Authors note:
Speaking: "…."
Thinking: '….'
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"B-Boss, w-why are you here?" the man with the rope quirk stuttered in fear, knowing full well what this man was capable of. In response, he received a black feather in his chest.
"Did I ask you for anything? I never gave you permission to speak. The fact that I didn't kill you as soon as I saw your failure was an act of mercy. Now die, you useless soul!" the man with the black wings said, slightly annoyed, grabbing the other man's chin before turning away and closing his hand.
"No, please, Boss, I don't want to—" The man formerly known as James tried to bargain, but it was to no avail. After the man closed his hand, the feather seemingly exploded him from the inside out, leaving only a puddle of blood in the alleyway where he had been lying.
Looking at the other man, the silver-haired villain asked in a cold tone, "Would you like to join your friend, or will you stay quiet?" The green-skinned man, understanding his situation, simply bowed, not making a sound.
'He killed his own subordinate, without a shred of hesitation or regret,' Izuku thought, looking at the puddle of blood where a man had previously laid. Not an innocent man, but a man nonetheless, with horror in his eyes.
"Alright, where were we?" the villain said, pondering with one hand on his chin. "Ah, now I remember. I was about to have fun watching the brats despair," he said, grinning maniacally at the two boys.
"Why? Just why? Why did you kill him? He could have lived!" Izuku questioned, screaming at the killer in front of him.
"Watch it, boy. You're lucky I can still get some amusement out of you, or you would have joined him," the silver-haired man said coldly while his demonic wings transformed back into bird wings. Then he plucked a single feather from one wing and blew it towards Izuku's mouth. When it hit his mouth, it transformed into a mask, preventing the boy from talking.
"But I do find your question quite interesting. Why did I kill him? Hmm, let me think—because he disappointed me? No. Because he talked back and annoyed me? No. I simply did it because…I…can," the man explained dramatically, drawing out the last bit to make it more impactful.
Watching the green-haired boy widen his eyes in horror, he continued with a grin on his face, "Now, what did you say before? 'A hero will always come to save you,' correct? That was it, right? Yes, of course, I'm right, the look on your face tells me everything," he mocked the child.
"Then tell me this, you 'hero' how will you save this girl? How will you stop me? When will the hero come and save you?" He asked the kid, who was currently in shock, then chuckled in delight at the boy's despair.
Plucking yet another feather from his wings, this time making it into a sharp blade, he floated the girl towards him. Exposing her back, he started to slowly but painfully cut the girl's skin. The girl started to cry and muffle under the mask she was wearing.
"What will you do now, boy? Will you heroically break out of the restraints and save this poor child from my tyranny?" the man asked, laughing maniacally while continuing to hurt the girl, while Izuku could do nothing but stare at her with tears in his eyes.
"No? You won't? Then let me tell you why. It's because you... are... weak," he whispered into the green-haired boy's ear.
"The weak will only ever struggle to survive and hold on to their dear old hope. Villains are evil, heroes are righteous, I bet that's what you're thinking. But these terms have, and always will, change depending on the person you ask. Kids who have only ever known peace and kids who have only ever known despair, have different values," the man continued, grinning harder with every sentence.
"Those who stand at the top will decide what's right," he said slowly, spitting out every word with joy. Looking at the boy crying and sobbing, the winged man, however, still saw a sliver of hope in those detestable, weak eyes clinging to his hopes.
Frowning a bit but soon continuing to smile after a thought struck his mind, he asked, "You look Japanese, like that detestable old man of mine. So am I right to assume All Might is your idol?" Getting the boy's attention, he continued, "Yes, I'm right, aren't I? You still cling to hope because of him. You still believe he'll come and save everyone with a smile on his face, don't you?"
After pausing for a bit and looking at the boy's reaction, he stopped smiling and said coldly, "Please, wake up from that hope-filled dream of yours. Nothing ever goes as planned in this accursed world. The heroes of this era are nothing more than frauds, egotistical bastards only in the business for money and fame. If you're not some important businessman, politician, or a supervillain, the heroes will simply look away as if nothing is there. Because if nothing's in it for me, why go risk my life? I'll just let someone else do the dirty work and then cash in the big guns," he spoke confidently while looking at the green haired boy, who was slowly losing the thread of hope he had left, the other boy already unconscious from blood loss.
