Chapter 13 - Act 13: Dimorphous Display, Part 2

"KUGISAKI!! MOVE!!" Nobara's eyes widened as a hand latched onto her face but suddenly her world lurched sideways.

"Oh how I've been waiting for this" Mahito could already feel her soul's shape trembling against the edge of his touch.

The thought of completely destroying Yuji's mind by harming the ones he's close to was exhilarating or at least it would've been. An emerald green blur sparked across his vision and his world cracked like glass.

"What?!" Mahito's grin faltered.

Nobara hit the floor in a haze of shock and adrenaline, her gaze snapped to the side to see Izuku Midoriya. His body had taken her place but now Mahito's hand was now pressed against his face instead of hers.

"Just who is this? Another self-righteous sorcerer?" Mahito was bewildered by this unexpected turn of events.

He hadn't felt his approach nor did he sense a flicker of cursed energy coming from him yet he was a blur to his vision. In the end, Mahito decided that it didn't matter because this boy was already in the palm of his hand with his technique already activated. Although in response to his technique activating, a ripple ran through him. It shook him to his core as if his own body had just jammed its claws into a beehive of untamed power.

"What is this feeling?" Before he could even understand the enigmatic sensation coursing through him, the station and the world around him shuddered then snapped apart.

Mahito's technique may have found the surface of Izuku's soul but it couldn't latch onto it in any meaningful way. Instead he had found something else that had been beneath Izuku's own soul and that something responded in his place. In an instant Mahito stood somewhere in a vast expanse, something akin to an ethereal plane of existence like it was between life and death itself.

The ground beneath if you could call it that only had enough space to stand. Above him and around him was an endless void with a haunting fog that pulsed faintly as if it was breathing or living. He then sensed something behind him but once he turned around, what he saw were nine eyes. All glowing their own distinct and separate colors, each set was sharp as blades and all of them were fixed on him and him alone.

"That can't be right. A body with nine souls inside of it?" His cursed fingers twitched instinctively, reaching to find the threads of the boy's true soul only to recoil instantly.

The nine eyes flared which caused Mahito to stagger back in response. Pain lanced up his left arm, the very same arm that had touched Izuku's face. Veins of unknown power then spread up his arm with a burning sensation that followed with it which stopped Mahito from reaching any further.

"I can't reach his soul?! Is this brat like Itadori?" Mahito was shocked to say the least as he clenched his arm.

"WE REJECT YOU" The air rumbled as the souls spoke in unison.

Their eyes glowed brighter as they locked onto him like an invader trespassing on sacred ground. The ethereal plane trembled violently around Mahito as it began to force him out completely. His body and his soul fought desperately against the overwhelming current while still trying to reach for something with his technique. But before he was completely expelled from the ethereal domain Mahito sensed something else.

He felt a tenth presence although it didn't have the same presence the others carried. It sat curled in on itself somewhere deep within this domain like something that had been locked in a room too small for it and had given up trying to stand. Its outline was flickering like static so Mahito couldn't make out a face but he didn't need to. Even reduced to a shadow behind nine guardians there was something about the way it sat radiated an old malice that had nothing in common with the light surrounding it.

"What are yo-" Mahito couldn't finish the thought before the vestige realm was violently shattered.

What emerged from within it were several faint after images or lost echoes of Mahito's own twisted soul drifting back toward him. The after images plunged back into his form, merging violently into his essence, and sending a shockwave of agony cascading through every fiber of his being. After that, the veins of One For All ignited down Mahito's entire arm in a single violent pulse that separated Izuku and Mahito away from each other.

Izuku tumbled across the floor until he eventually came to a stop by trying to grip the floor. His arms trembled against the floor as he pushed himself up while sucking air back into his lungs. His vision swam for a moment but the world soon snapped back into focus just in time to see Mahito also struggling to get up.

"Izuku! Are you ok?!" Nobara shouted as she scrambled to Izuku's side

"I'm fine. I-" He coughed then tried again.

"I'm ok. Sorry for barging in like that" Izuku steadied himself before he managed to get a knee under himself.

"Right right. Well next time maybe give a girl some warning first, like "Hey, incoming hero save" She joked while hauling him up the rest of the way to his feet.

"Wasn't exactly on a schedule but I'll keep it in mind" Izuku said as he stopped leaning on Nobara.

"Just what in the hell happened to you anyway? You look like you got run over" Nobara had finally noticed the state Izuku was in.

"It's a long story..." Izuku didn't want to talk about it right now.

"That wasn't in any script I know" Mahito wheeze as he finally stood up straight.

Meanwhile, behind Mahito was Yuji who was closing in on the unmoving Mahito clone that had been running from Nobara. He knew he had to kill it before it could merge back with the real Mahito. So with his fist already clenched with cursed energy flowing through it, Yuji cocked his fist back to it's fullest to ensure that the clone is killed instantly.

"I gotta get rid of the clone while the real Mahito is still recoveri-" Unfortunately for Yuji, the Mahito clone wasn't affected by what happened as it managed to drop under his fist just before impact then sliding out from under his reach.

Yuji's momentum carried him a half-step that was too far to correct and by the time he spun back around the clone was already throwing itself back into the real Mahito. The merging had begun and in doing so it would heal any previous damage caused by Yuji. As a result of the merge, Mahito's body began to spasm and Yuji wasn't going to waste the opening he was given, already bolting towards Mahito at full speed.

However this was just a bluff from Mahito in order to make Yuji believe that he was defenseless so he could blindside him. Yuji was now upon Mahito with a fist reeled back and aimed for Mahito's torso but then Mahito's forearm came up to meet it. It was too quick to catch and the tissue hardened in instant before it could make contact.

The hardened tissue then expanded outward in a violent surge past the point of contact and slammed into Yuji's chest with the force of a piston. Yuji's feet left the ground as we went backward through the air until he landed in a tumble. Yuji braced his hand against the ground to slow himself down until he came up in a low crouch. His breath tearing in and out of him in ragged pulls from the unexpected gut punch.

"Shit. He was able to merge back together" Yuji cursed internally.

"As gullible as always Itadori!!" Mahito reeled back an arm while changing its form into a weapon to strike Itadori from range.

TINK! SHRK!

Mahito was interrupted by a nail embedding itself into his temple, snapping his head to the side. Nobara stood to his right with three more nails already fanned between her fingers and her hammer resting against one shoulder like she had all the time in the world.

"Hey ugly!" She said while rolling the nails between her knuckles ever so slightly.

"You'd better not be thinking about wrapping this up without me. I've got a lot of unresolved feelings about you and I am not done expressing them yet" Nobara said as she got into position.

To her right, Izuku walked until he was evenly spaced out but as he walked his hands went to his forearms. On the wrists of his forearms were his mid-gauntlets that he had pulled out of a pouch on his utility belt during Yuji's scuffle. During his fight with Sukuna, Izuku decided to take them off mid-fight to preserve them from being broken. The two compact metal housings were scratched up with some small dents but they were intact. His right thumb found the release button on the left while his left thumb found the button on the right.

CLICK! CLICK! CLICK!

The panels on the gauntlets slid and locked into place along the full length of both arms with a sequence of sharp mechanical snaps until the whole assembly tightened.

"Be careful Izuku, you still have injuries from your fight with Sukuna. To be honest you shouldn't even be fighting right now so keep One For All's output low" Izuku processed the words

"Understood Nana" Izuku rolled his neck before getting into a stance.

Nobody moved as the silence settled around them but that's when Izuku's hands and fingers shifted in subtle motions causing Nobara and Yuji's eyes to flick sideways, instantly picking up the cue. Yuji gave a sharp nod before moving his position and so did Nobara. The three of them had formed a triangle around Mahito, cornering him in the station.

"You little shits are actually trying to corner me.." Mahito thought as his fingers twitched and his body tensed.

Yuji settled into place and moved his feet back into a position that would allow him to run at the drop of a hat. Izuku's gauntlets creaked from clenching his fists and his shoes bent over so slightly as he leaned forward. Once Nobara got into position her hand moved ever so slightly before she moved her thumb to her middle finger. All the tension that had been building in this moment had reached its boiling point and no one knew who would make the first move. That was until Mahito decided he would be the one to make that first move.

"Hairpin!" Nobara activated her technique within the nail that had been sitting in Mahito's temple for the past minute.

SNAP! BOOM!

The result of hairpin exploding in Mahito's temple had ripped apart the skin on the entire right side of Mahito's face. The skin and muscle fibers stretched further than normal while further down his face, it had exposed his teeth as well as his jaw. His head snapped to the left along with his center of gravity, causing him to stumble. The hairpin had been a starting gun to start the race and Izuku was the first one to take the lead in that race. With fifteen percent of One For All flowing through his body, Izuku was in front of Mahito faster than he could recover from Hairpin.

He led with his left fist that went straight for Mahito's exposed ribcage and felt his fist sink into it. Mahito's off-hand came across on reflex to trap the arm and Izuku was already pulling it back, turning the motion into a backhand that cracked across the hanging remains of the curse's jaw. The torn skin flapped with a tooth came loose and through all of it Mahito was grinning at him with the half of his mouth that still worked, drinking it in even as he gave ground.

"Izuku was it? You're a fascinating one. You've got something lurking behind all those souls inside you" Mahito reshaped his hand into a claw.

