Authors note:
Speaking : "…"
Thinking: '…'
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Eraser Head POV
Lying there on the smooth concrete ground, the underground hero stared at the three figures of his unconscious students before him. He himself was still completely immobilized by whatever that energy shockwave had done to him.
This whole time, he had been forced to watch his students cry out in pain, begging for whatever that Odin guy had done to them to stop, all while being unable to do anything to save them. 'I'm a pathetic excuse for a hero. Can't even save my own students' he thought, hitting the ground with his fist.
Staring at the crater his punch had left in the concrete, he was shocked for two reasons. 'What the... since when am I able to crack concrete? Wait, no, that's not important right now. I can move again.' He quickly got up and rushed to his unconscious students' aid.
Checking them as best as he could, he was relieved to find all three were still alive and breathing. Except for a couple of bruises and cuts on Ayato and Haruki's broken leg, they were fine, or they would have been if not for the Norse runes etched into their skin like scars that never fully healed, a cruel reminder of his failure as a teacher.
"Don't blame yourself, Aizawa. None of us could have done anything against that man," came the familiar voice of Toshinori from behind him. Looking over his shoulder, Eraser saw him, Thirteen, and the rest of the class, all looking equally frustrated.
"He's right, Eraser. That man was way stronger than anything any of you could have stopped. We should count ourselves lucky it wasn't their intent to kill the students," Joker said, landing beside them, sheathing his cane sword, and putting a hand on the black-haired man's shoulder.
Looking at him with a mixture of disdain and reluctant acceptance, Aizawa quickly averted his gaze, unwilling to face the flood of emotions and memories of the professor he brought every time he looked at him.
"Can you treat them?" he asked coldly.
"I can try."
Kneeling down, the space user quickly chanted a spell, causing five drops of golden liquid to drip onto Ayato's body. The liquid spread over his injuries, making the cuts and bruises vanish. However, when it touched the rune, a red-gold spark suddenly burst toward the healing teacher.
Holding up his now-charred hand, Joker said, "Their wounds won't be a problem. But whatever those rune things are, I can say with certainty they're not harmful to their bodies. We just have to wait for them to wake up."
Hearing that, Aizawa stood up and furiously grabbed the man's collar. "How can you say they're not harmful?! You might not have witnessed it, but those kids were screaming in pain and begging for it to stop! So don't just stand there and say it's okay!" His voice trembled, his eyes glassy.
Getting between them, Toshinori and Thirteen pulled Eraser back. "Enough, Eraser. You saw that it didn't work," Toshinori said, trying to calm him.
Dusting off his suit and looking at Aizawa with newfound interest, Joker cleared his throat. "For your information, that spell I cast wasn't just a healing spell, it was also a scan of his body. I can say these runes aren't harmful because their bodies are actively integrating them into their physiology and working to keep them there."
"If I had to guess, whatever they are, the students' bodies treat them as if they were part of their Quirks. Honestly, I've never seen a foreign energy integrate into a body with so little consequence. Again, the only thing we can do is wait and see what happens."
"Thanks for trying, young Midoriya. We're all just a bit depressed because we couldn't do anything to stop it, especially Aizawa," Toshinori said, looking down.
"Don't worry about it. I understand that feeling."
"Speaking of not doing anything, you look awfully fine for someone who just fought an even stronger opponent. Were you just fooling around up there, or what?" Aizawa asked, visibly agitated.
"You should be glad we didn't try to kill each other. If either of us had used more power, this facility and everything in it wouldn't have been able to withstand it. And before you ask how I can tell, this isn't the first time I've fought someone this strong," Joker stated with authority, leaving no room for argument.
Not having the strength to argue further, the Erasure Hero simply sighed. "Then at least tell me what that energy wave was, and don't try to avoid the question. I saw you not only withstanding it, but also generating it yourself."
Joker glanced at the perplexed students before looking back at Aizawa. "We'll talk about this later with the other teachers. Right now, this isn't something the students should hear." He started to walk past Aizawa toward the students.
As he passed, he whispered in his ear, "But rest assured, if I'd known strength of this caliber existed outside of Aincrad, I would've shared it much sooner." Then he moved on, tending to the students' injuries with more healing spells.
Toshinori stepped up to Eraser and leaned in to whisper, "You saw them too, didn't you? The professor's eyes?"
Aizawa's eyes widened.
"How'd you get that idea?" he whispered back.
"Because you normally don't show rage like that. The only person you ever talked to with so much emotion was the professor, back when we were still students at U.A." Then the former No. 1 hero walked away, joining Joker in helping the students.
Placing a hand over his right eye, Aizawa thought, 'Dammit, he's right. I was behaving like one of my students. But why do I feel like I'm back at my desk in school, arguing with the professor, whenever I see him?'
"Sigh... I need to catch up on some sleep."
As soon as he said that, the front door of the facility burst open, and in came Endeavor with about twenty sidekicks and the principal perched on his shoulder. But what shocked Eraser the most was seeing Shoto entering with them.
'Did he go get help? No, that's not something Todoroki would do. He would have been the first to fight that Odin guy... Now that I think about it, what happened after I was flung away by Shigaraki?' Aizawa pondered, watching Shoto fly toward him with flames propelling him.
Landing next to his teacher, the flame user immediately asked, "What happened? Where are the villains? Is everyone alright?"without taking a breath.
"The big shots escaped through portals. As for whether everyone's fine, you should see for yourself," Aizawa said, gesturing toward the unconscious bodies of Yaoyorozu, Haruki, and Ayato.
"Are they—"
"They'll make it," Eraser answered before he could finish. Looking down with regret, Todoroki punched a nearby rock, shattering it into chunks. 'I guess I'm not the only one who blames themselves.'
"So, what happened with you? Last I remember, you were with them."
Slumping down and sitting cross-legged, Shoto answered, "That weird purple smoke guy caught me off guard and teleported me to my old man's agency. It was a bit after you got dragged along with the hand guy."
"So that's what happened. Well, don't blame yourself, we can't do anything about what happened," Aizawa tried to reassure him.
"But I'm supposed to be their leader in combat. How can I not blame myself if I fail to protect anyone the first time that title meant anything?"
"You're not the only one that failed in that regard, Todoroki. None of us were able to protect those three. No one got seriously harmed, so just take this as a lesson and be sure to improve on it."