Chapter 102

Terror, Pain and Heartbreak: Kindred Spirits Clash!

The time for Class 1-A's Pop Quiz had finally arrived.

Aizawa sauntered calmly ahead of his students, hands deep in his pockets and shoulders slouched tiredly. He glanced without raising his head to the concrete structures enclosing the street, imprisoning them within this concrete jungle, and eyed the window reflections in search of the lioness stalking them.

Amaririsu's presence was undetectable even to his Pro eyes. She didn't just meld into the shadows, she was the shadows—always there, following their every step, but never seen.

Just as he expected.

His students, the little fools, they were all so blissfully unaware of the hell they were about to endure at the hands of Amaririsu Yūhi. They hadn't figured out his rational deception; everyone exhibited joy or relief when he explained today's "class" of "Rescue Training" at Ground Beta. He explained they would be working together in small squads to locate their classmates, held prisoner by Villains in a medium-sized radius within an urban area.

Unlike their training the day before, which centered on a known location for a hostage situation and combating a Villain team, his students believed they would be on the clock to locate the possible Villain base and hostages before the Villains returned. A high-risk stealth mission, he explained it as. One with fatal consequences for the innocent bystanders caught up in the Villain's schemes.

For a Pro Hero, such a mission was part of the job.

However, his students wholly believed the threat of the Pop Quiz was over, at least for this period—that should've been the single clue they needed to realize the truth. But no. Not a single student could see the truth, all distracted by irrationality.

They were excited to play Hero.

To face this training simulation as a sort of game, as a mere training scenario, was not only illogical, it was disrespectful to the Pro Heroes and the civilians who lost their lives through the years on these sorts of missions.

Normally, Aizawa would've set them straight. He despised irrationality, and couldn't stand to watch students take their training so casually.

For children who have encountered Villains, you still fail to recognize the dangers of this occupation.

The tired teacher sighed and shut his eyes, wishing he could nap while walking.

Normally, he would've straightened their attitudes out. Normally. But today was an abnormal day. Today he left their childish attitudes and their fate in the hands of Amaririsu Yūhi.

"I obviously won't inflict fatal injuries to your students. But are there any other limitations you'd like me to adhere by?"

"No permanent injuries. Beyond that, do whatever you please. Poison their hearts with fear. Shatter their bones. Bleed their spirits to their last drops of blood. A real Villain wouldn't hold back, not even against children." Aizawa eyed her seriously. "Make them believe you are a true Villain. Make the mere sight of you paralyze them in fear. Burn your visage into their memories. Let the name The Last Shinobi: Amaririsu Yūhi be all it takes to make them bend in terror and plea for mercy."

He recalled her sadistic smile and the amused hums of the two Crows.

"As you wish."

Aizawa tucked his chin into his chest and smiled as a Villain might.

Let's see what you can do, Yūhi. Impress me.

He knew what his role was. His part in this test was simple.

Unbeknownst to the children of Class 1-A, they were walking themselves to the gallows.

All that remained was the execution.

I hope we're all able to focus despite the major Pop Quiz today, Midoriya thought as he and his classmates, dressed in their Hero outfits, strolled deeper into Ground Beta.

Admittedly, he was pretty nervous about it. Something about their upcoming Pop Quiz didn't feel like the normal rational deceptions Mr. Aizawa usually pulled on them. And the fact it was half their grade at stake…

We don't even know what class it will be for, or when our teachers will spring it on us. Midoriya brought his gloved hands together and nervously twiddled his pointer fingers. A major Pop Quiz right before our Finals. If any of us fail it, then we'll have no choice but to ace our Finals with top marks, otherwise we'd completely fail the semester. I knew U.A. would be a tough school, especially after everything Mr. Aizawa has already thrown at us, but I never expected this.

In a way, though, it makes sense. Just like today's training exercise, being a Pro means constantly battling the odds in strictly pass or fail scenarios. There isn't a middle ground when lives are at stake. I can't fail this. I won't be able to call myself a Pro Hero if I fail our Pop Quiz.

The One For All inheritor shut his eyes and sighed heavily. But it still makes me really nervous!

At that moment, he felt something…strange. His head grew light. The dark world of his shut eyes seemed to spin slightly, nearly causing him to stumble. Opening his eyes, he tried to shake the feeling off. Found that shaking his head only exacerbated the issue.

"Am I so nervous I'm getting lightheaded?" he muttered. He inhaled a controlled, deep breath from his diaphragm. Then exhaled.

Nothing changed.

The giggling of children far too young to be at their school snapped his attention up. The aspiring Hero slowly came to a halt. He looked around at the street and the alleyways between buildings, to his classmates and teacher as they walked without a care in the world.

"Did…anyone else hear that?" he asked out loud.

Slightly ahead of him by a few steps, Uraraka paused and turned back. She wore a curious expression.

"Hear what, Deku?" she asked.

"I heard children giggling."

"Giggling?" She tilted her head to the side. "I didn't hear anything like that."

His head snapped to the left, towards one of the empty faux banks.

"I heard it again," he said, voice serious and eyes on the building. "I think it's coming from there. They…sound like they're having fun, but… How did they even get on campus?"

"Are you sure you're all right, Midoriya?" Iida asked, walking up to him. "I'm not hearing anything either, though that may be because of my helmet."

"I mean, I'm nervous about our Pop Quiz. But… There it is again! Only this time it was coming from that building posing as a diner!"

"Are you just trying to psyche us out, Midoriya?!" Mineta accused. "Well, it's not going to work! You won't trick me—"

Midoriya stiffened as he heard a sharp cry, one of full of pain. This time his classmates heard it, too. Everyone stopped, startled or suspicious; their attention was drawn to a nearby alleyway.