Then, to finish him off, he whispered in his ear, "The heroes always say justice will prevail, yes? But of course it will, whoever comes out on top becomes justice."
Looking at the boy, having lost all will to fight and knowing that they had been injured because of his feathers earlier, he released the restraints. The two children slumped to the ground, their swords lying next to them, Katsuki in a pool of blood, unconscious, and Izuku beside him with strangely no blood around him.
Then, looking at them one last time, in complete joy at his accomplishment, he commanded the other man, "I'm done. Go kill them, and I'll let you live."
The clouds began to darken as the man rose and started walking toward the boys, raising his knife, intending to bring it down on the green-haired boy's neck.
'Why should I even fight? He's right. Heroes are just egotistical jerks in it for the money. True heroes only exist in fairytales.' But as he looked up, it started to rain, and thunder began to crackle. In a moment of confusion, he looked at the girl, her dress drenched in blood and rainwater. But her eyes, those beautiful purple orbs, still held hope, as if she wanted to say, "Please help." Thunder struck, and the alleyway was illuminated.
The next thing we see is Izuku standing there, sword in hand, blocking the incoming knife, his drenched hair covering his eyes. Pushing the strike away, he continued to block the incoming attacks precisely with little effort.
'That's right, heroes might be jerks, and even if there existed a hero who was true, maybe All Might, they still would not be able to serve justice if they are tied by their heroic morals and are unable to eliminate those who deserve to die,' Izuku thought, still not having moved from his location and continuing to block before suddenly striking the man's blade away and going into a low stance, whispering, "Flying Thunder God," then dashing forward at blinding speeds with a green lightning-shaped Japanese dragon in his tracks, cleanly cutting through the man's neck, severing his head and killing him instantly.
'If no one will become the hero the world needs, then I'll just do it myself. No more half-assing fights, no more holding back on villains. If they deserve to die, I'll kill them,' Izuku thought, looking at the winged man, his bangs still covering his eyes as he swung the blood from his blade.
"So you still had some fight in you. Well, no matter, I'll just kill you myself. You'll never beat me even if you k—" But before the man could finish, the boy's sword began to glow a deep blackish purple.
"Hunter Strike," Izuku called out, dashing forward with a single vertical slash aimed at the man's torso, a panther appearing in its tracks. But it was in vain, as the villain simply used one of his wings to block the strike, not noticing the faint black mark that appeared on the wing.
"Didn't your mother teach you any manners? It's rude to interrupt other people while they're talking. Well, no matter, because now you... Huh?" Finally getting a good look at the boy's previously covered eyes, he then thought, 'Those eyes... Could it really be? Now I'm curious, who is this kid?' Then he broke their confrontation and flew up, the girl still in his grasp.
Looking down at the boy, he said, "Hey, kid, my name is Ban Blackwood. Remember it well, 'cause who knows? Maybe we have more in common than I originally thought!" Before flying away into the clouds, taking the girl with him.
After the villain left, Izuku made his way to his unconscious friend and gave him a healing potion from his inventory, restoring his health after half a minute.
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Katsuki's POV
A bit earlier...
'The hell is he rambling on about? Just let me punch his face. But my mind... I'm losing consciousness. That feather he threw really packed a punch,' Katsuki thought before drifting into the black void.
...
Slowly opening his eyes, the ash-blonde boy looked around, not finding the girl and the winged man, only seeing the two corpses of the grunts and Izuku crouching beside him in the rain.
"How the hell did you not pass out from blood loss?" he questioned, but after looking at Izuku's fingers and seeing the bone ring, he dropped the question.
"So, I'm assuming he killed the other one and then escaped," he questioned, still adjusting his eyes.
"No, I killed the other one, and if you're referring to Ban, he didn't escape. I let him escape. I put a mark on him with the technique Kurenai taught us, so we can locate him later," the other boy stated emotionlessly in a cold tone.
"The fuck did you..." but before he could finish his question, he saw Izuku's eyes. Gone were the warm emerald green eyes. Instead, there were two deep black scleras with cold white irises in the middle. Staring at his friend's eyes, he almost didn't register the now white-eyed boy's next sentence.
"We might not be able to beat that man at our current strength, but we won't need to anyway if everything goes as planned. Our priority lies with the girl," Izuku said, standing and turning away. Thunder struck, and the alleyway was illuminated once again as Izuku stated in a never-before-heard focused tone:
"And we'll definitely save her this time."