When Izuku got back to Ramsgate, he was dead on the inside. He had watched dozens of people die brutally as he could only sit and watch.
He had watched Max die.
And so he spent the next 2 weeks in bed, isolated from the world around him, and refused to see anybody.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Arkan~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Arkan was worried about his son, who wouldn't be when your son was a genius with no self-preservation instinct and multiple prosthetics? But the problem was that Izuku was hurting, and he was unable to do anything about it. He had heard the reports from Priyani, but Lady Luck had explained to Arkan what Izuku had seen.
He had seen the true nature of the Nightmare, he had seen through it's body and into it's very aether, it's soul and mind, and it hurt Izuku just as much as watching people die had, not to mention the sword that Izuku now apparently had branded to his arm, Priyani had said that the sword was called Daybreak, that was the only thing that was known about the sword except for the fact that it nearly ripped Izuku's only remaining arm apart when he used it to hold onto the portal driver.
They wouldn't know anything else until Izuku recovered if he ever did.
All he could do was pray that his son would be okay.
~~~~~Vayra (Didn't expect her huh?)~~~~~
Vayra Heigsketter wouldn't consider herself the best with her feelings, especially with what had happened with her ex-husband after he abandoned Vayra after Moyra was born, so when she started bonding with Arkan Drew over the challenges of single parenthood she hadn't expected herself to catch feelings for the man, so of course she was worried about the man and Izuku.
That was until Wils showed up at her door in the middle of the night.
"Evening Vayra, didn't expect you to be up this late!" Said Wils in a voice way to giddy for the middle of the night.
"Shut it, Wils, or you'll wake up Moyra. She's been worried sick about Izuku since he got back." Vayra wasn't in the mood due to a blatant lack of sleep over the past couple of days.
Wils smiled brightly at her before he laughed loudly. "Of course you're worried about your kids! It's only natural!" Laughed out Wils
Vayra promptly hit the man with a suplex
"Ow, christ, sorry!" Whisper shouted Wils at the antics of Vayra
"You better be, Izuku isn't my kid, you Ostian buffoon," said Vayra
"Yet," replied Wils, before Vayra promptly choked him out
Before the two old friends could say more, they heard an inhuman screech, and the screams that could only be followed by death.
The Feareater had come to pursue its target once again.
It had come to Ramsgate.
~~~~~~~~~View Of The Beast~~~~~~~~
The king was hungry. It had found a new target and had sought to pursue it.
If the king consumed this prey, then it's would be invulnerable. It needed the light.
And would do anything to get it.
It needed the boy.
It needed Izuku.
So, began the hunt.
~~~~~~~~~~~Izuku View~~~~~~~~~~~
Izuku hadn't been able to sleep since he came from the expedition. His dreams were once again against him.
Every time he closed his eyes, he heard the screams.
Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Max.
He could still hear the final words of Max.
At the edges of his mind, he could feel an unnatural hunger. He knew it came from the Thrax. He knew the monster would pursue him eventually. He just didn't know when.
Then he heard the cry, and he knew the Thrax had followed him home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~Ramsgate~~~~~~~~~~~
The Thrax had arrived.
It slaughtered the slayers that approached.
With a demonic screech, it tore a hole open in the very fabric of reality, opening a rift to let countless abominations into the city.
Hell was unleashed upon the city in the clouds.
The behemoths ran rampant, and a worried father knew that there was only one desperate move left thay he could make.
Of course, other options were available, but all would result in even more death.
Arkan needed to activate the portal driver.
~~~~~~~~~~~Arkan View~~~~~~~~~~
Arkan ran through through the streets to where the portal driver was being held, shouting for people to follow him.
Arkan led the people of the city to the portal driver. Almost all who remained were with him.
But a head of green hair was missing from among the crowd.
~~~~~~~~~~~Izuku View~~~~~~~~~~
Izuku went through the streets as fast as he could, helping who he could.
He saw behemoth after behemoth thay looked fresh from the depths of his deeps inspired nightmares.
But he kept running, the passive light of Daybreak protecting him and those around him.
He could feel the Thrax searching for him. He could feel the beast get closer as it tore through every living thing it set its eyes upon.