"He saw them?!" Izuku's eyes widened before he slipped past the claw meant for his throat.

Izuku ducked under the follow up swipe and drove an uppercut into the underside of Mahito's chin. The curse's heels left the tile and his balance went with them, Izuku planted his feet then delivered a Yama-zuki punch to Mahito's chest with all fifteen percent behind it.

The Yama-zuki punch or in other words the "mountain punch" is a traditional two handed simultaneous double punch in karate. It typically resembles a U shape where one fist strikes high towards the head while the other strikes low towards the midsection.

The force from the punch was enough for Mahito to be sent backwards but this move wasn't meant to force Mahito out of his personal space. It was meant to put Mahito in the right spot for Yuji to pummel Mahito with a few moves of his own. He jumped onto one of the station walls, rebounding off of it and met Mahito mid-flight by grabbing his face for leverage then kneed him in the spine. Mahio was then forcefully turned before Yuji slammed him into the ground, pressing his face into the tile as the rest of the momentum from Izuku's Yama-zuki strike.

Mahito hit and rolled with Yuji rolling with him then they were up in seconds. Yuji landed a regular punch before launching a Divergent Fist through Mahito's guard. Mahito ate both hits and answered with a headbutt that made Yuji's head snap back. Mahito tried to capitalize on it but Yuji was able to jump up and dropkick Mahito away. Yuji had also used Mahito as a rebound point to gain a little distance, he landed on his back but transferred the momentum in a backwards roll to get to his feet.

As soon as he looked up he saw Mahito split apart his own arms on command. The left splayed into a fan of jointed spines that lashed the whole width of the platform, causing Yuji and Izuku to split off in opposite directions as the barbs raked deep furrows out of the floor where they'd stood. The right hand flattened, stretched, then spat a spray of hardened shards across the gap at Nobara who was already firing back with her nails. Mahito folded his own torso sideways to let her return volley hiss through the space his chest had occupied.

"Hold still damnit!" she snarled.

"Learn how to aim!" Mahito was enjoying this.

Izuku caught Yuji's eye across the station and tipped his chin toward Mahito's back. Yuji picked up on what Izuku was suggesting and circled around Mahito. While doing so, Izuku drew Mahito's attention with three Air Force flicks. Yuji cam in low off Mahito's blind side with his cursed energy flowing within his clenched fist.

Although Mahito had felt his presence and spun on the spot with both arms fanning out before slamming against each other to turn into a barrel. A mangled flesh like magazine sprouted from the top with sharpened bone as the ammunition loaded within. Yuji's eyes widened as he slammed the breaks on his sprint as he saw the purple cursed energy leaked out of holes within the fleshy gun as it prepared to fire.

WWHHIIIIIIRRRRR!

Izuku had hit the top of ceiling after jumping from behind Mahito then he launched himself off it. He descended towards Mahito with a Manchester Smash aimed for the uncanny weapon. The moment Izuku's leg made contact with the flesh like gun, Mahitos arms blew apart into useless stumps. The excess force hit the floor beneath them and cracked it although, those once useless stumps had quickly turned to spears.

Izuku threw his body sideways to dodge it before planting a hand against the floor to lift his whole body up and over the next one. He immediately used the same arm like a spring in order to effectively put distance between him and Mahito. Mahito spun around and was about to change the shape of his left arm again but it was intercepted.

SHUNK! SHUNK! SHUNK!

SNAP!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Three nails imbedded themselves into said arm before exploding and dismembering the spear like arm before it could change. With the attack basically blinding Mahito for a moment Yuji was able to rush in towards the right spear arm. Yuji locked it in place between his left arm before using his right elbow to break it in half then jumped back out of the way. Two tendrils erupted from both of Izuku's arms, latching to each of Mahito's shattered arms. Izuku then wrenched one over the other, forcing his opponents own limbs to cross and lock at the chest.

With a heave Izuku pulled with a hard downward yank that caused Mahito's center of mass to fall towards him. Before Mahito could even feel the floor Yuji was already there once again with his fist slamming into Mahito's jaw with a sickening crack. Mahito's head snapped back but the force had also caused him to stand back upright out of his stumble. While his chin was still thrown to the ceiling, Izuku retracted some of his blackwhip then hauled himself in along the collapsing slack. Izuku reeled his own body up off the floor toward Mahito in a tight barrel roll, allowing him to build momentum like a howitzer impact.

"St. Louis!!" The roundhouse caught Mahito across the temple. The momentum then spun Izuku around in a complete circle and once he landed he cocked his right fist with forty five percent surging through his fist.

"Detroit!" The punch landed square in the ruined face and didn't stop. Izuku continued to drive his punch into Mahito's face until Mahito's balance turned towards the floor.

"SMASH!!!" Once Mahito's head touched the floor, the already cracked floor fully broke under his skull and Mahito's body was punched clean through the now collapsing station floor.

Izuku was also within that area of collapsing ground and was about to fall in with Mahito. Yuji wouldn't allow it so broke into a sprint then dove straight across the floor. Yuji slid until he went over the hole but managed to catch the edge but also managed to catch Izuku's hand in the process.

"Gotcha!" Yuji's grip slipped just slightly but he quickly caught himself.

Meanwhile Mahito had gone through the current floor of the station then soon after he was going through the floor where Yuji had traded blows with him. Finally Mahito's back tore through the floor of that level too but continued to fall into the dark below until he reached the subway platform. Concrete heaved up around each point of impact along with a fine grit of pulverized stone that was kicked out across the empty levels along the way.

"I tried to infuse Cursed Energy it into the Smash but nothing happened" Izuku was perplexed by the discovery as he looked below.

"Could it be that I overused it during my fight with Sukuna? Or did that guys technique mess with it when he grabbed me?" Izuku thought it was then interrupted.

"Hey! Earth to Deku!" Yuji shouted.

"Huh?" Izuku finally looked up at him.

"You good man? You kinda checked out on me which y'know..." Yuji adjusted his grip.

"Considering that we're dangling over a drop isn't cool!" Yuji was half serious.

"R-right, my bad let's get back up" Izuku felt bad for zoning out.

"It's fine just hang on" Yuji braced his other arm against the tile and hauled Izuku up in a single heave until his fingers found the edge.

"Man..." Yuji took a breath while the both of them just hung there.

"For a sec there I thought you went cold turkey on me. I was about to start checking for a pulse" Yuji chuckled.

"I was just thinki-" Izuku admitted before a shadow fell across them.

"Well well well" Nobara stood above them with her hammer over one shoulder.

"Two grown boys holding hands over a pit. Should I leave? Give you a minute?" Nobara smirked at her own joke.

"Y-You're just jealous you weren't the one being saved! All you got was being shoved to the-" Yuji fired back despite losing his grip.

BONK!

"OW! OK OK I take it back! Just give us a hand..." Yuji shout while Izuku winced when he saw the hammer hit the top of Yuji's skull with an almost musical sound.

"You're lucky I'm so nice" Nobara scoffed then took hold of an arm from both Izuku and Yuji before hauling them back up to solid ground. Yuji rolled onto his back then just stayed there for a second while rubbing his head.

"Nice? Yeah right..." Yuji muttered and a shadow fell over him again

"Do you mind repeating that or do I have to play a game of wack a mole?" Nobara said while pointing her hammer at Yuji.

"Guys" Izuku got himself on one knee then got into a standing position.

"Can we...sorry, can we come back to that in a minute?" Izuku motioned at Nobara to let up on Yuji.

"You mind telling me what I just punched through the floor? I came in on the back half of this so I only have bits and pieces" Izuku said while looking between Yuji and Nobara.

"Well for starters, the ugly mug you just rearranged is Mahito. His cursed technique is idle transfiguration and it works through touch. So don't let him get a finger on you"

"My punches can hurt him but it's only because of Sukuna or at least that's Nanami's theory. When Nanami and I first encountered Mahito, he couldn't harm him with his attacks even with his cursed energy" Yuji added as he sat up while holding his head.

"My resonance can hurt him too but it requires me to be within grabbing range, unless I use my straw doll with it. I can't use it infinitely though since cursed energy is limited so it's best to use it sparingly just in case" Nobara said while fidgeting with a nail.

"So cursed energy is limited. That would explain why I couldn't use my cursed energy just now..." Izuku took in the information.

"I guess the only question I have is if my attack just now did enough to take him out of the fight" Izuku said while adjusting his neck.

"Honestly it depends. I've seen him still standing after some pretty bad injuries" Yuji paused while remembering when he got slashed by Sukuna during his confrontation at Junpei's school.

"But then again I've also seen him decide that running is better than fighting..." Yuji was irritated just thinking about it.

"Then I guess there's only one way to find out for sure" Izuku said as he turned and looked to the hole in the floor

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[Act 13: Dimorphous Display, Part 2]

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The trio descended in a loose triangle through the turning column of lingering dust. Both Nobara and Yuji had a Blackwhip tendril wrapped around them while Izuku used float to descend them safely to the subway platform below. Soon they reached the bottom but as they passed through the ceiling of this level, the fixtures that had survived the impact swung on their cables while flickering on and off. Several exposed wires had sparks shoot from as they stuttered, causing the middle of the subway platform to have a strobe like effect.

