"Yui, talk to me?"

"I spotted three different Nomus attacking the area dad. Each one of them has a signature drastically different from the last." Yui's high-pitched voice sounds from the earpiece of his suit.

"Is support needed?"

"No, I think the heroes have it handled for now." She says a little hesitantly. "However, there's something strange going in the alleyway a couple of blocks from here. My scans spot three heat signatures. Two of them are down. You need to hurry, Kirito."

"Copy that." He doesn't need to be told twice before he's racing the streets towards the location ping she sends him.

_________________________

His body felt heavy. Unresponsive to his desperate need to move. To get up and do what he came here to do.

A wave of hot, searing anger boils through his veins. Making his pulse beat briskly against his skin. His vision is tunneling, spots of black filling the space not taken by the tears of frustration he inevitably lets out.

"W-why did you do it? Huh? What did my b-brother ever do to you?! That you had to ruin his life!" Iida cries out, voice breaking with every syllable he utters out in anguish.

"To me?" A cold voice says in return. Voice rough and low as he takes one step forward and crouches down. Amusement is evident in his tone. His sword comes up to hang threateningly over the figure laying prone on the ground. An eerie scraping sound emits from the blade as he draws it from the scabbard attached to his back. "Oh, he didn't do anything to me." The vigilante speaks slowly as if explaining the concept to a toddler. "To society on the other hand..."

"S-society?" The teen says, a little dumbfounded despite the icy fear that feels slithering into his insides. Shaking beneath his skin like a rattlesnake as he stared at the blade now resting directly about him. "My brother is a hero! An amazing, selfless hero! All he ever did was help society!"

"Your brother was a fake! A fraud! And I aim to purge every last one of them from this world!" The weight of the man's words echoed around them. It made him feel weak, and insignificant beneath this villain's power. "I'll do so by starting with you." Cold, so very cold.

He couldn't help but close his eyes. Feeling every inch of the coward he feared he was, he waited for his doom to come for him.

He could feel the wind shift above him as the blade sliced through the air. He was going to die down here, wasn't he?

Angry and alone.

A sharp, ringing sound startled him. Making him open his eyes involuntarily.

A blade had struck Stain's sword. Intercepting it before it made contact with Iida.

A boy stood between him and the vigilante, acting like a human shield. Protecting him.

His posture was assured, standing confidently and without flinching in front of a powerful enemy.

"This may sound cliché and all that," A familiar voice drawled. So familiar in fact, that Iida immediately recognized its owner. "But if you want to get to him... You'll have to go through me."

"Midoriya, what are you doing here?!" He asked, surprise and anger once again overlapping his relief.

"Iida, I'm glad I got here in time. But we'll talk later." His voice was lower than usual. More...serious. It made Iida's guts churn ominously.

"You can't! He's too strong! Run while you still can!"

"Look who finally decided to act like a hero! You were singing a different tune a few moments ago, brat." Stain snarled, taking a step back and retracting his sword slightly. Obviously weary of the new arrival. "Where was your heroic speech when I was dealing with this guy?" He asked, mockingly gesturing to the fallen hero, Native, to his left. A man Iida had admittedly, appallingly forgotten about.

"Yui, you know what to do..." Kirito whispered into his mouthpiece. Knowing his daughter wouldn't let him down.

"You..." Stain started, his voice close to a growl. "You're the brat the league is after."

Looking up at the vigilante. He parted his feet and crouched lower, falling into an all too familiar stance.

Standing there, facing each other in mirrored battle stances. Stain holding up his elbow, sword pointing down while Izuku lowers his body. Another hand coming up behind him to settle his center of gravity. The motion felt methodical and systematic. He could almost picture the time hanging in the space between them. Counting down the seconds before the duel would commence.

Narrowing his eyes, he lets out a slow breath, eyes shining with an unspoken challenge.

Everything happens too fast from then on. Stain is the first one to move. Charging at Izuku with an almost inhuman speed. Izuku followed his cue a moment later. The vigilante starts his attack with three consecutive blows. Kirito dodges two, body moving from left to right before blocking the third with a thrust of his weapon.