"Everyone needs to go now! My father opened the portal driver, and I go through it now! I'll catch up!" Shouted Izuku
Izuku was the beloved son of Ramsgate.
Nobody wanted to leave him, but they needed to protect their families.
So Izuku marched on through the rubble that was his home.
~~~~~~~~~~Vayra View~~~~~~~~~~~
Vayra had already made it through the portal with Moyra, Wils, and everyone else, but she didn't see Izuku among them. She didn't see her son.
Until she heard people near the portal screaming and shouting, on the other side of the portal, Kat was leading the slayers in their stand to defend the portal until everyone got through.
When almost everyone had gotten through the portal, Izuku appeared, but ruins blocked his way. He couldn't reach the portal.
Then the king appeared.
Vayra screamed as Izuku turned to face the beast, and then she saw why.
A little girl was injured behind him.
Izuku made his stand here.
~~~~~~~~~~Citizen View~~~~~~~~~~
The citizens of Ramsgate couldn't do anything to help Izuku. They could only watch as he turned to face a nightmare alone.
Everyone thought of the positive effect Izuku had on the city, with his curiosity about everything, with his willingness to learn even the most obscure jobs.
A baker thought onto the time Izuku helped him bake, taking a particularly bad burn along his neck to shield the man's daughter from a falling pan that was fresh from the oven.
A painter thought upon the time where Izuku gave her encouragement, telling her that even in the current state of the world art and creativity were still noble professions, thay her dreams were not useless no matter what anyone else thought, she still had a painting the two of them made on her at all times.
A dockworker thought upon the time when he meant to propose to his girlfriend but didn't have the rams, and how Izuku started trying to work in order to help the man afford a ring, nearly breaking his ribs in an accident protecting the man from a falling crate that would have crushed him otherwise. He decided thay day thay his first son would be named after the boy.
Almost every citizen of Ramsgate had a similar story, of Izuku helping them, or taking on wounds in order to protect people from injuries, no matter how small they were.
They could only weep and try to break through in order to help him.
But the Nightmare knew this, so it played with its prey to break the spirits of the people.
Then all of Ramsgate heard the boy speak, with the authority of a king in his voice.
~~~~~~~~Izuku Vs. Feareater~~~~~~~~
Izuku ran toward the portal driver as fast as he could with his prosthetic, until he heard a little girl cry for help, so he turned.
As he turned, the Nightmare entered the square, and it blocked the portal.
So Izuku stood his ground and stood to defend the little girl.
He felt words come to his tongue, so he let them spill forth in a declaration of resistance.
I call upon the light, I call upon the warmth of my own soul so that I may protect and shield the innocent against the darkness, with the will of my predecessors, and the strength of my very being, I summon forth the power to pierce the dark, to bring about a brighter future.
I CALL UPON DAYBREAK!
In a flash of light almost as bright as a star, Daybreak appeared, the sword of light that only had one purpose.
To destroy the Feareater.
Izuku raised and pointed the sword at the beast.
"To think a bastard like you is after a triple amputee that wouldn't look good on paper. If you want Daybreak, then come and get it asshole" proclaimed Izuku
He knew he couldn't beat the Feareater at this point. With him being unable to run, he couldn't properly practice swordplay, but he also couldn't run away and condemn a little girl to die.
So he stood.
The Feareater exploded from its waiting position with unmatched speed.
Izuku had seen what the Feareater could do in the deeps, and he'd been having nightmares about it for weeks.
The foreleg of the Thrax that meant to impale him was deflected to the side by the flat of Daybreak's blade.
The Thrax cried out in pain as the radiant aether seared its flesh.
Another leg quickly slammed into Izuku and sent him rolling into a ruined house.
But he still got up, even through the pain he still refused to give up and die, he hadn't gone through hell just for some horror show to do him in.
In the depths of his mind, his knowledge about swordplay that he learned from Max was seemingly refined and warped slightly, Daybreak was influencing his mind, teaching him and refining his swordsmanship so that he may survive.
So Izuku rose from the rubble to finish this confrontation.
The Thrax sent a leg through a portal but was avoided, Izuku batting the limb aside with Daybreak.
