty strong variation too, if he can make barriers like Tsuburaba." Izuku gulped. "And your reaction speed; a byproduct of your quirk? Agility like the wind?"

Nine chortled. "Not quite, kid." And then his eyes began to glow an eerie yellow, turning his gaze away from where Manga used to be and towards Izuku.

"He's… scanning you, I think."

Izuku blinked. What? Now's not the time QA.

"No, it is. He's almost like the Butcher. But less chaotic and more… more—"

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"OW!" Izuku clutched at his head. What the heck QA?!

"Interesting reaction," Nine said. "Though, I suppose it makes sense. I haven't exactly scanned a quirkless before, after all. Looks like I know what happens when I do so."

Izuku blinked, clearing the pain from his head and staring back at the villain. "What?"

"Adolescent male, higher than average physique," Nine continued. "No augmentations to strength, and no quirk to speak off."

"Izuku—"

"Using some sort of tech to check my quirk, are you?" Izuku questioned. At the same time, he began to call forth a huge mass of bugs from the surrounding trees, making sure the villain was too preoccupied paying attention to him to notice. I've got it.

"You're not the first to say I'm quirkless," Izuku continued. The swarm split into two and moved into formation. "Afraid to say that you're wrong though."

The swarms acted, converging onto the villain from both his front and back. Izuku moved too, already reaching for his eskrima sticks as he ran at the villain.

Nine rose both his hands in retaliation. He let out two blasts of wind at the two incoming swarms — but Izuku had been counting on that.

He'd noticed it, however slight that it was, but the villain's quirk took almost a second to amp up. And his use of his quirk on the bugs left an opening that Izuku could exploit.

The villain was already aiming his hands at Izuku, but Izuku knew it didn't matter. The delay of his quirk would offer just enough time to act. A few simple hits with his eskrima sticks would have the villain out like a light.

But Izuku didn't foresee the purple hue that began to emanate from the man's fingertips, however. Izuku's eyes widened; there wasn't enough time or space to dodge whatever was coming next. He braced himself, turning his back towards the villain and careening off to the side as fast as he could.

"Kyaa!"

Kendo came sprinting out from behind the trees, her giant hands swatting the villain a few feet away. The villain hadn't canceled out his attack, however. From the spot Izuku had landed on the ground, he came to witness the purple beams that sprang from the villains fingers and into the air.

Izuku froze. It all came crashing into him. He wasn't just fighting any normal villain. No, he was fighting Nine. And not only was the villain just like All For One, but worse — he was the man Izuku was meant to kill.

"Midoriya! Midoriya!"

Izuku snapped out of it. His head shot up, just in time to see Kendo's fist to be blocked by Nine's shield. Kendo jumped back, charging up and attacking with a kick. Unfortunately, all that got her was being launched back into the forest, some sort of force having been emitted by just the shield Nine held up alone.

Shields and air blast are likely the same quirks. The shield's bounce effect translates into that. Scanning too — it sees quirks? And purple fingertip lasers? What's their penetrative ability?

Nine grunted, wiping the dust off his coat. "Pesky brats, you do know that I will kill you if you continue to get in that way?"

Izuku made his way up onto his feet. "Nine…"

Nine jerked his head towards Izuku. "You know my name, do you?" He narrowed his eyes. "I must say, you've caught my interest kid."

Izuku clenched his fists. "Why are you here?! What do you want?!"

"You must be stupid to think that I'd answer you," Nine scoffed. "Enough games. I'm going to see just how you're controlling those bugs of yours. Then I'll kill you and the rest of—"

"BOOM!" The enormous letters materialized in between Nine and Izuku in an instant.

Izuku didn't waste his chance. He immediately activated his flightpack and flew, following the path of destruction made by the Manga-spawned word wall.

"This is way beyond your capabilities, Izuku! He's only show three quirks out of however man—"

"Shut up! I know!" Izuku sent out his bugs. They achieved their mission almost immediately, spotting Manga at the end of the divot made by his words. Kendo, on the other hand, was making her way towards the former's location.

Izuku formed a clone beside each of them. "Run! This guy's out of our league! We need to regroup with the others and— Gah!"

A volley of purple lasers came crashing through the woodwork, one of which was lucky enough to hit one of the thrusters of his flight pack. Izuku began to descend towards the ground, a smoke trail being left behind. He willed the flightpack closed just at the last moment, leaving Izuku to stubble to the ground.

Again, he didn't waste any time. He began to run out towards the outskirts of the trees, making sure to keep pressure on Nine through waves and waves of different swarms. It wasn't long until he reached the edge of the woods, meeting up with Kendo and Manga who were waiting in ready positions.

"Shit dude," Manga immediately exclaimed. "Are you telling me that he took two on of my words directly and h's tilll moving around?!"

"I told you to run!" Izuku yelled, ignoring Manga's question.

"We weren't leaving you, Midoriya," Kendo said.

Another blast of air shot out through the air, uprooting trees just a little ways away back in the forest. Izuku felt the death of thousands of bugs that followed suit. He growled. "How about the kids?"

