If Mirio had one word to describe the current fight in front of him, it would have to be … violent. He got Iruma's plan, it was a sound one in theory. With a villain that technically had no upper limit on healing himself, there was no possible way to cause enough damage for him to fall unconscious, so overloading his pain center was a sure fire way to fix that.
The only other problem at the current moment was Overhaul being able to keep himself at a distance, sending rocks and pillars whenever Kettei got too close, though that almost didn't matter when the boy was able to shred the rocks like paper.
The main concern he had right now was how willing Kettei was to violently harm the man, already having counted fifteen holes that had been made and regenerated. "You know, for someone who preaches about saving people, you're pretty willing to risk murdering them you hypocrite!"
"You can heal yourself, so you can handle it!" Kettei kept slicing away at the man's chest. "How many times did you do this to Eri!? How many times did you rip her apart like this!? And I'm not a hypocrite! I promised to get the girl out of here and punch you in the face, and I'm not going to leave until I do that!"
"Take the girl and leave." Sir told him. "This isn't the place for either of you to be at the moment." He said. "I'm, I'm sorry…about everything…I shouldn't have…I should've…"
"It's fine. As long as we save her." He smiled. "Come on Eri, let's get you out of here." He lifted up the girl, begging to run.
"What about Wolf Man?"
"Where do you think you're going Eri!?" Chisaki asked, a hand raised as spikes formed. "You don't get to leave that easi-" The man was bisected, only surviving because his other hand had a free moment to activate. "-fucking hell you brat."
"As long as you have one hand, you can heal…so everything else I can tear apart as much as I want!" Maybe they should have booked a therapist at Sir's office.
==
Alright, wait for the perfect moment. During the minor cooldown of one point two seconds of time it takes between reconstitution, and there! Mirai punched Overhaul in the back of the head, sending him skidding as he was now connected to the future. "Great … as if it wasn't bad enough Eri is being taken, my operation is crumbling, my utter hatred is ripping me limb from limb like a psychopath, but now i'm having to deal with germs as well!" Overhaul stood up. "Anything else you want to try and throw at me?"
"Plenty." He threw his weighted stamps at the villain. "Kettei, calm down for a second. I have my quirk activated. Follow my lead and we'll be able to defeat him for good."
"Last I checked my strategy seemed to be working fine!" Of course, of all times, he was stubborn now.
"Your plan has a solid basis, but you're completely driven by anger and spite." Something that he admittedly fanned the fire for. "Don't…."
"I'm driven by spite!? You don't like me just because I'm not Mirio! Well guess what, I'm the only one here determined!" Kettei shouted out. "You two just move along with your strategies and fancy powers."
"Is that so …" The villain walked over as he [grabbed unconscious man, combining with him into a monster] grabbed the unconscious man. "Then let me show you how far I'm willing to go."
"Kettei, back, no-" He noticed the boy already moving back, looking like his head was ringing.
Out of the light came Chisaki, now mutated into a freak of nature. His mask had become an actual beak of metal, four red arms sprouted with veins. "Now I believe it went something like this …" A single hand was raised, sprouting a mouth. "What would make you lose right now?"
"Saying Please." Iruma spouted out in an instant.
"Watching myself die." Mirai answered without hesitation.
"... Damn thing's broken." No, it wasn't. He could force confessions. It just so happened that Iruma had a ludicrously horrible homelife. "Let's try something else. What is your greatest fear?"
"All Might never be replaced by someone worthy." He sputtered out, trying his best to both hold it in and be battle ready.
"Being stuck living with my parents."
"Oh, asshole donors." Overhaul looked curious. "I can actually relate." Oh fuck no, not this BULLSHIT again. "The boss took me in when they kicked me out into the trash … so I'm making the Yakuza great by removing its greatest threat … the sickness that plagues our society."
"Corona?" That got whipped out years ago. He checked how long this conversation was going to go on, and was disappointed with the results.
"No you moron, quirks. They make people think that Heroes and Villains need to exist." Luckily, they were still fighting to the death, so that alleviated it a little. "That people need to save others and that people need to commit crimes. The only thing that should exist is repaying kindness given to those that take care of you."
"That…sounds amazing." Kettei sighed. "And that's exactly what I've been doing for the past half a year. Bunny-sensei took care of me. Rabbit-Sama took care of me. Aizawa, my classmates, even Nighteye have taken care of me with all the help they've given me. That's why I want to be a hero."
Chisaki stared at him before scoffing, raising the hand. "Tell me what you really think about heroes."
"I hate them." Even Iruma seemed caught off guard by that sentence.
"Oh really?" Overhaul looked pretty invested, even as he threw more spikes at them. "How's that? Why do you hate heroes?"
"They sit around and wait when people are in danger, you should help them when they're in trouble because it's the right thing to do."