Once Izuku touched the subway platform he let the Blackwhip retract after Yuji and Nobara were set down on either side of him. At first neither of them saw Mahito in the ring of broken concrete the impact had thrown up sat in the middle of the floor. Then Nobara found him first although she chose not to speak. She tapped the back of Izuku's arm and tipped her chin toward the nearby staircase that climbed through the ceiling toward one of the upper floors.

Mahito was slumped at the side of it with his back to the wall, his chin on his chest, and his face turned up into the flickering light. Something was wrong though, danger sense was still active and It should have eased the second they found the Mahito slumped but it kept poking Izuku's head. He looked at the unconscious curse against the wall and the warning refused to match what his eyes were reporting.

"Hang on a minute" Izuku said to them as he crouched down to pick a small piece of rubble.

"What going on?" Yuji whispered as he turned.

"Are you stopping us because you found some chump change on the floor?" Nobara questioned as she turned as well.

"Something isn't right. I want to test something if you catch my drift" Izuku said as he eyed the piece of rubble.

"Hand it over I'll do the honors" Nobara plucked the piece of rubble from Izuku's hand

"Nob-" Nobara ignored Izuku and threw the rubble like a baseball towards Mahito's face.

THWACK!

Upon striking his face the sound echoed faintly but Mahito didn't move an inch, there wasn't even a twitch. The three of them traded glances before coming to a silent agreement so they spread wide across the tile and moved in as quietly as possible. Yuji and Nobara were at the front while Izuku was a step back at the rear but even after Nobara whacked him with the rubble Danger Sense was still active.

"Why is Danger Sense still active? Is Mahito's Cursed Energy triggering it despite him being unconscious? I know Danger Sense has changed but it doesn't expla-" His steps began to slow as his mind took a few steps back to the floor back above.

When Nobara helped him up off the floot he looked across the station and watched Mahito get back up but behind him was an exact copy. If there had been two of him then, there was no reason for there to be only one of him now. The stabbing at the back of his head went from a warning to an baring alarm in a second.

"IT'S A TRAP!" He pivoted on his heel faster than thought.

He got both arms up and crossed them in front of his face as an attack came out of the black trench of the subway tracks where the real Mahito was hiding. A lance of hardened flesh made from Mahito's arm had been shot towards Izuku but just before it could hit his guard it morphed. The lance had now turned into two tendrils to wrap around him, pinning his crossed arms to his own chest before he could force them open.

In the same instant the body at the staircase opened its eyes as Yuji and Nobara faced away from it to focus on Izuku. It came off the wall in one long unfolding motion with a morphed arm already drawn into thin and edged claws. It swept toward the space where Nobara stood so he shoved her out of the way but by doing so he was slashed across the back.

"YUJI!" Nobara shouted.

During this, Izuku was flung to the left across the platform before hitting the far wall between two vending machines and came down with chunks of the wall. Across the platform the Mahito rose out of the trench then split a second time. A new self peeled off his shoulder and dropped to the floor already moving to assist the other clone.

"Let's separate the new one" Mahito started running for Izuku with a transfigured soul already in his hand.

He flicked the transfigured soul back toward the center of the station and bloomed. A sheet of flesh shot up from tile to ceiling to create a wall of knotted muscle and staring half-made faces, sealing Izuku off on the far side of the platform. With the flesh wall sealed shut the platform went quiet on Izuku's side of it. He got a hand on one of the toppled over vending machines and pushed himself up.

CRACK! POP!

"My back..." Izuku'sback had taken the brunt of the throw and it hurt like hell but it was nothing that would stop him considering that he'd fought through worse tonight.

"You're a real anomaly you know that? You pack an absurd amount of power yet I don't sense a single drop of cursed energy leaking from you" Across from him, Mahito had stopped a comfortable distance away and tilted his head at him with an interest.

"But what's really captivating is what I felt when I used my technique. You have nine distinct souls packed into one body and that tenth presence that almost felt like a cursed spirit was curled up inside you" Mahito grinned.

"Do you have any idea how insane that sounds? How impossible that is? and how interesting it is?~" Mahito asked.

"I might have some idea.." Izuku was put off by his behavior.

"Now I have a question I like to ask a certain kind of person so let me ask it since we're here" Mahito started walking in an arc across the space between them and Izuku turned with him but kept the distance.

"Which do you think came first, the soul or the body? Think of it like the chicken or the egg question" He stopped.

"Most people say the body first and the soul is what leaks out of it. I guess you can call it the ghost in the machine. Although when it comes to me I can reach into someone and move their soul whichever way I want and the body follows after" He spread his hands.

If Izuku was being honest with himself he didn't have an answer to Mahito's question but he did have a thought in his mind. Despite Mahito's philosophy and what he done thus far, Izuku couldn't help but look at the curse in a different way. Every other curse he had seen tonight had been a monstrous shape, things that read at a glance as not people but this one looked human. It made conversation, It was curious, and it has an ideal/philosophy which is the reason why Izuku was inclined to reason with him.

"You don't have to do this..." Izuku said.

"Huh? Do what exactly?" Mahito blinked.

"Any of this" He kept his hands up but he let his voice come down out of the fight.

"I've seen and heard of people who've done terrible things and yet I believe there's something in there worth pulling out. Even the ones everybody's already written off" He met the curse's eyes.

"You're standing here asking me questions instead of attacking or killing me. That's not nothing! I know you're a curse but... you could choose differently!" For a moment it looked like Mahito genuinely thought it over.

"Oh you really believe that don't you?" Mahito smirked.

"Man you humans all need a reason to see that you aren't animals. You all decided there was a special thing inside you whether that be dignity, conscience, or a soul that means something and you put it above everything else" He shook his head slowly.

"How about I put it into perspective for you. You eat right? Well you don't apologize to the animal or call yourself wicked for being hungry do you? Of course not! Because being hungry is a part of what you are by nature" He pressed a hand flat to his own chest.

"You see I was made out of what people feel, fear, hatred, I'm you get the idea but that's the whole of what went into me. So when I take a human and change them into something I want I'm not being evil. I'm being what I am by design! The same as you are when you chew your food. So should I feel guilty about my own nature? Not at all~" He almost smiled.

"That doesn-" Izuku was about to argue against him but he remembered Nanami's words.

"In your world, heroes aim to save everyone and that's Including those who stand against them correct?"

"It is admirable but that logic simply doesn't apply here. The enemies we face are not merely misguided criminals nor are they broken people waiting to be reformed"

"I want to believe Nanami's words but...maybe there's a chance somewhere or maybe a moment I can reach out" Izuku wasn't going to give up that easily, he was going to hold out hope.

"Since you haven't given me an answer to my question how about we find out together?!" The debate of ideals ended the moment Mahito lunged.

The curse closed the distance with haste while reshaping his right arm into a heavy bladed pendulum that cleaved through the air. Izuku reacted just as fast as he activated Full Cowling at twenty five percent. He dropped into a slide to evade the sweeping blade and immediately countered with a Shoot Style roundhouse kick to Mahito's left side. The impact landed and tossed Mahito across the platform but as soon as he got up he placed his hands on him self.

"Body Repel!" The middle of his body suddenly shot outward.

Izuku who was trying to capitalize on the opening was forced to block. His iron soles bit into the tile just slightly as he skidded back but soon came up out of the skid Mahito was already in the air in front of him and his legs has been changed. The knees had reversed and the calves had lengthened into something jointed like a hound's hind legs. The pendulum arm trailed behind him, drawn back for the return swing. Danger Sense drove a spike into the base of Izuku's skull, making him tilt his head to the left. The weapon passed close enough to nick the edge of his ear and Mahito sailed past him.

Mahito used the imbedded weapon to swing his body up and over Izuku's follow up attack. His palm caught the tile, pivoted on it, and brought the pendulum back around at neck height. Izuku shot out a tendril to pierce into the ceiling so he could yanked himself sideways with a jump to the wall he had been slammed into. The pendulum blade meanwhile cut through the flooring where Izuku had been. He hit the wall feet first, crouched against, and pushed off with twenty five percent putting him above Mahito then at the top of the arc he tucked, rolled forward, and brought his right leg up.

"Manchester Smash!" The heel of his foot landed on top of Mahito's shoulder before splitting him down the side to the bottom of his ribcage, cracking and slightly cratering the floor beneath him.

"Did he soften his body to mitigate the damage?!" Izuku shot Blackwhip out of his back in order to get away in case he got grabbed again.

The two halves hung apart for a moment before they then drew back together and sealed. By the time Izuku's feet touched the floor, Mahito's left arm had become a length of knotted flesh studded with bone hooks. Izuku crossed his gauntlets and the hooks raked sparks off the plating and the force walked him backward three steps.

"Not bad! Let's keep it up!" He raised his right hand and the fingers stretched into long thin spines that snapped off at the knuckle and flew.

"My physical strikes are connecting but he isn't taking any real damage. I thought I could just wear him out but he can regenerate" Izuku analytical mind dissecting their exchange.

"And the only way I've been able to harm other curses was because of Cursed Energy!" Five darts fired as the fingers grew back and fired again, creating a steady stream of hardened bone. Izuku dodged the first set before he dodged the second set by dropping into a crouch.

"Smokescreen!" Purple smoke was expelled out of his skin, filling the area they were in instantly.