"A few hills away by now," Kendo said. "And I don't know if you noticed, but Mahoro-chan used her quirk to make a giant illusion in order to get someone's attention. So some reinforcements are going to get here event—"

"You don't understand!" Izuku interjected. "This guy's like All For One! He has multiple quirks!"

Izuku sensed movement up in the sky. He looked up, making out a figure steadily making its way towards them.

"It's Pony!" Izuku yelled out.

The horned girl, who was flying through the air on one of her horns, slowly descended upon the trio. "Guys! I saw giant Itsuka! I came as fast as I could."

"Great!" Izuku said. "Look, we don't have much time left—"

"Then enough talking then!" Pony interrupted. "Tell me, what's the situat— AAAAHH!"

A giant blue dragon shot out of the woods and took Pony into its mouth. Pony struggled in the construct's mouth to no avail. And before any three of them could do anything to help, the dragon rose into the air and slammed Pony flat into the ground. When the dragon dissipated, Pony was left in the crater the construct made, completely unconscious.

"We won't be having any of that now," Nine's flat voice rang out. He slowly walked out of the forest without even a scruff on him, costume pristine and clean. "I don't want to have to deal with any other new quirks. You three are troublesome enough."

Nine rose his arm out towards the trio. "Now—" He jerked his head towards the sky.

Nine quickly changed tactics, swerving his arm towards the sky. His reaction speed allowed him to erect a barrier and block the incoming explosion that was Bakugou Katsuki. He didn't waste any movements in having his barrier bounce Bakugo back and into the trees.

"Fuck me, he blocked Bakugo!" Manga exclaimed.

Nine growled, facing his arm once more towards the trio. "How many of you brats are—"

Nine jerked his hand skywards yet again, this time blocking a human projectile by way of his barrier.

"Blocked me as well, did you?" the skin-hardened Monoma said with a smirk. "I assumed that you're going to launch me back as well?"

Monoma's words rang true, Nine launching him towards the woods. However, Monoma was exactly prepared for it. He quickly deactivated Kirishima's quirk and took upon Bakugo's, using his newfound explosions to catch himself in the air.

Through all the action, Monoma sent a look straight at Manga. The bubble headed boy implicitly understood.

"That barrier's oddly like the one of one of my peers, Tsuburaba," Monoma sneered, dodging purple lasers as he flew in the air. "Shame that I know how well those held up against Lord Explosion Murder over there."

"Boom." / "BOOM!"

Manga and Momona let out simultaneous explosions, both of which collided with their target with deadly force. The fiery aftermath of Bakugo's quirk collided with the newly erected wall of words, leaving virtually no place for Nine to have dodged.

Silence reigned for seconds, smoke and fire slowly rising into the air.

Then, a flash of blue. Not just one, but two of the enormous blue dragons shot out from the smoke and past the word wall, aimed straight towards Izuku, Kendo, and Manga.

Manga and Izuku were able to dodge; Kendo wasn't so lucky, getting caught in the maw of one of the constructs and meeting the same fate as Pony.

"Itsuka!" Manga yelled, dodging yet another attempt of the remaining dragon to chomp at him.

"I told you that we need to get out of here!" Izuku exclaimed, dodging another swipe of the blue dragon as well. "We need to get Pony and Kendo and leave! The same goes with Bakugo and Monoma!"

The dragon constructs disappeared, leaving Manga and Izuku safe for the time being. The cloud of smoke continued to block their view, but the sounds of explosion after explosion made it clear that the fight was far from over.

Izuku didn't hesitate — he began to run away, straight towards the downed forms of Kendo and Pony. Manga followed not far behind.

"Tell that to them!' Manga yelled. "You think that you can convince either of them to run away?"

Izuku's eyes widened in realization. "Shit! They don't know!" He immediately gathered a swarm and sent off two clones towards both Monoma and Bakugo.

He immediately spied the two of them, Bakugo in the air shooting off smaller bursts of explosions and Monoma on the ground shooting off what appeared to be Rin's scales. The clones formed in but an instant besides each of them.

"I'm sure that you've already noticed, but this guy has multiple quirks. But one of them allows him to take your quirks, so don't let him touch you!"

Bakugo, as expected, merely acknowledged the clone with a snarl, even taking the time to blast it away with one of his explosions.

Monoma acted quite predictably to the news as well.

"Ah, thank you Midoriya. I didn't even think of such a possibility." Monoma ducked under a volley of purple lasers. He utilized Kirishima's quirk again, taking a facefull of several trees before shifting out of the hardened skin and back towards using Rin's scales.

"Though if I may ask where Fukidashi is? I saved a spot just for his quirk!" Monoma switched to explosions, flying out of the way of an air blast. The swarm clone struggled to follow suit, but it fell into place as Monoma settled on the ground.

"Sorry, he's with me. We just got Kendo and Pony. We're planning on getting them out of here. I suggest that you do the same."

"Ha! And let this villain get away? Nonsense!"

The air around them suddenly began heating up, and it was only then that they noticed that Bakugo's explosions had stopped blasting off in the background.

"HOWITZER IMPACT!"