The echo of metal on metal rebounds and spreads through the narrow alley. Creating something akin to a sonar ripple effect.

He counters instantly with a two-hit combo, managing to catch stain's arm at the shoulder. Drawing a thin but deep line of blood from the man. His victory is short-lived as the vigilante doesn't even flinch at the wound. Immediately going in for his own hit, slashing at him with a speed too fast to parry.

His only choice is to jump back. Narrowly missing getting cut by an inch. His feet skid across the asphalt as he crouches low once again.

Stain doesn't falter, nor does he give him any time to recover. The man rushes at him once again, elbow digging into his gut with a force that almost brings him to his knees, knocking the breath out of him in the process. Avoiding the sword careening towards his head, Kirito kicks his feet off the man's own shoulders in order to launch himself into a flip, effectively dodging the attack.

His feet land gracefully, years of training and instincts translating into his every move. He fights the urge to smirk. It's been too long since he's fought a proper opponent.

Breathing in deeply to settle his nerves, he resigns himself to using both of his swords tonight. He might not have a choice but to stop holding back.

Iida's and Native's lives rested on his shoulders after all.

From his place a couple of steps ahead, Stain grins back sinisterly. His red eyes seem to almost glow in the dark.

"You're good." The vigilante acknowledges with a serious nod. His grin only gets wider as his tongue darts out to lick his lips. The action makes shivers run down Kirito's spine. Reminding him of a certain psychopath. "Still, I won't let you get in the way of my crusade."

"Like I said. You'll have to go through me."

"So be it."

Kirito is the first one to charge this time. Drawing his powers at a higher level as he runs straight at the man. Clinking his swords together and watching as they seem to almost glow with power. Or maybe that was just his memory playing tricks on him.

He hits the vigilante from multiple angles, satisfied when his actions force the man to back away. Not relenting one bit, immediately barreling his attacks with a broad slash.

Their swords cross too many times to count. The vigilante was just as tenacious and well-trained with his weapons as he was.

However, Izuku feels it. The slow shift of power. The steady rise of the force behind each one of his hits. He was the one leading the moves of this fight.

Stain was getting tired. It was inevitable. Not by a large margin, but enough for Izuku to get the upper hand.

"Faster." He mutters under his breath, painfully aware that Iida's future rested on his ability to stand his ground. On his capacity to win.

Soon enough, his mind is solely focused on the fight. The only sound that reaches his ears, is that of his own breathing and the clashing of his swords. He blocks the blade heading his way, grunting as he responds with a slash of his own. The action proves efficient, as a clean line of blood is drawn out of Stain's cheek. He sees the exact moment, as if in slow motion, as the vigilante's eyes widen and then narrow dangerously. Obviously angrier now. Taking the momentary distraction to his advantage, he brings down his own blade, aiming for the man's side.

However, before his sword makes contact, his entire body seizes up. As if his muscles simply refuse to respond to his demands. Contracting and stiffening, effectively sending him crashing to the ground.

"What the-"Stain doesn't let him finish his thought, immediately crouching down in front of him. His eyes are triumphant as his gaze fixes itself on him. Red orbs filled to the brim with bloodlust. It's only then that he sees it. The small, almost imperceptible cut on his upper left arm. He hadn't even noticed he'd been cut. The slash was barely the size of a paper cut.

But that was all it took, wasn't it?

For him to lose.

He watches helplessly as the villain straightens up from his crouch, body moving slowly, now that there was no rush to move.

He urges his limbs to respond to his call. Desperately trying to move. Yet, his body remains as still as the icy sheen of a frozen lake.

It brings him back to a time when he'd been just as helpless. Watching as a blade was thrust into his body time and time again.

He wasn't the one in danger this time, however. Iida was. And the teen was going to die because Izuku was once again too slow, too confident. Too weak.

A thought suddenly occurs to him then. Interrupting his spiraling thoughts with an epiphany he doesn't believe he didn't think of before.

Closing his eyes, ignoring the vigilante's chuckle above him, he concentrates on his powers. Trying to draw upon a skill he never tested before.