The next volley that came for him had vanished into it and clattered off the tiles somewhere behind him. Rather than standing still inside the smoke Izuku moved in short but fast side steps, using the repetitive motion over and over to activate Fa Jin in his legs.

"He can create smoke too?" Mahito spread his arms wide and flattened them into broad membranes like the wings of a bat and he swept them down in one hard beat.

"My attacks haven't done anything because there isn't any Cursed Energy behind them. I've been throwing One For All at something One For All can't touch. Which means I need to use whatever cursed energy I have left for a decisive blow. I have to create an opening he can't predict!" The gust that was generated from Mahito tore the smoke into rags and threw them against the walls.

With the smoke cleared it revealed Izuku who was crouched and waiting in the clearing with red energy coiling around his legs. The stored energy was activated the moment he lunged forward, shooting him across the gap. His knee was buried into Mahito's face before he could react and the curse's head caved in around the kneecap. Mahito was sent stumbling back while grabbing his face but Izuku was already upon him again, shifting his output up to forty five percent.

He pulled his right arm back, focusing every ounce of his remaining latent cursed energy into his fist but as his fist closed in, Mahito's face snapped back together and looked at him. For a fraction of a second Mahito's features softened to perfectly mirrored the terrified expression of a human teenager. This effort made by Mahito, to swindle Izuku just as he had before with similar tactics with Yuji had made Izuku's innate desire to save others to flare up instinctively.

At Izuku's core he is a hero who saves everyone while also holding the belief that anyone can be saved including villains had made him grow hesitant for only a second. Mahito smiled at this and instead of dodging thrust himself forward. The flesh of his torso parted around the incoming arm, splitting and folding aside like a mouth. Izuku's forty five percent smash laced with cursed energy wentclean through the space where a sternum should have been and out into empty air on the other side.

"What?!" Izuku's eyes widened but then the flesh clamped shut around his upper arm in a ring of transfigured muscle, locking the limb in place.

"Gotcha~" Mahito simply stood there unfazed by the pull with his eyes wide with a dark euphoric epiphany.

"I can feel it...I can feel the outline of what I am!" For the first time Mahito could truly sense the shape of his existence.

"I'm not just understanding souls anymore. I'm becoming one with my very own!" A sickeningly dark aura flared violently around Mahito's right fist.

Izuku tried planting his feet on Mahito in order to kick off of him but they sank in as well. He reeled his arm back, his cursed energy spiking dramatically as he tapped into this new deeper understanding of his own essence.

"So this...this is what it means to be alive on a soul deep level! I TRULY AM A CURSE!!!" The curse drove his fist directly into Izuku's exposed stomach.

"BLACK FLASH!" At the exact moment of impact, Mahito's cursed energy flared within 0.000001 seconds of the physical hit. A violent spatial distortion erupted between them in a blinding flash of black sparks.

The Black Flash tore through Izuku's torso and caused Izuku's eyes to shoot wide open. The physical trauma was catastrophic but the damage to his very soul was an entirely different, excruciating agony he had never felt before. It felt as if his core had been struck by an earthquake. Blood violently erupted from his mouth as the exponential force of Mahito's Black Flash launched him backwards toward the massive wall of flesh and muscle Mahito had put up earlier.

Izuku crashed through the wall without much resistance, the sheer force of his body tearing a massive hole through the fleshy barricade but this had also caused it to deflate in a sense. Upon exploding out onto the other side of the platform, Yuji and Nobara stood panting amidst the remains of the two Mahito clones. Both sorcerers sported fresh but minor injuries from their isolated skirmish but the sound of the barrier tearing apart whipped their attention around instantly. Izuku hit the station floor before he bounced off the tile, tumbled wildly across the platform in a heap of bruised limbs, and finally ground to a violent halt near the back.

"DEKU!" Yuji yelled as he and Nobara both moved immediately.

Nobara reached him first and dropped into a slide that carried her to his side on both knees. Yuji came down in a crouch in front of him with one hand already on his shoulder. His eyes darted from his fallen friend to the gaping hole in the flesh wall where the real Mahito was surely making his way towards.

"Hey! This isn't the time to nap, you got to get up!" Nobara got a hand under him and rolled him over. Between the two of them they hauled his dead weight up off the tile until he was on his knees

"I'm-" Izuku tried to draw breath to answer her but the true backlash of the Black Flash finally caught up to him all at once.

Izuku seized up instantly with his muscles locking in a rigid agonizing spasm but deep within his core however, it felt as though his very soul was being forcefully shifted out of his body in two completely different directions at the exact same time. He convulsed violently, his head snapped back as his body strained to remain upright on his knees.

Then the air around him violently rippled and for a brief second the ethereal afterimages of the One For All vestiges violently popped out of Izuku's body. Silhouettes of past wielders burned with vivid but unstable colors, like a glitching television screen trying to escape its monitor. The sheer instability the black flash had caused both his soul and the other's residing within him was immense.

The vestiges slammed violently back into his core and the sudden almost concussive return of the souls broke Izuku's rigid seizure and he collapsed onto the floor. For a moment neither sorcerer moved, shocked by the display they had just witnessed. Before they could do anything to help Izuku Mahito's laugh came drifting through the collapsed flesh wall.

"Kugisaki. We need to defend Izuku until he's able to get to his feet" Yuji said as he stood up and raised his fists.

"I felt what kind of attack that was. The fact that Mahito is able to land a Black Flash means he's gotten even more dangerous" Yuji thought grimly.

"G-go..." Izuku got one forearm to hold his weight and lifted his head enough to find Nobara's face.

"H-help Yuji. Don-Don't worry about me. I'll g-get up..." Izuku got the last word out before his arms gave out and he folded the rest of the way to the floor.

"Just don't go dying on us..." Her hand finally came down flat on his back.

She then stood up and pulled a couple of nails from her pouch then slotted them between her knuckles one by one. She then walked until she was standing shoulder to shoulder with Yuji. Mahito, who hadn't moved since crossing the breach in the flesh wall, stood with his arms folded like someone waiting for friends who were running late.

"Talk to me" Nobara muttered without taking her eyes off him.

"Something's off with him and I'm pretty sure it's because of that Black Flash he hit Deku with" Yuji barely moved his lips.

"I've been where he is right now, back when I fought that flower curse with Todo. After you land one everything slows down and your cursed energy does exactly what you want it to without you having to think about it. Nanami called it the zone"

"So he's smug and supercharged. Great.." Nobara scoffed.

"I'll go in and keep him busy up close. Every time he opens himself or you have a clear shot you put a nail there the best you can" Yuji's knuckles cracked as his fists closed.

"And whatever you do, don't let him touch you" Yuji added.

"Wasn't planning on it" Nobara understood that the most.

"Itadori, you're whispering~" He cooed

"You're scared for her aren't you? I like that..." His eyes slid over to Nobara.

"You know the plan..." Yuji said simply to Nobara then immediately sprang into action.

He came in behind a jab that Mahito slipped without looking, then a cross that the curse caught on a forearm hardened to the density of stone. Yuji spun off the block and chambered the Divergent Fist into the curse's ribs but Mahito's side softened and moved just before the knuckles landed. Meanwhile Nobara had already move in a sweep to Yuji's left.

She whipped her wrist and three nails left her fingers in a tight spread aimed at the curse's exposed back. Although Mahito didn't turn, instead he formed eyes on the back of his head and a hole opened for the nails to pass clean through him. Yuji dodged out of the way in time for them to harmlessly shoot past him as they buried themselves in the tiled wall of the staircase.

SHUNK! SHUNK! SHUNK!

"Miss me miss me now ya gotta kiss me!~" Mahito sang over his shoulder but he was soon cut off by Yuji grabbing him and throwing him into the wall of nails.

"Hairpin!" She chanted.

SNAP!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The three nails detonated in the wall with a flash of blue cursed energy and both tile and concrete shot outward in a spray of shrapnel. But Mahito had already slid sideways out of the blast along the floor from his legs flattening beneath him like a snake's belly. He had smoke coming of him but the damage was already being treated.

"Tch!" Nobara clicked her tongue but was already prepping more nails.

Yuji came around the smoke with his right leg swinging high in a Divergent Kick aimed at the curse's temple. Mahito's head sank down into his shoulders like a turtle pulling into its shell and the kick went over the top of him. Yuji landed, planted, and threw himself backward into the flash kick aimed toward the curse's jaw.

"You gotta be quicker than that~" Mahito said as he caught his ankle.

He then swung Yuji around by the leg in a full circle and when he let go Yuji went hurtling straight into the line Nobara had just drawn with her hammer. She had to rip her arm back mid-swing to keep from putting a nail into her own teammate's spine.

"Sorry!" Yuji caught himself on one hand and flipped back onto his feet, sliding across the tile.

"Don't be sorry, just get out of my way!" Nobara responded as she sent out a few more nails.

Yuji dragged the back of his wrist across his eyebrow and fell in next to her. Both of them were breathing hard while Mahito strolled back toward the middle of the platform, kicking a loose chunk of tile out of his way as he went.

"This isn't working. Every time I throw something he's already gone before the nail gets there" Nobara hissed.

"Alright new plan. Stop lobbing your nails where he is and start lobbing them where he's gonna be. Make him walk right into them like a trap" Yuji's eyes stayed locked on Mahito

"You don't chase a guy like him, you take away the places he can run until there's only one left. You close the doors and I'll be standing at the last one"

"Since when do you talk like that?" Nobara glanced at him sideways.

