Chapter 26:
A/N: hm...see I made the chapters, just haven't uploaded them lul. Idek when the last and this chapter are gonna be uploaded but we'll see.
Also, guys please do follow my account, I'm tryna reach 200 and it takes a click from you. Plus, you get a notification whenever my lazy ass decides to upload shit.
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Honestly? This situation was not what Izuku was expecting to find himself in. He was expecting to have beaten AFO well with a lot of sacrifices (to himself of course, as he would never sacrifice anyone) and come out victorious.
Was he arrogant? Had he gotten way ahead of himself? What other factors played a role in the position he was in?
These were the sorts of questions flowing through his mind as he hung upside down, with a bruised and battered body that would any minute collapse from blood loss, on a freaking tree.
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It's easier to go back to the start of the events. It was around mimid-day in terms of how the war was going on, technically speaking, the heroes had an overwhelming advantage considering they had full control of their powers, and fewer of them had fallen when compared to the enemy.
The only thing was...the enemy side was being destroyed by themselves. AFO was the only reason any of them were dying. Now the battle had reached a stalement because as soon as someone from AFO's side lost, they'd be blown up to smithereens. And unfortunately, the heroes had a duty to prevent that.
So the stalement was induced by themselves, no problem, but the issue was that their stamina being depleted was no joke. Eventually, if they kept purposefully, not defeating the enemy then they would be worn out from defending themselves and then will probably die themselves.
It was a battle with no hopes of winning. Izuku was busy wracking his brains to find a solution.
"Is there really no solution Nezu sensei?" He asked.
"There are currently 2 solutions, one is to entirely give up on the lives of everyone held captives and put them out of their misery."
Bakugo surprisingly snarled first, "We are asking for a real fucking solution, not some choice that no one is willing to pick."
"...the other is to defeat AFO somehow, but the second you try to attack him, his minions show up...Besides,"
Izuku sighed, " we have no way of knowing which body has the 'real' him." he finished the sentence.
"That," Nezu paused, "and the fact that people on our side are being thrashed pretty confidently."
As he said that Kalista went flying into a tree nearby. Of course, the damage done to him was minimal since he was faced against a host with only physical quirks, but it made things no better.
"Oh, brave heroes~" AFO grinned, "Have you figured out a way to fix the issue yet? At this rate, I might just kill everyone"
The taunt although very annoying struck a chord in their minds, and for the quick fused ones...well?
It set them off.
"HUH? WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY TO ME?!"" Bakugo and Kalista shrieked, jumping forth to blow/ smash anything in their path.
"Ugh, he never said that specifically to you," Neon groaned.
"Birds of a kind flock together, they look cute." Ryukyu joined in.
'Like you two do,'
"What was that?" Ryukyu glared at Izuku. "You just thought something rude didn't you?"
"H-huh? No, I didn't. You must've thought wrong." Sweat dripped from Izuku's forehead.
"Well then, I'm getting bored... let's get things a bit serious shall we?" AFO cracked his knuckles.
It took one moment.
1 moment was all it took before pained cries rang out.
Izuku's eyes shook in disbelief. Bakugo and Kalista who were headed towards AFO both laid unconscious on opposite ends, the rocks barely hanging on.
Not just those two.
Sero, Jiro and Kaminari were all knocked out, amongst others, every single one of them bleeding or hurt as if they had been hit by something...or someone.
"Well that's no fun," Izuku heard a breathy voice right beside his ear. A shiver went down his spine, as his heart dropped so low that it almost reached his testicles. Immediately swinging around, he saw...
nothing?
"What?"
He tried to bring his bearings in. But nothing made any sense. The only ones left standing were Neon, Ryukyu, him, Todoroki and a few others.
"Where is he?"
"MIDORIYA WATCH OUT!" Todoroki warned. But before Izuku could do anything, he felt an iron grip on his throat, suddenly the ground was no longer underneath his feet. He no longer felt the balance he once had, as he was being dragged.
"HAHAHA, a younger body truly does wonders!"
He clearly heard AFO laughing. AFO smashed his head through the forest path, trees broke, boulders smashed, and Izuku progressively felt his consciousness become weaker and weaker.
'No...How could danger sense...not even...' Izuku's thoughts were fading.
"STOP!" Todoroki acted, freezing the approximate area where Izuku and AFO were. Somehow stopping AFO although the cost was a harsh blow to Izuku's head that left blood splattered on the clear ice.
For that second, AFO and Izuku appeared. AFO's disgusting grin was still as wide as ever.