A skill he'd spent a lot of time improving after that day in the desert canyon.

"Activate paralysis buff." He whispers, voice too low for anyone but his own ears.

At first, he thinks that maybe, it was too good to be true. He hadn't tested the skill in this world, after all.

However, just as he's about to give up on the idea, he feels it. His body slowly gaining back feeling. His fingers twitch, then his legs. And before Stain has even reached Iida's prone form, Izuku is already back on his feet.

"How did you-" "Midoriya!"

"I'm not going down that easily, Stain."

Growling, they charge at each other once more.

This time, Izuku knows better than to let himself take any sort of hit.

The fight doesn't last long, however. For before their blades even clash. A wave of fire comes in between them. Effectively cutting off Stain from his victims and his opponent.

"Took you long enough Todoroki."

"Yeah, well, next time, be more precise when sending messages." A faints 'oops' Is heard through his earpiece as the ice and fire user retorts in his usual monotone voice. Fire dances between his fingers as his mismatched eyes settle on the enemy before them. "How do you manage to always get into fights?" He sounds almost exasperated. "Don't answer that."

"Another uninvited interference." The vigilante's words draw back their attention. Making them all too aware of their current predicament.

"Careful not to get hit with his blade, Todoroki." He warns, moving to stand beside the fire user. "If he licks your blood, it's over."

"So, you've figured it out." Stain sounds almost impressed. "Let's get this over with already."

They don't need to be told twice.

The fight goes on for what feels like forever, but what couldn't have been more than a few minutes.

Now, with Todoroki's powers in the mix, Stain finds himself more and more cornered. They fight in tandem. Moving swiftly as if they'd been trained to do so for years. A well-oiled machine in the face of a monster.

When Iida finally joins the fight, the battle is already over for the vigilante.

Dodging consecutive hits from the swordsman, his side grazes the inferno blocking his retreat. Only for a quirk-powered kick to hit him right in the head.

When the fighting dies down, and they make sure that the villain is secured, they finally take some time to breathe.

Their backup doesn't take long to arrive after that.

Izuku lets himself lean against the side of the building for a minute before huffing and pushing off of it. Knowing he still had work to do.

With three Nomus on the loose, who knows what kind of chaos was out there. Not to mention the talk he'd been postponing with Iida.

Just as he's about to head out of the alleyway, moving to join the huddle of heroes and his classmates, something draws his attention.

The first thing he hears is the shifting of wind behind him. Followed by Yui's voice shouting in his ear about an incoming threat. Before he can even begin to make sense of it, something pierces his shoulders and his feet are suddenly off the ground.

He hears shouting from beneath him, but the creature holding him, who he only now realizes is a Nomu, is only going further up and away.

Pain radiates from his shoulders, the place where two sharp talons are impaled, digging into his skin and muscle. He digs into his pocket in search of a weapon to defend himself and all he finds is a dagger he'd taken off Stain's fallen form earlier.

The moment his fingers make contact with the metal, he feels something click into place.

Twirling the knife between nimble fingers, equipped with a dexterity he shouldn't have with an unfamiliar weapon, he stabs the Nomu right in the brain. Holding back a gag as the organ crumbles under the force of his hit.

It's only then that he becomes aware of just how high the creature had taken them. Watching as the world shifted and the ground rushed to meet them at a blinding pace.

However, just as he thinks he might not make it out of this, a figure jumps up, interrupting his fall by tackling him to the side and stopping his momentum.

The action is so abrupt and fast that Izuku's mind doesn't register his savior's identity until they're both safely back on the ground.

Stain stands proudly in front of him, body hunched in on himself despite his imposing presence.

A deep-rooted sense of dread and blood-lust seems to ooze out of his very existence.

It's only when he looks up, meeting the vigilante's eyes that he realizes that the man had lost consciousness.

His vision dims then, blood loss finally catching up to him as the world dies down and consciousness leaves his body.

Chapter 19 is already up on my patreon if you want to read it early! link is in my wattpad profile !