"HEY MIDORIYA! FUCK-! YOU-! "
Then she teleported out, leaving behind the figures she had brought here.
5 more brain guys, everyone unique in shape and form, but every one of them large, muscular, powerful, with their brains outside their heads. And every single one of them, looking directly at him and Mina.
...
Inside his own head, Izuku vaguely recalled that there had been 7 places in the city that had been under attack when they jumped from the tower. They had dealt with one, and Black Cat was currently dealing with another.
Leaving 5 other undead abominations.
"Well, shit." The lion guy exclaimed.
---
Iida had seen enough hero and villain brawls in his day, both on tv and in person, that he felt confident that he could tell someone's skill, speed, and power just by seeing them in action.
Currently lying on the floor, unable to turn his head, much less his body, Iida did not have a particularly good view of the man they called "the Devil of Hell's Kitchen" and "Hero Killer Stain going all out, sword against what he now recognized as a set of billy clubs, with an almost invisible string connecting the bottom of each.
Beyond early glimpses, however, it was mostly just a neverending barrage of sounds, as steel clashed on steel.
Early on, the battle moved behind him, further into the alleyway, leaving him to just lie there in his own blood, which was slowly pooling out from his shoulder, from a wound that he could barely feel.
As he laid there, the only feeling he could truly feel as he grit his teeth, was complete, total, and utter frustration.
It was insane really.
Behind his back, two men more versed in armed close quarter combat than any person he had ever met were going at it in a battle on which outcome his life depended, he could barely move at all and what he could move was limited to his face, and yet… Despite all of that, what galled him the most was the fact that he was not the one who was currently dueling Stain.
It made no logical sense. He should be feeling happy that someone stronger than him was currently fighting a fight he could not. He should be terrified that Daredevil would not be up to the task, and would fail, which would lead to his death.
And yet, it was frustration and anger that swam through his mind, not fear.
This was HIS task. His duty to see through to the end, not anyone else's.
He wasn't sure how long they had been fighting, it could have been two minutes, it could have been 10, but suddenly, without warning, all his senses came back to him in a flash.
He rose, slowly, only now realizing that his shoulder was drenched in blood. The pain was immense. Horrifying, and it pulsed through him with every movement he made. He did not hesitate and went over to the other, downed hero.
"I'll require a bit of your cloak."
He did not actually wait for permission before he knelt down and ripped a large chunk off said cloak, his shoulder screaming at him, all the while.
"It's fine… Just bandage yourself up, and then get out of here."
As he began binding the wound, Iida was painfully aware of the countless clangs of clashing steel that were taking place just down the alley.
Less than 10 meters away from the two of them, the two adult men were fighting for their lives.
As he finished the bandage, he turned to look… And then froze.
Down the alley, the two men were engaged in… A sight that was both rapid, fast, elegant, and brutally and savagely violent, all in one package.
Iida had understood how fast the two men had been moving all the while he had been paralyzed.
He had not understood the level of skill involved.
Down the alley, two figures in scarlet fought in something that Iida could only describe as a dance of steel.
The long blades of Stain moved at an astonishing tempo, a lunge, a backstep, a cut, a parry. The edge, though still sharp in places, had been dulled all over by this battle of endless clashing.
In his mind, Iida still hated this man with the fire of the sun… But even so… Even so, he had to admit to himself that the sheer level of speed and skill that Stain possessed in the art of the blade was astonishingly good.
This was not the fighting style of a brute that had only recently picked up a sword and was used to only swing it around savagely. This was a master swordsman, that moved like a cat, and read his foe's moves at a pace that dwarfed any Iida had seen from anyone save All Might.
His takedown of Iida had been quick, simple, and easy, because Iida was at a level far, far below his.
The man in Red was not.
Though he had his back turned towards him, Iida had no trouble seeing the way Daredevil moved… And the way he was able to counter each and every move Stain made.
Just like stain, he moved with a grace and fluidity that made him look more like a work of art in motion, rather than a mere man.
He attacked, he countered, he pounced when his enemy overstepped himself and almost broke Stain's hand with a blow the swordsman barely managed to parry.
This was a duel between two absolute masters of weaponry, who had trained their skill at arms to complete, and utter perfection.
But even so, there was another fact that stood out to Iida.
This was not an even fight between two equally matched individuals.
Daredevil was slower than Stain. Noticeably so. That should have spelled complete and utter doom for the man, and yet, somehow, he read each and every move seemingly before Stain made them, with a certainty that allowed him to match the man's blow for blow in a manner that Iida could only dream off.
Despite Stain's skills, this man was better than him.
It might have gone on like that.
The two combatants dancing their dance until luck or skill, or chance ended with one of them landing a decisive blow.
Iida Tenya had different plans.
He finally snapped back to reality and forced himself to rise. Yes, he had something he needed to do. Something he could not just leave to anyone else. Not even someone as skilled as this Daredevil.
"He-Hey kid, what are you doing?"
"Rejoining the fray."
"Don't be a fucking numbskull! Get out of here! You're NEVER gonna get an opportunity to run like this again!"
Iida ignored him, and instead focused on the man he hated so much.
Stain's eyes did glance over at him, full of anger and disgust, but it quickly was forced back to the battle at hand, as that second of wandering attention ended with a kick to the chest that sent him staggering backward, and forced on a brief retreat as Daredevil advanced.
Iida decided to capitalize on that moment of indecision.
With a roar, he once more burst forward, making sure to move to the side of Daredevil as he went on the attack.
This time, the villain would not be able to counter him as easily as he had.
He was sorta right.
Rather than counterattack, Stain instead dodged completely out of the way of his attack with a burst to the side, while also blocking Daredevil's billy club.
Or at least he tried to.
"CRACK!"
As Stain brought up his sword while dodging, Daredevil unexpectedly moved forward in a burst of speed, exactly as Iida came up from behind him, as if he knew on some instinctive level when to best time this attack so it took place exactly at the right time to take full advantage of the young Hero in training's advance from behind.
The result was that rather than parrying the club, it instead went right down on Stain's arm, breaking just below the elbow.
...
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