So, the beast decided to crush Izuku in a face-to-face fight.
Izuku did not deny the invitation.
~~~~~~~~~~~Arkan View~~~~~~~~~~~
"Holy shit" was all Arkan could bring himself to say, he saw Izuku somehow resisting the Thrax, with his prosthetics making his footwork and swordsmanship suffer, but everyone around him could see that Izuku had talent, how he could feel the flow of the battle, and how he took the Thrax apart with his mind to find points he could attack.
Arkan knew that if Izuku didn't have prosthetics or was adjusted to them thay he would be a monster on the battlefield.
But he knew at this rate Izuku was losing ground.
Then the Thrax called forth umbral aether.
Arkan nearly choked when Izuku was able to call on radiant.
The two rushed at each other for another head-to-head.
When they met, the world went white, and then the two vanished.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For Nezu, it was an ordinary night. He hadn't yet accepted the death of Izuku, and he still searched for the boy relentlessly every chance he got.
Then, an alarm went off in the woods at the very edges of the U.A campus.
Nezu nearly choked to death when he checked the cameras.
He saw a monster locked in a heated confrontation with the very family member he was looking for.
Then Nezu saw the sword, and his eyes widened.
When Nezu saw the prosthetics, he clamped his jaw down so hard he cracked a tooth.
But I was impressed seeing Izuku resisting such a monster.
As much as he wanted to help Izuku immediately, he was the principal of U.A, and he had a duty to protect his students, he would be unable to help izuku until the lock down was finished.
He prayed for his safety.
~~~~~~~~~~~~Izuku View~~~~~~~~~~~
Every time the Thrax sent Izuku to the ground, he got back up again.
He was bleeding from a myriad of cuts along his body, but his will never wavered. He still fought.
He knew he was in Japan. He could feel the difference in air quality, but he cared not for the home that abandoned him.
He just kept swinging Daybreak. He just kept dodging, blocking, and deflecting wherever he could.
His limbs hurt, his body was sore from the exertion, and yet he still fought, using every advantage he could get, hits between rictus plates, between the joints of its legs, everywhere.
But he knew he was fighting a losing battle at this rate, but that just pushed him further, Daybreak responding to his will.
Izuku could feel the end of the battle approaching, and it was not in his favor.
The King did something unanticipated.
It spit out pure corrosive umbral aether.
Izuku was unable to dodge completely and felt the pure, Hungarydarkness land on his remaining leg.
All he could do was shout and yell in pain as his leg was slowly devoured.
That just made him fight harder.
He fought on, through the agonizing burn of darkness melting through the muscle fibers of his leg. His adrenaline was the only thing fueling him now.
He saw the Thrax preparing for another portal dash, but something was wrong with this one.
Izuku got sucked in, and the next thing he knew, he was falling towards the ground from over 5 miles up.
~~~~~~~~~~~Nezu View~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nezu was baffled by this turn of events. First, Izuku appears again, alive, with multiple prosthetics.
And he was fighting a literal damn monster.
Nezu couldn't risk sending any of the third years or staff after it, so he settled for the security robots on campus.
Nezu's eyes widened when he saw Izuku get sucked into another portal.
For a few moments, nothing happened.
Until the sky above U.A. lit up with the light of a star accompanied by the battle cry of a young slayer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~Izuku View~~~~~~~~~~~~
Izuku was falling, and he was falling fast.
He knew if he hit the ground, then he'd die on impact, he was done for.
But he'd be damned if the Thrax walked away from this alive.
So he cast aside his eye patch and took in the full brunt of the Nightmare head on, not letting anything about the creature get withheld.
It felt like his brain was on fire, like someone had poured boiling acid in every orifice of his head, pure unadulterated agony.
But he still couldn't yield, he saw where he would put his final attack, Max seemed to have left him a gift with the final cleave of his sword before he was killed.
A small crack, right above the plates on the head of the Thrax, is high up enough to only be noticeable to someone far taller than Izuku.
But Izuku was falling, and he had a chance now, one that he would not let go to waste.
So he fell and once again shouted with the power of Daybreak.