"Think about it, foolish people. Do you think that was my all?" AFO's loud voice boomed around, " That was just 4 speed and 2 strength quirks, I have collected quirks over the last couple centuries, tell me... what can you guys even do?"
His grip on Izuku's throat relaxed ever so slightly, allowing him to breathe. However, as soon as Izuku instinctively took a deep gulp of air, he tightened his grip once more, trapping the air inside him.
The feeling of CO2 building up in his lungs was excruciating, he desperately squirmed to breathe out alas his windpipes were being squeezed shut.
"Unhand him!" Ryukyu clawed AFO's arm off. Izuku dropped to the ground and coughed, gagging on the air and feeling relief wash over him.
Before, anyone could say anything endeavour and Hawks flew in. Hawks removed Izuku from the proximity and Endeavour let loose his signature prominence burn.
AFO's skin boiled, even though he was in Touya's body, seeing Izuku being choked brought Endeavour back to normal. He had to choose on either one.
He knew, either way, the regret of losing one side would probably eat away at him until the day he died, but he couldn't let Izuku die.
Meanwhile, Izuku's mind was running amock. How in the hell did he not keep up? He's essentially gotten access to almost 100% of the current OFA. It couldn't be passed down anymore, so what was lacking?
The pressure kept building up, he didn't know what to do anymore, and his self-confidence began to crumble away. At the rate things were going, he couldn't save anyone if he failed here. The world would succumb to AFO, he would get his hands on this power that had been cultivated by the deaths of his predecessors.
"Hahaha, you cannot do anything. You disappoint me 9th..." AFO laughed mockingly, " Aren't you meant to be the strongest of the lot, but you're this weak...This just shows that my brother's dream is simply a dead one, the world is meant to be ruled by the strong. Yet you and your ideologies had to get people killed unnecessarily."
"You..."
AFO's arm simply grew back, as Ryukyu was flying back, AFO extended his hand and the draconic Ryukyu smashed straight into the ground.
"Tats..uma.."
AFO seemed pensive for a second before grinning.
Change of plans," he said as he threw Izuku into the wall, shooting metal nails with him, pinning him into the wall as the gigantic nails embedded themselves into his wrists and ankles.
"You seem to care about this woman an extraordinary amount, is she your girlfriend?" AFO asked.
Izuku's head snapped up and he looked at AFO with shock evident in his eyes.
"Calm down Izuku, I know it's very difficult to do so but you can't let him provoke you!" Nezu warned but it was already too late.
AFO had gotten the sign that he was looking for and his impossibly wide grin seemingly widened.
"I see, well then. Yet another way to break you, let's see...maybe I should break her bit by bit? Or should I use the power I took from Hassaikai's boss to completely reconstruct her into something hideous?"
"No...Don't you dare!" Izuku growled, further adding oil to AFO's flame.
AFO brought his hand up and immediately, Ryukyu seemed to float and fly towards him through some telekinetic power.
"Muscle expansion, strength x4, speed x4, Accel deses," AFO's combination of quirks was a deadly combination of speed and strength. As Ryukyu's body came flying in, AFO punched her right in the face.
"NO!" Izuku cried out.
Ryukyu's limp dragon form took a heavy beating. Her scales could only take so much before blood was being drawn, the force was enough to revert her back to her human form.
Not that AFO's torture would last long, as Endeavour, Hawks and Shoto rushed straight in.
"Hehehe, sub-zero, heat x10, drill expansion," AFO activated even more quirks, the subzero quirk freezing everything including Endeavour and his group, in colder temperatures than Shoto could ever manifest.
The heat caused the ice to evaporate and also zapping their strength, allowing the drills to shoot out at speeds which were already impossible to dodge.
Within a few seconds, Endeavour, Shoto and Hawks were all incapacitated.
"STOP AFO!"
Meanwhile, AFO didn't stop the beat down. Ryukyu's body was now becoming swollen, the extensive torture inflicted on her as she couldn't even scream.
"I told you Izuku, I would show you immense pain that you have never seen before, that hope you carry! I can see it dwindling. You've seen pain, felt it but never shared it. How does it feel?! Isn't it strange? You aren't even the one I'm beating, yet you still feel the pain!"
AFO's cruel and vile acts kept up, causing despair to swallow up Izuku.
'Is this...really how I end things?'
A/N: and that's a wrap. I hope you liked this chapter that I wrote as I was high. Imma upload my OG story tmrw at some point hopefully.