Iida's heart pounded violently against his ribs.
The numbness had spread fully now — from his wounded arm down into his fingers, from his spine into his legs. His engines sputtered faintly, then died into silence. He tried to lift a hand.
Nothing. Tried to shift his weight. Nothing.
All he could do was watch as Stain's blade descended toward his exposed neck, silver edge catching the broken streetlight in a lethal gleam.
Suddenly the air cracked. A violent rupture of atmosphere itself.
BOOOOOOM!
The alley trembled as something broke the sound barrier overhead. A shockwave tore through the confined space, blasting outward in a violent gust that shattered already fractured windows and sent trash bins cartwheeling down the pavement. Brick dust rained from the walls as the pressure wave slammed into Stain's raised arm.
His blade halted mid-swing as Stain froze. The wind howled between the buildings before settling. Dust swirled in a tight vortex where something had landed.
His boots planted firmly on cracked pavement, a faint emerald glow tracing along the seams of his suit. The fabric gleamed under the city's faint glow, contours of muscle sharply defined beneath it as green energy shimmered subtly across his shoulders and arms.
"We haven't finished our fight, remember," Izuku said calmly.
Stain's smirk faltered — just slightly — as he took in the scene.
He adjusted his grip on the katana, fingers tightening along the hilt.
"Midoriya… or should I call you One?" Stain muttered, stepping back half a pace. "The golden boy of U.A. finally joins the fray."
Izuku didn't answer immediately.
He turned instead and crouched beside Iida, movements controlled, deliberate. His eyes scanned the wound quickly — depth of the cut, blood flow, breathing rate, paralysis progression.
His gaze softened.
"Stay down, Iida," he said quietly. "You've done enough."
"Midoriya…" Iida's voice trembled, frustration and helplessness mixing together. "Don't… let him—"
"I won't," Izuku interrupted firmly. He rose slowly to his full height and turned back toward Stain.
The Hero Killer rolled his shoulder once and brought the blade back into guard position. His tongue flicked across his lips as he tasted the lingering scent of blood in the air.
"Heh," he breathed, grin slowly returning. "Maybe tonight won't be such a waste after all."
Izuku's eyes narrowed, the faint emerald light within them intensifying just slightly.
"Good," he replied calmly, shoulders relaxing into stance. "Because I've been itching for a real fight."
Stain's muscles tensed, every fiber coiling with intent as he shifted his weight from heel to toe. His breathing remained steady despite the rising pressure in the alley. He circled slowly, boots splashing through thin streaks of diluted blood, blades held low and ready. Every movement was controlled, deliberate — the stance of someone who had survived countless life-and-death encounters.
Izuku stood calmly in the middle of the alley, hands resting loosely at his sides. In a simple balanced posture. His eyes tracked Stain's footwork with hawk-like precision, calculating angles, distance, tempo.
Neither moved. The tension stretched thin.
The next second—
In a single step, Stain lunged forward. His acceleration was explosive, compressing the space between them instantly. His blade slashed upward in a vicious diagonal arc, fast enough to whistle through the confined air of the alley.
Clang!
Izuku stopped it.
With one finger.
The steel screamed against his skin as it met resistance that felt like reinforced concrete. Sparks spat outward in bright bursts as the blade warped visibly, the edge bending from the impossible contact.
Stain's eyes widened. Before he could react, Izuku flicked his finger.
The stored force transferred instantly.
Stain's body launched backward like a bullet fired from a cannon, boots lifting off the pavement as he hurtled through the alley.
Crash!
He slammed into a heavy metal dumpster, the impact folding the steel inward around his frame before it toppled over with a violent clang.
"Is that all?" Izuku asked, still standing in the exact same spot, not even having shifted his feet.
Stain coughed once and climbed to his feet, wiping a thin line of blood from the corner of his mouth. The grin returned slowly, eyes gleaming beneath the flickering light.
"So you're the real deal then… good," he muttered. "Makes killing you more meaningful."
Izuku tilted his head slightly, unimpressed.
"You're not going to kill anyone. But I'll let you try."
That was all Stain needed.
He surged forward again, this time zigzagging unpredictably, boots kicking off the alley walls to change angles mid-stride. His blades flashed in a ruthless flurry aimed for arteries — throat, ribs, knees — every strike placed with surgical intent.
Cling—cling—cling!
Each blade met deflection, not brute force but effortless redirection. Izuku tilted his arm slightly, turned his wrist by mere degrees, allowing steel to glance off hardened skin with casual efficiency. The movements were almost lazy, as if swatting aside an inconvenience.
Stain snarled and kicked off the wall, flipping backward before launching himself high. Mid-air, he rotated and drove his shorter dagger downward in a high-velocity stab aimed at Izuku's skull.
Izuku ducked smoothly and stepped aside.
Dack.
The blade buried deep into the pavement, cracks radiating outward from the impact point.
Izuku glanced down at the embedded weapon. "You're fast," he remarked calmly. "Makes me question what your real quirk is."
"Shut up!" Stain snarled.
He yanked another blade free with lightning speed and slashed directly at Izuku's throat.
SHK!
The blade connected. Then shattered. Fragments of steel rained to the ground in metallic shards. Izuku didn't even blink. His skin remained untouched.
Silence crept into the alley for a brief moment, broken only by the faint hum radiating from Izuku's body.
"Do you see now?" Izuku said softly. "There's a reason I didn't want to hit you back."
Stain's expression shifted — frustration, disbelief, something dangerously close to awe.
"You think strength makes you righteous?" he spat.
"No," Izuku replied, stepping forward, boots crunching over broken blade fragments.
Stain reacted instantly, leaping back and throwing two knives in rapid succession, both aimed precisely for Izuku's eyes.
Izuku caught them mid-air without looking. The blades spun once between his fingers as he reversed their grip and flicked his wrists.
Whsshhh!
The knives flew past Stain's head and buried themselves into the brick wall an inch from his temple, pinning his scarf tightly in place. He barely had time to process it.
Izuku vanished.
BOOM!
The air detonated outward from where he had stood. He reappeared directly in front of Stain, close enough that their breath nearly mixed. His expression remained calm, but his eyes carried undeniable weight.
He placed a single finger against Stain's chest.
"Stay down."
A simple flick.
The force wasn't dramatic in motion — but devastating in result.
Stain's body rocketed backward, tearing through the brick wall behind him. Masonry exploded outward as he broke through into the adjacent alley, tumbling violently across pavement before coming to rest in a cloud of dust and debris.
When the rubble settled, Stain lay half-buried beneath broken brick and splintered wood, coughing, blood running down his jaw.
TO BE CONTINUED