I CAST DOWN JUDGMENT UPON THE GREED AND HUNGER OF THE THRAX, I, THE FINAL SLAYER OF THE VOID RUNNERS, I STRIKE FOR MAX, FOR MY HOME, FOR RAMSGATE
SOLAR FLARE!
The sky of Japan was lit as if the sun itself had appeared, Izuku's declaration echoing for dozens of miles, and the people of heard his cry.
Izuku's fall had allowed his eye to transform normal neutral aether into blaze aether, so he forced all of the blaze aether into his prosthetic, and partnered it with radiant aether to create solar flare, a move thay would end the Nightmare once and for all.
The Thrax tried to counter with an attack of its own, but it was too late.
Izuku slammed his sword into the cracked plate with force comparable to the smite of God himself
There was blinding light, unbearable heat, and then the world finally went white.
Izuku and the Thrax were gone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~Arkan View~~~~~~~~~~~
Arkan was distraught. Everyone had gotten through the portal, but Izuku and the Thrax had disappeared, Arkan felt like he was going to vomit from worry.
Minutes passed and felt like hours, and he was approaching the point where he wouldn't be able to hold the portal open for any longer.
Until with a flash of light and a boom that deafened the evacuees for a moment, Izuku appeared, Daybreak hilt deep in the skull of the Thrax.
The king was dead.
His title was unintentionally claimed by a newly christened slayer.
Long live the king.
Izuku climbed down, his leg letting out a sickening wet pop as agony washed over his body, he vomited onto the ground, blood being mixed into the liquid from what was most likely a punctured lung, izuku couldn't tell between the agony that seemed to become his existence.
He picked up the little girl that he was protecting and limped to the portal the best he could, his prosthetic arm burnt to a crisp with the entire forearm missing, blown off from the impact of his final attack.
As he finally went through the portal, he felt his consciousness fade, and he accepted the fact that he may very well die, but he remained impassive, knowing that he did his best.
Arkan ran to his son, catching him as he fell, Daybreak vanishing, returning to the arm of its master until it was once again needed.
It wouldn't be until later that Arkan was told that he was crying like a baby at the fact that his son was alive.
Arkan heard a sickening pop accompanied by the cracking of bone, he looked down and saw that Izuku's leg had rotted off, and he shouted in a desperate attempt to save his son for the second time in his life.
"Someone help me! Izuku is injured! Kat! Get the slayers to collect the Thrax's body!" Arkan shouted, desperately trying to staunch the bleeding of Izuku's newly created stub.
Everyone nearby scrambled to get to Izuku, desperate to save the boy who had risked what little remained of his body for a little girl.
Izuku would die, yes.
Just not now, not today.
~~~~~~~~~~~~Nezu View~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What happened, Nezu?" Asked Ken Ishiyama, better known as the pro hero Cementoss, teacher of modern literature, and one man construction crew.
Nezu couldn't just give a straight reply, he couldn't let the Yagi's find out about their son's survival after he finally managed to get freed of them, but he couldn't be entirely dishonest with his staff.
"We just had an some intruders, one unexpected but always welcome, and one unfortunate tagalong who seemingly had the misfortune of crossing said person" Said Nezu, addressing all of the staff of his school, knowing that he had agitated every last one of them with his own cryptic answer.
"Misfortune? In case you didn't see it, whoever was here looked like they dropped the damn sun on the campus, and you heard what they said?" Said one, underpaid, overworked, and underslept teacher, also known as Shota Aizawa.
"Well you are going to need to settle with that answer for now, just know my dear friends, someone we all care deeply for is not as deceased as we have come to believe, keep this information strictly confidential, I'll make each of you sign an NDA agreement if necessary" Nezu stated, a threat masked beneath his subtle hint, Aizawa's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets as he realized who Nezu was talking about.
"H-how!? Nezu, how the hell is that possible!? What happened!?" Aizawa shouted at Nezu, confusing those who didn't get the hint.
"We'll have to ask him if we ever get the chance to see him again, but I suspect he'll have one hell of a story to tell.
After all, he didn't flinch once in spite of heavy injury. He never even hesitated, even in the face of his seemingly certain demise.
The boy would make one hell of a hero."
Nezu finally turned and walked out of the meeting room.