For a very, very, very brief moment, Izuku just stood there, suddenly finding himself in nothing but his boxers, as ahead of him stood his foe with a sword in his still good hand, and Venom suddenly pooling to the floor like any liquid, the hidden mechanisms that usually kept him together, ceasing to function.
Then he felt a searing, throbbing, IMMEDIATE pain in his back, as the healing powers of his bond with Venom vanished, and his wound immediately began to reopen.
He did not think. He just jumped backwards in a mighty leap, out of the alley, not with grace or subtlety, but he did manage to land on his feet, smashing into the concrete beside Iida, as he felt the wound, the massive hole in his upper back burst open again, spilling blood out on his back.
The pain was immense. Overwhelming. And on top of that was his own mental state.
This was bad, really, really bad.
As his foe barreled out of the alley opening, like a bat out of Hell, Izuku's brain, fueled by adrenaline, reminded him that his foe had a sword.
He shot down, and ripped out two sections of concrete, and brought them up in a defensive manner, where it immediately clashed with the steel blade, bringing sparks into the night.
---
Iida looked on in astonishment as Izuku began his own battle with Stain, desperately blinking the tears out of his eyes.
Stain's bout with Daredevil had been a work of art, of complete and total skill, grace, and control.
By contrast, that spectacular performance served as a nice contrast to the fight between Izuku and Stain.
Rather than a fight of skill, it was a fight of frantic, but titanic motions.
The sparks flew as the rocks Izuku held in his hands, both easily larger than Iida's head, clashed with the steel sword, and as Izuku counterattacked, Iida could feel the sheer force behind the blows right besides him, as if it was All Might making them.
And that image was what came to Iida's mind.
For despite his appearance, the bleeding, being almost completely naked save the boxers, and the shaking wrecking his body with every movement, Iida had never in his life seen a hero who reminded him so much of All Might.
A true, genuine Hero, who stood up to protect someone despite the odds, despite the damage, despite injuries and suffering.
This… This was what a true hero was.
Not him.
He… He was a failure.
A man who only thought of himself and his own base desires.
Iida recalled once asking his brother why he had become a hero, and he'd half-jokingly answered "To be Popular", before giving his actual reasoning.
However, in the end, it had been Iida who had become the one ruled by his worse aspects… But even here, he was driven by even worse aspects than his brother had joked about.
Not fame, or glory… But of vengeance. Of getting his retribution against Stain through his own hands, when a true Hero would have focused on him simply being stopped, and harming as few people as possible.
It was as Venom had accused him of at the Sports Festival.
He… He only thought of himself. That's how he'd always been. It was how he was now. Just descendants of Heroes, playing pretend.
But the boy in front of him… THIS was everything he wanted to be.
Izuku was faster than Daredevil, much, much faster. But not as fast as Stain.
But by that same token, Stain was far, far inferior to Izuku in strength.
As proven when Izuku finally hit the sword straight on with one of his rocks, and took the blade clean off at the hilt, forcing Stain back.
He did not pursue though, instead just standing there, panting and shaking, though still ready for Stain's counterattack.
"You'll bleed out with that kind of wound." Stain noted, looking down at the ground behind him, where Iida now, to his horror, realized just how badly Izuku had bled.
It was astonishing how much of it there was. They'd only been fighting for half a minute, and yet to Iida's horror, he had a front-row seat to the fact that the ground in front of his face was starting to look like a crime scene.
Izuku didn't answer with words, instead, quick as a snake, he threw one of his stones at one of Stain's legs.
The man dodged, leaving the effective cannonball to smash into the ground, but as Stain launched his counterattack, Iida suddenly felt life return to his body in a flash.
---
Izuku… was tired. So, so tired . And he was starting to feel woozy on top of it, the blood loss from his back where the massive wound through bone and muscle was quickly starting to catch up with him.
He would not be able to fight for much longer.
He needed to finish this. NOW.
Easier said than done.
His enemy… It was insane.
His enemy was a speedster with a paralyzing gimmick, armed with a sword. That was it.
By contrast, Izuku had just come off defeating foes far stronger, faster, more varied in their quirks, and by all metrics more dangerous than this guy.
And yet… He was easily able to match him. He had taken away Izuku's greatest weapon and leveled the field. That had been all he needed.
As Black Cat had tried to teach him, power was relative.
Izuku could end this in one blow. One, single, clean hit was all he needed to finish it, just like his fight with Katsuki.
But the same went the other way as well.
This guy had the capacity to finish this fight in a single stroke as well.
Izuku had in fact expected him to further take advantage of that, trying to target the blood just behind the back, or worse, try to flank him, and get around so that he could target Iida.
Instead of doing that, the obvious tactic, the one Izuku was mentally preparing to counter, he'd tested Izuku out, forcing him to be active, as the blood flowed and pooled out of him.
He had time on his side and was fully willing to drag this out until Izuku was weak and defenceless from blood loss before going in for the kill.
That was bad. He wasn't some idiot brute. He could think.
Izuku had never really considered just how reliant he was on his suit. To him, it was just another part of his body. An extension of himself, rather than something external, something that could be taken away from him.
That, as he was learning now, much to his further dismay, was a foolish notion.
Venom was a separate living creature. One bound to him, yes, but a separate being that was as vulnerable to quirks as Izuku was.
As it was, Izuku would either have to triumph without him.
Even though his entire fighting style revolved around his suit and the offensive powers it brought with it.
In a flash, his foe unsheathed another knife, though still long enough that by most standards it could be considered a short sword.
He barreled towards him with that uncanny speed, and Izuku brought up his stone to block, forcing himself to move despite the pain.
As it was though, the blade didn't get the chance to hit.
Out of nowhere, with a speed Izuku had never seen from him, Iida's foot was there, and the armored leg shattered the knife blade easily.
He then followed it up with another kick at immense speed, though their enemy moved backwards before the blow could land.
"Thanks…" Izuku got out, with a weak, weak voice.
God… He just felt… So, so weak.
Iida for his part.
"Do not thank me Midoriya… I'm no hero."
...
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