"And here I thought we had a common ground, but you're just as infected as the rest of them. A shame really. But I better get back to the main objective." The man raised his hand higher, using two grown mouths. "Eri, are you going to let these people die for you?"
His eyes widened [Watching her enter and seeing him impaled] … He raised his stamps. "Kettei, she's going to be forced to come in here and answer, damage him as quickly as possible." Before he dies they're going to wear him down as much as they can.
"No!" Eri's cry shouted. "I'll come back!"
It was too late, if she was here then-He gasped, feeling the spike enter his back. No matter how hard he tried … the future was unchangeable. He at least hoped he could see it … a future where Kettei wins … please?
==
Nighteye was gutted. "Do you see Eri?" Iruma turned to the villain, his head pounding with a buzz. "You caused this. Why do you hurt everyone around you?"
"I'm…I'm a curse…my curse hurts people…" The little girl said, tears pouring out of her eyes.
"What will you do to avoid their deaths?" The villain asked her.
"Anything, so please, don't hurt them!" She shouted in fear and agony.
"Do you see, Kettei?" The man asked. "She clearly doesn't want to be saved."
'Iruma wants to help give his parent's money.' 'Iruma, you'd do anything to make your mommy and daddy happy? It's your job after all.'
This wasn't All Forty One, Overbird wasn't a soulless monster, so he wouldn't kill him … he'd just get really, really … really close. He jumped straight at the beak man, a hand raised right at him, Eri screaming. The buzz got louder and harder, and shifted up. He avoided the buzz, moving down. It seemed to almost insert commands, he avoided the buzz as a spike formed.
He was so busy trying to focus and think of stuff, he usually had his body on autopilot, leaving it to instinct. This wasn't just telling him to avoid danger, it was telling him how to avoid it. He remembered what Nigtheye said, thinking ahead. It doesn't matter what you can dodge if you're still in a corner.
He needed to focus on it, get in a position where he was free to move and counter. He felt the buzz as he landed a punch hard enough to crack arms. He felt the buzz as he moved to the left, avoiding a swing. His tingling finger released a hole straight through Overbird. He used the booster to jettison into the air, avoiding yet another swing. He never attacked in the air, he touched the ground.
"I … I …" This power … it could only be one thing. "I have a cookbook." Something that told him what to do, guided him, gave him instructions.
"You're a bigger idiot than you were on TV!" Overbird shouted, seeding his massive claws to grab him, but a leap into the air helped him avoid. "Why is everybody able to dodge my attacks today!?"
"Because I survived a lot of bad situations." He growled out, rearing back his claw for an air slash. "Like the one you're giving Eri!" Cuts formed on his body. "You made her think it's okay for her not to have dreams!" More cuts, he's letting out a frenzy. "That she can suffer for others!"
"Her curse is capable of changing the world as we know it! I'm the only one who knows how to use her!"
"YOU!" SLASH . "SHOULDN'T!" SLASH! "USE!" SLASH! "HER. AT. ALL!" SLASH! And that may have been a swing too many, his arms felt a bit strained and the gloves cracked just a tad. He watched the bird man regenerate once again, his eyes bloodshot. "Your pain tolerance is reaching its limit, isn't it?"
"Maybe…but I'm not the only one!" The buzz went off…but he was exhausted, so he couldn't move fast enough to avoid the spike through his leg. "You've been bottling a lot of anger for a while, haven't you?" Overbird returned himself to man form, the man he was combined with hit the ground, groaning in agony. "You haven't been holding back for a single second, and now you've rendered yourself useless. That's the price of the hero sickness. You lose all common sense."
"A hero … doesn't give up …" He slowly pushed himself. "He gives it … Plus Ultra." He would keep on going.
"And tell me, where does that get you? What miracle is going to come crashing in next?" Overbird slowly lowered his hand to the ground, only to be interrupted by cracks in the ceiling.
==
They had been fighting this man for an hour. He. wouldn't! go!! DOWN!!! Ryukyu was the only one close to his size, Nejire-Chan's blasts stung a bit, he was too big to place Zero G on without significant strain that wasn't worth it, Jack Mantis could at least cut him a bit, Kuroiro managing to mess with the inside of his jacket, and Gang Orca sent off some disorienting blasts of sound. But the man got so big and strong because he drained their stamina to begin with.
'Damn it!' She needed to get stronger! So much happened this year, and she couldn't afford to be weak! If she didn't grow now, she wouldn't be strong enough to support her family, her friends, to support the kindest boy that she just wanted to hug until he knew for a fact he could be safe in her arms.
They just needed to keep him down. To make sure that nobody got hurt, maybe his quirk would wear out and they could take him down from there. And would you look at that, her fingers weren't responding, wasn't that a lovely sign?