"Let's just say I got a few pointers. Just don't hit me alright?" Yuji's fists came back up.

"No promises" A grin pulled at her lips as she launched her nails.

SHUNK! SHUNK! SHUNK! SHUNK!

Four nails stabbed into the tile in a curved line that wrapped around the curse's left side. Mahito's eyes flicked down to them. He had seen what she did with nails in the floor back on Dogenzaka and he drifted right to keep his distance from them but then Yuji was already on his right.

"Divergent Fist!" Mahito got his forearm up in time and hardened it.

Yuji let the first impact land on the block and dropped low before the delayed second one went off, sweeping a kick at Mahitos ankles. Mahito hopped back to clear it and landed squarely between two nails Nobara had thrown behind him while he was busy watching the first four.

"Hairpin!"

SNAP!

BOOM! BOOM!

The floor under his feet erupted in a double blast of blue cursed energy. Mahito leapt straight up out of it, high enough that his hair brushed the bottom of the broken light fixtures. At the same time Yuji swiped the smoke clear but saw no Mahito.

"Above!" Nobara shouted. Yuji rebounded off the staircase wall Mahitos clone was slumped next to.While mid air he did a front flip and his right leg came swinging over the top of the spin.

"Divergent Kick!" Mahito formed a shield with one arm to block it and Yuji's foot hit it dead center and the second impact behind it drove the shield back into the Mahito's face.

WHAM! CRASH!

Mahito hit the tile hard enough to spiderweb it then rolled twice before coming up in a crouch with half his face caved inward. It was already filling back in by the time he lifted his head and both of his arms shot out at once. They stretched into long whipping tendrils with one aimed at each of them and tearing across the platform. Yuji weaved past the one aimed at him, letting it pass over his shoulder before he wrapped both arms around it and pulled.

Nobara didn't bother dodging, instead she swung her hammer around in a flat arc smashed through the tendril coming at her and the severed half flopped to the tile. With one arm cut and the other caught Mahito was yanked forward off his feet by Yuji's pull. He pivoted and brought his elbow around at the exact moment the curse arrived.

However, two new arms shot out of each side of Mahito's torso and caught Yuji's elbow before it landed, Mahito then twisted and threw him over his shoulder. Yuji hit the floor on his back but quickly recovered and turned it into a roll just as Mahito was about to attack him again. Six nails impaled the ground between Yuji and Mahito, stopping him from advancing on Yuji.

SHUNK! SHUNK! SHUNK! SHUNK! SHUNK! SHUNK!

"Hairpin!"

SNAP!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Smoke, dust, and pulverized tile shot up and out across the platform. Mahito turned one of his arms into a shield again to protect himself from the rubble and just as he put it down Yuji came through the thinning smoke at full speed. Yuji shot a right hook into Mahito's liver, an uppercut with his left fist into his chin, and finally buried his right fist into Mahito's jaw. With Mahito momentarily stunned Yuji shifted his feet then reeled his arm back and slammed a Divergent Fist into the curses chest, sending him skidding back towards the collapsed flesh wall.

"You know what I've been thinking about this whole time? I think I finally understand my own technique. I don't think I understood it at all before tonight" Mahito chuckled.

"Take whatever you understand and shove it!" Nobara spat.

"Then just watch.." Mahito grinned deviously as hole opened up in his palm and shot out soft ball sized flesh balls.

Some sailed past the two sorcerers while others pattered across the tile in front of them. The handful that came straight at Yuji and Nobara never got close, Yuji back peddled before he swept them out of the air so they burst into grit against his guard. Nobara swung her hammer through the ones coming at her face and cut them apart and they fell in pieces around her.

"That's it? You having some performance issues or something?" She joked.

Yuji flicked the left over flesh off himself then began to make a b-line for Mahito. Nobara on the other hand moved into her own position but didn't look down at where she was stepping since there was nothing except crumbs from a wasted attack. Once in position she planted her feet in the middle of the scattered remnants, set a nail against her finger, and drew her hammer back but writing the so called "failed" attack was a mistake.

When a Jujutsu Sorcerer or in this case a Cursed Spirit lands a Black Flash, the spatial distortion grants them an intoxicating state of heightened clarity. It is a phenomenon known as the zone and it temporarily brings out 120% of the user's potential.

For Mahito, a curse born from human hatred whose very existence revolves around the nature of the soul was fundamentally altered by his brief but violent communion with Izuku Midoriya. The friction of attempting to touch nine intertwined souls had cracked open a door to a truth he had only previously theorized.

The fundamental rule of Idle Transfiguration had always been direct physical touch in order to reshape a soul. However, in this awakened state, Mahito transcended that limitation. He realized that if the body is merely an echo of his soul's shape then any piece of his body whether that be creations or severed parts from his main form, they still carried a fraction of his soul's essence. And as long as his soul recognized those pieces they were never truly separate from him.

"Thanks for the idea!" Mahito lifted his then pressed his middle and index finger together, the same gesture Nobara makes when using her technique

"Checkmate~" Mahito smiled.

SNAP!

In the span of a single second the chunks of cursed flesh scattered around Nobara's shoes violently twitched then formed into sharp nail like objects. Nobara sensed the sudden spike in cursed energy and Yuji eyes widened in horror as he felt it too. She tried to leap back on instinct but she was trapped at ground zero. The hardened flesh shot upward from the floor and tore mercilessly through Nobara's legs and grazed her sides, burying themselves just deep enough to completely sever her mobility.

Another one tore across her forearm, rupturing muscle before moving up and piercing her upper arm while another barely missed her eye. Blood sprayed as her hammer dropped from her hand with a clatter. Nobara gasped as the breath violently knocked out of her lungs from collapsing onto the tile, completely incapacitated and bleeding with her body unable to obey her commands to stand back up.

"KUGISAKI!!" Her name tore through Yuji's throat.

"Well well well isn't this rich!" Mahito said with his arms loosely swaying at his sides.

"Falling to the exact same kind of trick you used on me back in that alley!" Mahito chuckled

"You remember, don't you?" Mahito continued while tilting his head mockingly

"All those little nails you scattered around the floor before your little snap activated them" Mahito made a snapping gesture

"Ooh how dramatic that was...oh how clever it was.." He gave a mock shudder then his expression darkened.

"So I figured why not return the favor?! Let you know how it feels when the ground beneath you bites back" His foot nudged one of the cursed flesh shards still twitching beside him just moments ago.

"Cheap bastard..." Nobara clenched her teeth, more in anger than pain now

"An inspired bastard at that~ But I'll take the compliment nonetheless" Mahito pointed a finger.

"MAHITO!!!!" The sight of his friend falling bathed Yuji's vision in crimson. He turned towards Mahito and shifted himself to charge towards Mahito.

"Ah ah ah. Think before you act Yuji" Mahito chided while casually raising an index finger. He didn't even bother to take a defensive stance either.

"She isn't the only one sitting in the briar patch" Mahito simply tilted his head past Yuji and Nobara. Yuji froze and his momentum fought against his sudden braking as he whipped his head around.

Izuku was still desperately trying to recover from the soul tearing backlash of Mahito's Black Flash. Surrounding him however, were the other chunks of the projectiles Mahito had sent out earlier that had seemingly "missed" the sorcerers and flown past them.

"You see I don't just shoot things blindly" Mahito grinned, fully reveling in the psychological torture that was his second nature.

"So let's play a little game, Yuji. You can only reach one of them before I snap my fingers again. Who's it going to be? Your fiesty little classmate or your fascinating new friend? You have to choose but you don't have very long" Yuji's breath caught in his throat as panic seized his chest.

"I-I...I can't choose one over the other!" He looked frantically between Nobara who was bleeding out on the tile and Izuku who was completely defenseless.

"I need to...I-I need...." The ultimatum crushed him and the weight of having to choose one over the other was a choice he couldn't make.

"Look at you brat. Always choking on your own pathetic weakness when it matters most" He could just hear Sukuna's malice.

The salt in the wound was agonizing but even as Yuji's mind fractured under the pressure of the choice, Mahito had absolutely no intention of honoring it. As a sadistic curse who placed no value on human life, Mahito's eyes gleamed with dark delight as both of his hands twitched. He was preparing to activate his remnants near Izuku and the remaining ones near Nobara simultaneously to skewer them both right in front of Yuji's eyes in order to break him.

"Time's up Itadori..." Mahito whispered.

"NO-"

CLAP!

A sharp sound split the chaos in an instant and suddenly Yuji, Nobara and Izuku were no longer where they'd been. Yuji stumbled but managed to catch himself and looked around in sheer bewilderment. He wasn't standing in front of Mahito anymore, now he was a good distance away and positioned where Izuku and Mahito fought.

"The bells of the Gion monastery in India echo with the warning that all things are impermanent" From just behind Yuji, a figure stepped out of the shadows and into the light as though the destruction around him were merely the backdrop to a play.

"The blossoms of the sala trees teach us through their hues that what flourishes must fade" He moved like an actor taking center stage.

"HOWEVER!" He locked eyes with the special grade curse with a fierce battle hungry grin splitting his face.

"We are the exception!" He stopped and a flickering light suddenly lit up like new, framing him like a spotlight.