"Bastard." Monoma switched back to hardened skin, the defense keeping him uninjured as he was blown back into a tree. Unfortunately, that was the last thing Izuku was able to see before his bugs met a fiery death.

Perhaps even worse, Bakugo's super move ended up launching Nine over the word wall and out in the open, just a ways away from where Izuku and Manga were making their retreat with the others over their shoulders.

"Son of a bitch!" Manga yelled. "He exposed us!"

A scream broke the air. One of the dragons had caught Bakugo midair and slammed him into the ground.

"Oh come on!" Manga reared back his head to yell. But before he could scream out with his quirk, a purple laser shot through the air and right through his leg. Manga stumbled and fell to the ground, unable to keep himself up with him carrying Kendo on his back.

Two more lasers shot through the air, aimed straight for Izuku. Based on their trajectory Izuku knew that, with the added weight of Pony on his shoulders, he wouldn't be dodging the attack without any injuries.

And so, Izuku threw Pony off to the side and away from the lasers. Izuku moved to dodge, but was able to avoid one of the lasers. The other hit its mark, penetrating the spider silk armor and leaving a gaping wound on the lower right side of his torso.

Izuku gasped, clutching at the wound in an attempt to stop the blood flow. He ordered the small number of spiders in his hair down to the wound to do the same, hoping that their silk would be able to do the job.

Izuku looked around himself, spotting the still unconscious forms of Kendo and Pony on the ground, lying helpless. Manga wasn't too far off and was clutching at his leg. But then Izuku turned his gaze once more.

And from the residing smoke, Nine stood tall and triumphant. "Well, quite the conundrum that you've found yourself in, hmm?"

The one blue dragon still sprouting forth from Nine's back moved, dragging the still conscious Bakugo across the ground. Despite the volatile teens screams of anger, Nine carried on, not stopping until Bakugo was lying right next to Izuku and the others.

Nine tilted his head at the scene. "There's still one more of you brats, isn't there?"

And just like that, Monoma came running through the smoke, still in Kirishima's skin. Izuku felt just the slightest tinge of hope, but that all came crashing down.

Whatever Monoma's plan was, he wasn't fast enough to enact it. A second dragon sprouted from Nine's back and snatched Monoma up in its jaws, slamming him into the ground as well.

"Damn. It," Monoma enunciated, the boy continuing to struggle from beneath the dragon's jaws.

"You shitty extras!" Bakugo yelled, as he too continued to struggle within the maw of the draconic construct. "Can't any of you do anything?"

Izuku couldn't help himself, and let out a small chuckle. "Are you asking for help?!"

"No you shitty nerd!" Bakugo snarled. "I'm talking about how useless you all are!"

"Well I'm sorry that my bugs can't do much in this situation Bakugo," Izuku mocked.

"You're all too close to me," Manga said between breaths. "Quirk wouldn't do any good."

"I'm tired of all of you," Nine seethed, bringing everyone's attention back onto him. The man himself squared his shoulders and rose an arm into the air.

"Time to end this." The winds began picking up, the sky turning grey as storm clouds began forming overhead.

"Are you telling me that," Manga grunted in pain," that he controls the weather too?!"

"Heavy rains. My bugs are useless now, and…" Izuku's eyes widened in realization. "He's going to zap us with a strike of lightning."

"Quite the intuitive one aren't you?" Nine remarked. "Shame that you had to go against me."

Izuku attempted to push himself up, if just for the slightest chance to strike back. He was met with an air blast, pushing him back down to the ground with ease.

"Stay down kid," Nine huffed. "This is just about over."

The sky crackled, flashing bright white from high up above. The lightning bolt raced down, its erratic path to the earth and subsequent touchdown met with multiple screams of pain.

And just as quick as it came, it ended. The draconic constructs let their victims go, retreating back into Nine's back. Meanwhile, the victims of the strike laid near motionless, their breathing harsh and their bodies in pain.

Izuku himself lay sprawled on the ground, but otherwise conscious. If anything, he felt a lot less injured than he had expected to be from getting struck by lightning.

As if by command, the reason as to why became apparent. Monoma sprang up onto his legs, devoid of any injuries that'd pertain to being struck by lightning.

"Ha! Lightning rod, bitch!" Monoma so eloquently worded. As to credit the use of Kaminari's quirk, Monoma's skin continued to light up, arcs of electricity bounding off to and fro. He raised his hand up to point a finger at Nine.

"Now prepare to—" Monoma faltered, twitching somewhat before he continued. "You'll… you'll…" Monoma fell to the ground into a heap.

Nine growled. "You kids are good, I'll give you that." He raised his hand towards them, air quirk ready to be used. However, before he could set it off, he flinched and fell to his knees, cries of pain escaping from his lips.

Izuku again attempted to move, to deal the finishing blow. The bugs in the area numbered few — definitely not enough to use against Nine. And so he tried to stand — only to fall once more.

Izuku's vision began to fade, and the last thing he heard were the cries of birds.

A/N: Giant fight scene? What better to top that? A bigger fight scene! That's what's coming around the next chapter. Hope that you all liked it! Stay tuned for next time!