'Hopefully this means Iruma is doing a lot better.' Their main goal was to stop this guy from escaping so Nighteye's team would be free to rescue Eri. He would be fine…just fine…he was doing just fine…
"Ochako!" Or he randomly shows up from out of nowhere faster than Iida on Recriprio Burst! His body was covered in injuries, his suit torn to shreds from fighting. "We need help, the ground below us, we need to break it!" Easy for you to say.
"Oh, you're the Suzuki kid." She froze. "Gonna be a pleasure cracking your skull open." He started charging right at him. "The world's gonna be a helluva better place once your dead!"
Something in Ochako snapped the moment he said that. Iruma was weak and injured right now, and a villain they had been fighting for an hour on end with little success was going after him. The boy who suffered so much, gave so much, and now tried to risk it all, was going to be brutally maimed. So, she did what she felt was necessary.
She cried in rage as she jumped on his back, a dark green raging on her finger tips. "DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH HIM!" She screamed as she touched his back, anger boiling over as if she was Bakugo.
"Give it up bitch, floating … doesn't …" The man coughed, falling onto his knees. "So … heavy … it's like I'm lifting a cargo ship." She didn't understand, even as her heart sounded like drums in her head. "Make it stop …" The ground cracked. "Make it stop …"
"Screw you!" She shouted, small droplets of red appearing on the man's back, no, that was her blood. She was bleeding from her eyes. "DIE YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"
"Too big … too much …" She could hear cracking, in both the ground and his body. "Gonna break … help me." Fuck, she turned to Iruma, seeing if he was triggered … and he was just staring at her with sparkling eyes and-wait, was that a nose bleed? Since when did Iruma know how to get aroused!? And what was he aroused by at the moment!? HER!!?
"So hot…so bloody..." The kid muttered, before shaking himself. "Looks like you broke the ground. Good luck, Ochako-chan!"
"Ochako-chan…" She instantly felt the need to throw up, and it wasn't from her power…Well, it might have been her quirk. Was her throw up always red? "Toga...…!" She couldn't finish her accusation when she and the rest of her team fell through the ground…where the first thing she saw was Iruma, beaten on the ground with Overhaul standing above him.
==
Eri watched as the big man fell from the sky, followed by an astronaut, a frog girl, a bug boy, a whale, a dragon, a blue girl, and a black figure. "How the fuck does your luck function!? You either run into the most dangerous situations or get spared on the fly." Chisaki screamed
"I don't know, maybe it's because training to be a hero gave me a lot of friends." Wolf Man sputtered, his mask having fallen off to show wide and blue eyes. "Friends who gave a lot of support to me, so I promise to never disappoint them!" He stood up, pulling the rock out of his leg and crushing it.
"Right, I'm talking with an infected moron." The man grumbled, touching the ground as she and him were sent rocketing on pillars. "There's nothing more for me to do here, I'll be taking Eri and leaving then. Consider yourself lucky that I have better things to do than end you."
"You're not getting away until I save Eri!" Wolf Man climbed up on the pillars. "I don't care if I'm called a hero, I'm not going to let you hurt her for another second!"
"She doesn't. want. your help. All you're doing is making her worse." The man who pretended to be her dad told her. "She's a curse, it's better she's hurt than anyone else." He was right, he was always right. Her curse would kill anyone that came near her. She would hurt everyone that she met. She's nothing but a monster that burnderned everyone.
"A person can't be a curse!" The boy shouted. "That's only done with VooDoo dolls and magic! She's a kind and innocent soul free to do what she wants!" Eri looked at the boy…his eyes kind and caring…his arms…reaching out for her…the arms she had run away from. "What do you want, Eri!? What do you want to do with your life!?"
'My life…my life… ' Could she actually choose something for herself? She was a monster, just like Chisaki said… '
It doesn't matter what people like him say. If they don't care about you, you shouldn't listen to them.' The Vampire Lady wasn't afraid of her, Lemillion was scared for her, and the Wolf man was reaching out his warm arms to her…' They care, they care so much even when they don't know me….I have to go back….I have to go back to his kind arms!'
She jumped. "I want to be happy!" She shouted out, tears in her eyes.
"You don't deserve happiness, Eri!" Chisaki screamed out, spikes forming around.
"YOU DON'T GET TO CHOOSE FOR HER!" Wolf man yelled, jumping from spike to spike. "ERI! JUMP I'LL CATCH YOU!"
'I have to trust him…I have to trust him!' Holding onto Lemillion's cape, and let herself fall. She was going to be free…she was going to be happy! She felt her powers activate … no, no she couldn't. Why now? Why now? The boy grabbed onto her. "Wait, please, my curse."
"You're not cursed!" The boy shouted, looking at the large amounts of stuff coming at them. "This is gonna suck … Fully Filled, Rocket Man!" They were sent flying high, higher than ever before, she could see the city below her. It looked pretty. Did she deserve this?