Aoi Todo has entered the dance floor

"T-Todo?!" Yuji's jaw dropped.

"You didn't think I'd let you have all the character development without me did you?" Todo said as he stepped up next to Yuji.

"HEY!!" Both boys turned sharply at the shout.

"W-Wait up...To...Todo!" Arata Nitta came into view before hunching over with his hands on his knees, panting so hard he looked ready to pass out.

"Nitta, there you are! I told you to stay close" Todo looked over his shoulder and gave a friendly wave

"You said "follow my lead" not "Keep up with a human rocket!" Nitta's voice cracked.

"But you made it didn't you? I'd say it's an absolute win!" Todo roared.

"You should be more aware of your surroundings!" Mahito moved towards Todo immediately. His right arm stretched and thinned and serrated itself down one edge into a long scythe drawn low to the ground.

CLAP!

The world shifted and Mahito was violently yanked from the air and deposited precisely where Yuji had been standing. The swap left Mahito perfectly positioned with his back completely exposed to the imposing figure of Todo who was already in motion. His leg came around in a kick that started somewhere down near the floor and gathered everything he had on the way up, cursed energy snapping tight across his shin the instant before it landed.

WHAM!

Mahito folded backward around the shin and shot down into the tile then skipped off the floor like a stone off water and flew straight at Yuji.

CLAP!

Yuji and Mahito traded once more and Yuji caught him footing back onto the patch of floor next to Todo while Mahito continued to tumble. Mahito soon dug his hands into the tile, flipping backward and springing effortlessly back to his feet. Rather than being frustrated, he burst into a fit of ecstatic laughter with his eyes wide with adrenaline.

"Amazing! Even when you know how it works, it's still so disorienting!" Mahito thought to himself

"Nitta!" Todo didn't take his eyes off the curse as he stepped forth, discarding his outer jacket in the process.

"Tend to the injured while I will keep our friend occupied. Yuji, you help him out as well" Leaving the triage to his peers Todo charged forward like a freight train to re-engage the special grade.

"On it!" Yuji said in response as he ran up to Nitta who was already at Nobaras side.

"I need you to turn her over for me. I'll use my technique on her" Nitta gestured a moving motion with his arms.

"Do me a favor and don't whack me in the head for touching you" Yuji muttered to her.

"J-just don't get any ideas..." She said through the pain.

"Try not to move while I'm doing this" Taking advantage of the breathing room, Nitta turned her over then raised two fingers and drew a symbol just above her back then slapped it.

"HEY! That stung you mother fuc- oh that doesn't hurt anymore..." Nobara had jolted from the sudden slap but the pain as well as her bleeding had stopped.

"My technique stops it from getting worse but that's all it does, you understand? I can shut off the bleeding and I can take the pain away but I can't close anything or grow anything back" He explained as he moved over to Izuku and performed the same thing on him.

"Also, anything that happens to you after this you'll feel every bit of. So please try not to get hurt anymore" Nitta added as he motioned Yuji to turn around so he could do the same to him.

"Thank you for this Nitta but what can you tell me about Izuku? Is he going to be alright?" Yuji asked while looking at Izuku.

"Oh don't worry about me or anything, I'm just fine! It's not like I got STABBED!" Nobara called out.

"Please stop moving and rest" Nitta said without looking up. He had shuffled around on his knees until he was square with Izuku so he could look him over.

He started with the arms because they were one of the first things he noticed. From what he could tell, both forearms had gone a deep mottled purple from the hands halfway to the elbow.

"That's broken... and that's definitely broken" Nitta said as he moved on to Izuku's back.

The skin was a patchwork of grazes and deep bruises, some still fresh and red while others had already gone dark. There were lacerations too, long ones, crusted at the edges where the bleeding had stopped. Nitta got a hand under Izuku's shoulder and his other hand under his hip and rolled him carefully over onto his back. The front was even worse, Izuku's chest was crossed with slash marks, so many of them that they overlapped with some being long and short while being shallow or deep.

"What the hell happened to this guy Itadori? How can anybody walk around like this?" Nitta sweat dropped.

"He wasn't exactly walking around before you got here..." Nitta looked up at him.

"Mahito hit him with a Black Flash..." He stopped there. He didn't have words for the pale shapes that had come out of Izuku's body and slammed back in.

"A Black Flash?!" His voice jumped half an octave then he looked back down at the boy on the floor again.

"He should be dead! I'm serious Itadori, if anybody else who took a hit like that in this condition would be going into the forever box right about now. I don't even know how he's still breathing" Nitta swallowed.

Meanwhile Mahito and Todo closed in on each other from opposite ends. Halfway there the curse's right arm stretched and split at the end into three long barbed prongs, a trident of hardened bone. Mahito drove it forward at Todo's chest with the whole weight of his lunge behind it. Todo decided to throw his momentum into a slide and went in under the trident, the three prongs passing overhead. As he slid beneath the curse's reach he twisted onto his side, planted both palms flat on the floor, and used them as a pivot to whip his body around to drive one heel straight up into Mahito's gut.

BOOM!

The kick lifted the curse clean off his feet and launched him toward the ceiling. Mahito spun in the air on the way up and his left hand grew bigger than himself. It slammed flat against the ceiling and sank his fingers into it. The curse's ascent stopped then twisted his hips then came swinging back down with his shin leading the way but Todo crossed his forearms and blocked the attack to Mahito's dismay.

WHAM!

The kick crashed into the cross block and drove Todo an inch into the tile. Dust jumped off the floor around him in a ring but he held it. Then he heaved upward and threw the curse's leg off but even as Todo broke the kick away Mahito clenched his enlarged hand into the ceiling. He tore a big slab of the ceiling in a shower of dust and severed conduits before he swung and hurled it straight at Todo. Todo's right fist that was already cocked back with Cursed Energy fused into then slammed into the chunk of ceiling dead center and it burst apart into a hail of concrete that rained across the platform.

CRACK! SHATTER!

But Mahito was already coming through the small opening he had created with it.He dropped out of the falling debris before the dust cleared, the giant hand shrinking back to normal on the way down, and his other hand had changed. Each finger had stretched into a long thin blade and the five of them fanned out like a bundle of knives as he drove them straight at the opening the punch had left in Todo's guard.

CLAP!

The blades sliced through the place where Todo's chest had been and hit nothing but instead of waiting for an attack to come his way, Mahito immediately shot his right arm out. It hyper-extended into a whip of flesh that zig-zagged out across the platform in sharp switchback angles, slashing left, right, left, right, carving a wide jagged net of strikes through the air around him to keep Todo from getting in close.

CLAP!

Todo then appeared inside of Mahito's space by surprise and the whole wide net of the zig-zag arm was suddenly behind him. Todo was about to capitalize on the opening but Mahito jumped back while retracting his arm. Mahito skidded back but as soon as he was about to start lunging for Todo.

CLAP!

Mahito was suddenly standing where Todo had been and Todo was where Mahito had tried launching himself from. Mahito grew frustrated so he spun on his heel while transfiguring both arms into enormous clubs of flesh, each one thick as a tree trunk and studded with bone. He spun faster and faster until he was a blur of grey turning in place in the middle of the platform like a top, the two massive clubs whipping around him in a circle so fast the air around them howled.

Todo dodged but during the spin of the attack Mahito changed the direction of the attack as he shifted his left arm back to normal. Meanwhile his right arm went straight up, carving through the ceiling on its way down to slam down onto Todo but he spun around it just as Mahito retracted it back. Todo was about to slam a fist into his chest but then Mahito's midsection split open into a spiked net. His whole upper body lunged across the gap at Todo with the net flaring wide like a fisherman's cast, meant to fold shut around the sorcerer and drag him in.

CLAP!

Todo stood behind him now, Cursed energy then flooded his right hand, thick enough to shimmer. He reached out and seized a fistful of the barbed cords from behind and set his feet to rip the curse backward. The net tore from Mahito ripping it himself, thus the cords in Todo's grip snapped loose from his body and Todo was left holding a handful of dead flesh. The rest of the curse twisted his entire body around its own center wringing himself like a towel, his torso turning a full revolution on his hips until his hands were inches from Todo's face.

CLAP!

"What's the matter?" The hand closed on the air where Todo had been and Todo was behind him once again.

"You keep reaching and reaching yet you keep missing. Do you even want to touch me?" He tilted his head.

"He's good...dodging my attacks while keeping his distance from Itadori and his worthless friends..." Mahito thought as he untwisted himself slowly.

"I've got some more for ya" His smile widened.

Somewhere during the spin, a small shape had dropped from Mahito's body and rolled onto the floor near them. The shrunken remains of something that had once been a person but then it unfolded into a spike, driving up out of the floor straight for Todo's back. This time Todo didn't clap, he simply lifted his right arm out of the spike's path and turned his torso a few degrees. The spike tore up past him through the space under his arm, managing to slice his shirt open along the ribs.

"He still dodged it?! C'mon and switch! I'll figure it out and guess right!" Mahito thought as he clenched a fist as he turned.

Every clap was a coin toss with one side being swap or no swap, him or someone else or nothing at all. Toss a coin enough times and anyone could call it right eventually. Underneath all of this however, was the other thing. He could feel it swimming up from somewhere deep inside him. The true shape of his own soul, it was coming closer and closer to the surface with every exchange.

