Chapter 13: ——~(11)~——

"When you're tired,

it's a sign you're almost at

the end of your fight."

-TD Jakes

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As he felt the oncoming cold slinking straight toward his leg, Deku let out a sigh. It was fast, that much was certain, but he was on guard as well. To only use half of his quirk's capacity against him was slightly degrading. He skidded to the side, leaving the ice to flare up harmlessly. The multi-colored teen let out a sound that vaguely resembled annoyance, before changing course in an attempt to target Shigaraki. He produced a rather weak amount of lighting that hit near his foot as a warning.

"You're going to be fighting me, I'm afraid."

'...This restriction of mine is troublesome as always. If it was stronger, I could have blown through that sheet of ice he has around his body. Well, I don't want to blow up all of my nerves and capillaries in my arms at this moment, so it is necessary. That would put me out of the fight entirely. In a way, it forces me to talk to people, in an attempt to buy time.'

Restriction #1: The more powerful the lightning, the more time it takes to form.

 "Tch."

"Get out of the way, half-n'-half! This bastard is mine!"

Deku barely skirted the range of the explosion, before coming upwards in a role just in time to avoid an ice spike.

'This could be... dangerous. What's keeping Shigaraki and Kurogiri? They probably wouldn't leave me for the wolves... Probably.'

He risked turning around to get a full grasp of the situation. A large and colorful assortment of quirks had arrived.

'They're fighting the other students? We've wasted too much time. All Might should be coming any second now, and then he can be taken out by the Nomu. I just have to buy time until then. Maybe Kurogiri can separate them again?'

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"Hey bastard, are you sure you should be distracted right now?!"

Bakugo's smile stretched to the highest point possible, and his bloodlust followed. He proceeded to lunge with an explosion at the ready. However, Deku already had a plan for this. He grabbed onto the grenade styled gauntlet and pulled. The resulting explosion took place behind his back. The expression of shock that Bakugo made was strangely therapeutic, but he focused more on getting out of the way of Todoroki's ice creeping up along the floor. He moved past Bakugo as quickly as possible, before launching a long sweeping attack toward Bakugo's inner knee caps, just in time for him to fall into the ice. The ice smoothed over into a flat surface at the very last second.

'Rather impressive reflexes you've got there. However...'

He flipped his hand backward, and a singular bolt of lightning came out. But it more than made up for its' lack of quantity with its' quality. This was indeed a lightning bolt comparable with the real deal. Close to 15 million watts with a temperature three times that of the surface of the sun.

'...It's not like there aren't repercussions though. I haven't even had this quirk for more than a year, so my body isn't used to such concentrated force. Storing this much power and then using it is also a serious drain on my stamina. I mainly only have third-degree burns, so this is much better than last time. I still have my other hand if it comes down to it. Bakugo's probably dead now... I can't even feel anything, huh? I'm not sure why I expected anything different.'

He turned and looked at the scene only to find him... alive? He was covered in burns, but he was most certainly alive. The ice underneath him was melted entirely, causing the lightning to just continue to fly straight forward. It eventually hit a tree and caused a minor electric charge than made the duo's muscles move erratically, but that did no actual damage.

"...I know you have fast reflexes, but no human should be able to react faster than lightning. No, you didn't realize what you were doing, did you? My strongest attack got done in by intuition... This is certainly an interesting situation. But weren't you the one who swore that you would never use your fire? Don't look so surprised, do you think we wouldn't have investigated the No. 2 hero? This is, indeed, rather ironic."

The kid looked like the end of the world had just happened, and to him alone. His own little hell would be a better description, perhaps. Well, it worked out well for Deku, so he didn't care. Electrons accumulated more and more, twitching under his skin almost like it was begging to be used. The electrical environment caused his pulse to race in excitement, as his blood sung with anticipation. It was not as potent as the other one, but that didn't matter because he was much closer now. He lifted up, prepared to fire, and then...

Well, death had arrived.

It was such a pressuring feeling that it almost made him go weak in the knees. Almost filled him with fear and terror. Yet, at the same time, he craved it. He was just so tired these days. Tired of putting in the effort, tired of pretending that he actually felt something. He wasn't even sure why he was bothering with this whole revenge plan in the first place. He didn't feel like killing anything was worth it anymore.

His soul died after he fell off that rooftop, no, it died when he killed that woman.

So that's why when his body involuntarily moved of its' own accord, he felt like crying. At the last second, the trajectory of his lightning changed toward the ground instead, propelling him away from the punch. The wind carried him further away from the students, and all he could do was watch with wide eyes as they were rescued. He even managed to grab Iida in that little time frame. He was a figure of legends, a punisher of all things evil, and the ultimate symbol of good. He was...

"...All Might."