"I want to land one of those things once more!" He thought.

"I can feel myself close to reaching it!" Mahito finally charged at Todo.

CLAP!

In Todo's place now stood Yuji with his feet planted, knees bent, and his right fist already drawn back. Cursed energy roared around it so densely the air shimmered, and his eyes were fixed on the curse rushing straight into his reach.

"Sorry Kugisaki and sorry Deku. I froze up on both of you when I shouldn't have been. I'm also sorry that I let Sukuna hurt you and all those people tonight" His fist grew hotter.

"I'm sorry that I tried to cower and run away after it all too. But even after all that you still chose to fight alongside me and watch my back along with Nobara's even though you barely know us..." The energy around Yuji's fist began to shift and snap into black with outlines of red.

"We made a promise to become heroes in our own way so I'll live up to that. I'll pick you up if you fall and I know you'll do the same!" In an instant, the sparks of black blessed Yuji's attack.

"BLACK FLASH!!!" Mahito's eyes went wide. He had brought his left forearm up across his body on pure reflex between himself and the fist he suddenly found coming at him.

BOOM!

Black lightning ripped outward from the point of impact. Mahito's forearm didn't bend nor did it absorb the blow, rather it shattered completely. Bone and transfigured flesh burst apart from the elbow down in a spray of fragments and the force kept going into the curse's chest and lifted him off his feet then threw him down the length of the platform, tumbling, until he hit the tile and skidded on his back through the debris.

"HAHAHAHAH! Look who's back from the sidelines!" Mahito came up on one knee before he stared at the stump of his left arm before regrowing it.

"Welcome back to the fray brother" Todo said casually as he strode up next to Yuji, grabbed the front of his shirt in both fists and tore it straight down the middle.

RRRIIIP!

"It's good to be back" Yuji said while getting into a stance.

"Nitta! If those two are stable then it's time to get them out of here" Todo called out.

"I'm not going anywhere..." Todo and Yuji both turned to the voice to see Izuku was getting up and there was a fire in his eyes.

Todo felt it hit him in the chest like the clang of a struck bell. He didn't know this boy's name nor did he know where he had come from or what he could do but he knew that look. It was the look of someone who had already decided, someone who had been knocked down so far that getting up had stopped being a question at all.

"Absolutely not!" Nitta was already scrambling up from where he'd been crouched beside Nobara.

"You shouldn't even be standing right now. My technique doesn't fix anything, it just stops it from getting worse! Everything that's broken in you is still broken and anything that happens to you after this I can't do a thing about" He warned.

"I know..." Izuku took another step.

"Then sit down! Yo-" Nitta was cut off.

"I can't. If my body can still move even a little bit then I've still got a job to do" Izuku looked over his shoulder.

"Are you kidding me?" Nobara's voice came from the floor behind Nitta.

"You need a real doctor! A hospital for crying out loud! This is their fight now which means you don't have to meddle in it!" Nobara pleaded

"Meddling where you don't need to..." Izuku looked down for a moment.

"Is the essence of being a hero!" A strained smile crossed his face.

Black tendrils slid out from the gauntlet on his right arm. They curled gently around Nobara's waist and under her knees and lifted her off the floor and carried her through the air until she was resting in Nitta's arms. Nitta staggered under the sudden weight but was able to hold her.

"I'm barely holding together...that attack Mahito hit me with wrecked my body. I still have injuries from my fight with Sukuna and I have to already have to limit my output. If I really overdo it now my body might give out" Izuku knew the risk of limiting himself in a fight but he wasn't alone in this fight.

"Get her out of here. Shoko's at the Shibuya expressway" Izuku told him before stepping forward.

"Put me down! I'm not leaving! You don't get to decide that for me!" Nobara twisted in Nitta's grip

"Kugisaki please..." His voice was steady

"I'm not saying this because you're not strong. I'm saying this because I want you to live and being a hero doesn't always mean fighting until you drop. Sometimes... it means knowing when to step back so someone else can keep going" He clenched his fists.

"I know it's hypocritical of me to say that but I'm just stubborn. So please...let us take it from here" For a long moment she just stared at him. Izuku's words weren't flashy but they were impossible to argue with.

"F-Fine but you better win this shit and punch that bastard for me!" Nobara looked away for a second, biting the inside of her cheek.

"I promise" Izuku nodded and the two of them escaped up the staircase behind them.

"...Yuji" he turned slowly toward Yuji with the confusion of a man who just spotted a second sun in the sky.

"Just who is this...this smoldering UNIT you have yet to tell me about?!" Todo said as Izuku lined up next to him.

"Oh tha-" Before he could finish, Todo's eyes lit up. His pupils widened as his entire body jolted like he'd been struck by divine revelation.

"Wait, don't tell me!" He shouted before spinning dramatically on his heel to face Izuku directly

"I feel it...that brooding fire in your eyes! That tight lipped resolve!" He stepped closer, pointing a single finger with the intensity of a judge handing down a verdict

"You're a man of culture aren't you?!" Izuku, who was serious about the moment, blinked.

"I-I'm sorry, what?" Izuku responded and Todo clenched both fists.

"My god he...he gets it, he totally does!" Then he paused. Todo's expression shifted to curiosity as he took a step closer to Izuku, narrowing his eyes like a scientist studying an anomaly.

"No wait... I must know for sure" Todo thought while Izuku's mouth hung open.

"Tell me something" Todo's eyes narrowed.

"T-Todo! This is NOT the time!" Yuji's eyes went wide as he choked on air, realizing what was about to happen.

"No Yuji! This is precisely the time.." Todo then lifted a single dramatic finger to the heavens before letting it fall back down towards Izuku.

"Answer me this. What kind of women are you into?!" Todo boomed.

"W-WHAT THE WHAT?!" Izuku shouted internally

"H-Huh?" Even Mahito was baffled by the absurdity.

"Will you three just shu-" Todo raised a hand towards Mahito, silencing him

"Silence! Don't disturb the ritual" Izuku opened his mouth then closed it as he glanced at Yuji who only shrugged helplessly.

"Well...I guess..." Seemingly put on the spot and with no way out of the question Izuku actually thought about it.

A memory he had almost forgotten about flickered in his mind for some reason or maybe for no reason at all. He was walking to Aldera Middle school until he suddenly stopped to witness a villain attack. After everything was said and done the one and only Mt. Lady took center stage after the attack with the sunlight catching on her towering form with grace and well, she was kind of a big deal.

"I guess I like a women... who's tall.." Izuku's cheeks colored but honesty overrode embarrassment voice firming as he remembered the debut hero's confident grin and the famous "money shot" the surrounding photographers had proclaimed.

"and...with a...big behind?" The platform went silent.

Todo looked up with closed eyes as an imaginary sun warmed his face and tears fell from his eyes. It was quickly overwritten by a slow fervent smile that blossomed with brotherly glee. He smacked a massive hand on Izuku's shoulder with a clap like thunder.

"EXCELLENT!!!!" He shouted with all his might.

"You're speaking to my SOUL!" He slid his arm around Izuku's back in a crushing half hug.

"You are exactly the kind of man this world needs! You and I are bound by this truth!" Izuku coughed from his ribs creaking under Todo's embrace but managed a sheepish yet relieved smile.

"You've corrupted someone else..." Yuji pinched the bridge of his nose

"You people are insane..." Mahito muttered

"Silence demon! You now stand before three men of culture and you have just mocked the wrong generation!" Todo then turned back as he placed a firm hand on Izuku's shoulder, holding it like he was anointing a knight

"I must know one last thing. What is your name, brother?" Todo asked.

"Uh...Midoriya. Izuku Midoriya" Izuku said, still bewildered by the experience.

"Izuku Midoriya..." He whispered it like poetry then snapped his head toward Yuji with divine purpose.

"Yuji! Did you hear that?! What a powerful name!" Todo boasted.

"Yeah man... pretty great" Yuji sighed then gave a tired nod as Todo released Izuku's shoulder and stepped forward, cracking his knuckles one by one.

"Now then brothers. It's time we bring down the curtain on this performance and surpass expectations!" Todo roared

"We'll go beyond...PLUS ULTRA!" One For All crept along Izuku's frame until Full Cowling lit up across his body.

"Plus Ultra? I like the sound of that..." A dangerous smirk tugged at Todo's lips

"Three on one again? and to think I'm the monster, you really have no shame" The taunt hung in the air for barely a second before all four combatants exploded into motion.

Mahito lunged forward, seamlessly shifting the fingers of his right hand into a double-edged blade and thrusted it directly at Yuji's chest. Yuji didn't dodge rather he stepped into the strike, grabbing Mahito's wrist with his left hand while flawlessly parrying the blade between the fingers of his right hand. Izuku was already on the curse's other side with blackwhip snapping out from his left arm, wrapping twice around Mahito's free wrist before it could do anything. Todo leapt high into the air from behind Mahito to deliver a kick to his back, Mahito tumbled forward but was able to catch himself although he wasn't able to stay on his feet for long.

Izuku pushed through the soul deep ache in his chest to slide in fast from Yuji's left. He pivoted on his hands and launched a sweep aimed directly at Mahito's planted kneecap to shatter his balance. Mid-fall Mahito transformed his free left arm into a spiked vine into the ceiling until it began to pull him. Using the momentum to vault himself over Izuku then rotated himself to lash the vine at Todo who had jumped up to meet him.

CLAP!

Todo swapped positions with the curse instantly. Mahito suddenly found himself upside down, plummeting directly into Izuku's follow-up kick and Yuji's waiting fists. Without missing a beat Mahito violently transfigured his own anatomy, seamlessly splitting and mirroring the front of his body straight through to his back. He rapidly enlarged both of his newly formed arms into massive, fleshy shields, blocking Yuji's punch and Izuku's heel all at once.

"Body repel!" Parts of Mahitos body shot out of him and the collision sent them all skidding apart but Mahito landed lightly with his mind rapidly calculating the battlefield.

"The top-knot gorilla is at full health. One touch from Idle Transfiguration might not be enough to kill him. Itadori is running on fumes... maybe ten percent of his maximum" Mahito noted but then his gaze slid over to Izuku

"And that one. He hit me hard enough upstairs to put me through several floors and now he's swinging at a fraction of that strength. So he's gotta be running low" His smile thinned.

"And for me? I'm around fifty to forty percent" Mahito admitted to himself. Yuji's Black Flash was the cherry on top of Izuku, driving him through three floors of concrete. Not only that but Nobara had also done some serious damage much to his surprise.

"She was supposed to be a nobody but she left her mark on me. I'll give her that much" All three of them converged on him again.

"I need to take care of the switching first!" Mahito thought.

His left arm flattened and swept out into a broad curved fin with an edge like a cleaver and he swiped it at Todo to keep him back while dropping a transfigured soul over his shoulder to keep Yuji at bay. Izuku came straight down the middle at him and in response Mahito lifted his right leg. The foot swelled to the size of a tire on the way up in order for Mahito to slam it down on Izuku.

CLAP!

"He can switch with a non-living target?!" Mahito's eyes went wide. Izuku was suddenly behind him standing in the spot where the transfigured soul had been.

Todo and Izuku hit him from behind at the same time, Todo's fist high and Izuku's heel low. Mahito burst spikes out of his back to drive them both off and threw himself forward and away across the platform, out of reach of all three.

"Todo, I have a plan t-" Izuku came out of the dodge with his mind racing faster than his legs.

"Say no more brother, I already know..." Todo interrupted

"You do?" Izuku was confused.

"Our souls are resonating on the exact same frequency! Of course I know" Todo didn't elaborate as he moved in on Mahito.

Simultaneously, Mahito morphed both of his arms into massive flesh hammers. He came back across the tile at full speed with the hammers dragging behind him, gouging furrows in the floor. Yuji was already mid air with a fist drawn back to strike Mahito from above.

WHAM!

It hit Yuji square in the chest and slammed him down into the floor. Todo came in from the side but Mahito was able to swing back around with the second hammer and swatted him like a fly. He went flying sideways toward the edge of the platform but Izuku's Blackwhip snapped out to catch Todo around the waist. At the same time Yuji had gotten back up before launching himself straight back in with a kick this time but Mahito left hammer came up underneath Yuji faster than he anticipated.

WHAM!

The blow launched Yuji straight up into the air, nearly to the broken light fixtures. Mahito then planted himself under Yuji with both hammers drawn back with a hammer on each side, ready to crush him between them the moment he landed.

CLAP!

Todo swapped with Yuji just as Mahito's hammers were about to slam into Yuji. Todo raised both arms and the attack hit him from both sides with no effect whatsoever. Todo pushed the weak attack away just enough to be able to clap his hands again in order to swap with Yuji. Yuji materialized perfectly in the gap Todo had forcefully created and delivered a dropkick straight into Mahito's torso

"Now's my chance" While Yuji and Todo fought, Izuku had stayed towards the back while holding a piece of concrete that had fallen from the ceiling during Todo and Mahito's earlier exchange.

"Todo can swap between Yuji and I but he was also able to swap me with one of those things Mahito threw over his shoulder. Which means Todo is able to swap with anything that has cursed energy!" He closed his eyes and went looking for any amount of cursed energy within him.

His cursed energy was still down there but it sat far deeper than he expected, like water at the bottom of a well that had nearly run dry. He soon found a thread of it and pulled before he was able to make it flow down his arm then into his palm. The chunk of rubble began to hum faintly against his skin and it began to glow.

Across the platform Mahito rolled over twice more, slid, and came to a stop. He pushed himself up onto one knee then looked up, sensing the cursed energy flowing from Izuku and picked up on what was about to happen. Izuku's eyes shot opened before he planted his left foot forward. He turned his hips, drew his arm back, and let twenty percent of One For All flow into his arm.

"TODO!" Izuku shouted.

"SMASH!" The rubble left his grip like a bullet and Todo knew it was his time to shine.

CLAP!

Todo swapped places with the speeding projectile and the world changed around him. The ruined platform fell away, in its place, light erupted behind him in a blazing burst of orange and gold as if the whole sky had caught fire at his back. Streaks of white light tore past him on every side. He soared forward through it with his arms spread wide with every muscle in his body lit from behind like a figure stepping out of the sun.

"A friendship cannot last if one man stands still while the other climbs. If I remain as I am, I will become a man who watches Yuji from below" It was in that moment while midair and body stretched forward that Todo had entered a realm of his own.

"As for this new warrior… he has only just met me and that means he does not yet know what kind of man I am. So I have to show him! I have to stand beside both of them as an equal or I don't deserve to stand there at all!"

"A true man does not merely surpass expectations..." Todo closed his eyes.

"HE SURPASSES AND GOES BEYOND! PLUS ULTRA STYLE!!" His eyes blazed open and the fire behind him gave way to a field of stars.

The world around him became a deep sweep of purple and violet that were scattered with countless points of light, streaks of gold as red and blue tore past him like falling comets. His leg swung through it in a long arc, cutting through the starlight with the light trailing off his leg in brilliant ribbons. Afterimages flickered in sync with his motion, layering him in halos of power and suddenly the afterimages weren't just his own.

He saw Yuji grinning while giving a thumbs up and Izuku who had a smile and fist raised high. The floor beneath his path ripped and tore with tiles exploding upward. The concrete splitting like it couldn't stand the presence of so much raw intent. Todo's leg snapped out as the momentum of his transitioned into the strike with the force of a meteor. The air itself cracked with a deafening shockwave as if reality itself couldn't contain the power within him.

"PLUS ULTRA BLACK FLASH!!" Todo's kick connected and Mahito's chest dented under the force.

BOOM!

Black lightning ripped outward from the point where Todo's foot struck, crackling across the platform in jagged forks. Mahito's head snapped sideways so hard his whole body followed it, and he was torn off his feet and hurled across the platform, spinning through the air with black sparks trailing off him like smoke.

He tumbled end over end with his body violently tearing a deep jagged trench through the remaining length of the station platform. The special grade curse finally collided with the concrete staircase at the far end of the tracks, completely obliterating the lower half of the structure in a massive cloud of pulverized concrete.

CRASH! BOOM!

The whole lower half of the staircase collapsed inward around him in a roar and a cloud of dust boiled up out of the wreck then rolled across the platform in a slow grey wave. After a long second the rubble shifted before a hand pushed up through the debris. Mahito soon climbed out of the ruined stairwell as if he was simply climbing out of bed.

"That was a powerful attack even for a black flash. Does it have something to do with that green haired sorcerers technique?" He brushed grit off his arms then stepped down onto what was left of the floor and there wasn't even a mark on his face.

"Well it's nothing to worry about, it doesn't matter how strong your attack is... using a black flash has no effect if you can't touch my soul!" He was smiling.

But now, Mahito, Yuji Itadori, and Aoi Todo are currently drawing out 120% of their combined latent potential. The sole exception to this is Izuku Midoriya who has not yet been blessed with the sparks of black. However, Izuku Midoriya has never once fought at one hundred percent of what he had.

From the day One For All was placed in his hands, he has always fought at more than his body could give and paid for it with his bones. So despite not landing one of his own, he stands in this fight alongside the other three as an equal.

After all, this is the same boy who went toe-to-toe with Ryomen Sukuna himself. And at the end of it all he was able to climb the kings summit, something that no other human in over 1,000 years had managed to do and came out on top.

"Soul Multiplicity!" Mahito violently vomited small grey shapes into his waiting palms, a dozen of them no bigger than walnuts. With a flourish he raised his hands before clasping them together between his palms.

"Body Repel!" He opened his hands and turned them outward toward the trio.

The fused souls rejected one another all at once and their bodies tore loose from Mahito's palms in a flood of grey flesh that kept coming and kept growing. It split into huge writhing columns and at the end of every column a mouth opened.

"An omnidirectional attack that makes switching pointless!" Todo realized.

Three of them reared up and smashed straight through the ceiling of the subway then punched up through every layer of the station. The ground above shook violently and the streets rumbled, small cracks spread through the concrete before widening into bigger ones then detonating with the force of a bomb. The road split open, giving way as the entire section of subway was uprooted and blasted skyward.

"Let's KICK IT UP A NOTCH, ITADORI!" At the center, atop a tower of crawling bodies and twisted souls Mahito emerged.

"SO LETS CURSE EACH OTHER UNTIL DEATH DO US PART!!" Mahito raised his arms.

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To be continued...

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