Without thinking, Midoriya activated his Full Cowling, green energy that appeared like electricity beginning to crackle around him, and prepared to launch after the child in need of help.

Aizawa suddenly appeared in front of him, arm out to block his path.

"Stay back!" he ordered.

The student hesitated and felt an unnerving chill race down his spine. He recognized that tone. It was the same one his teacher used when the League of Villains attacked the U.S.J.

"Wh- what's going on, Mr. Aizawa?"

The Erasure Hero grabbed his yellow goggles and pulled them over his eyes. The action alone answered the question. Yet his teacher deigned him a verbal response, too.

"It's her. What you're hearing is a part of an illusion a Villain has casted on this area. Look around you. The entrance we entered through is gone."

Everyone looked. Many of his classmates gasped in shock.

The entrance was, in fact, gone. A maze of ancient Japanese buildings stood behind them, roads unpaved but frequently traveled from the look of it. It was like an entire ancient city had sprung up in their training grounds where the entrance used to be.

"We must have walked into it when we entered Ground Beta," Aizawa analyzed. "Who knows how long we've been walking, or how far we are from the entrance now."

He glanced back at his students. "All of you stay put! We're the only real presence here. Everything else is an illusion. The sounds you hear, the sensations she imparts onto you, anything you might see is fake."

"So we need to find the illusion caster? Shoji—"

"Don't bother asking him, Igarashi," Aizawa cut her off. "Weren't you listening? Everything here is an illusion. Anything Shoji can hear or see will be something she uses to draw me or one of you off."

"He's right," said Shoji, Dupli-Arms formed into varying eyes and ears. "I can hear the laughter and cries of several children from all directions. I can't pinpoint the casters location."

"This isn't some low-level Villain at the U.S.J.," their teacher continued, beginning to patrol around his class. "She's a Villain on the rise, one who may be as skilled and as dangerous as The Hero Killer: Stain."

Midoriya felt his throat tighten. The giggles and the cries of pain were growing louder. Closer. Closing in all around them. Though the sky above the buildings was open, though the street was wide, it all felt so cramped. Like he was back in the alleyway again, fighting for his life and the lives of his friends.

A Villain…as skilled as Stain?

"They're calling her The Last Shinobi."

"The Last…Shinobi?" the One For All inheritor muttered.

"It wasn't until recently we were able to confirm she wields multiple Quirks," Aizawa continued. "Be on your guard. Kaminari, can you contact the school?"

"No, my equipment is being jammed," he informed, a nervous tremble to his voice.

"My phone doesn't have any service," Todoroki followed.

"Mine doesn't either," said Jiro.

This is bad, Midoriya thought, eyes flicking around. Despite the increased security, this Villain found a way to infiltrate our campus and cut us off from the other teachers. It's just like the League of Villains attack on the U.S.J. The media reported so heavily on the attack, it's no wonder she is able to mimic it. Or has she perfected it?

Clutching his hands into fists, he fought against the desire to leap at the cries of pain from children in apparent need.

And just like that day, All Might has already pushed himself to his limit.

They'd met this morning in the teacher's lounge, alone. He had wanted to talk to him about the training exercise yesterday, how he held back against his classmates out of fear of hurting them. Scold him, really. Then he mentioned vaguely of an early morning secret mission he'd taken on.

"I won't be able to teach your class today, unfortunately. There was a mission only I could do this morning and it pushed me to my limit. So make sure you give it your all today, all right?"

This was bad. He'd barely made it out of that alleyway with the others in their battle against Stain. And, in the end, even after they defeated him, it was Stain alone who held the strength to stand up again. It was Stain who held the strongest convictions of all the Heroes he encountered that day.

The world around them began to shift. The buildings faded from existence, the concrete earth beneath them abruptly transformed into a field of grass and the street became a hill overlooking a river. A teenager, a young man, stood at the edge with his back to the cliffs edge. Blood stained his cheeks.

Midoriya inhaled sharply as others gasped or covered their mouths when they realized his eyes were missing. Plucked from his skull.

He said nothing. But when he smiled and took a step back towards the cliffs edge, everything he wanted to say was imparted onto all who witnessed it. The pain, the grief, the love, the happiness, the sorrow, the guilt; they felt it all from this stranger in that smile.

It was then a small child with wild blue hair and tears streaming down her face raced through their group, phasing through their solid forms, desperately trying to reach the young man.

"Of everything I ever accomplished, of everything I ever did," the stranger spoke to the crying girl, "being your hero will always be my greatest achievement. I'm so happy I could be your cousin, little sis. Thank you…for everything."

The girl reached her hand out, yet she was too late. Midoriya's heart jumped and thundered into his throat and his stomach dropped as the stranger collapsed backwards off the cliff.

Her small hand missed his.

"Shisui!" she cried out terribly.

A thick raindrop plopped on the top of his head. Then another. And another. The child's legs collapsed beneath her, small arms hugging around her trembling frame. Harsh and ragged sobs broke free from her lips. Tormented wails tore at their hearts and souls.

It began to downpour over them. They were soaked within seconds.

The rain wasn't real. The scene wasn't real, not for them. Yet…Midoriya knew for that child, this was all too real.

They watched her sob for what felt like an eternity. Girls like Ashido, Uraraka and Yaoyorozu watched on with tears in their eyes. The One For All inheritor, too, felt the sting of tears. Everyone else watched in solemn silence, or ignored the scene in search of the Villain.

Again the world around them began to shift. The rain stopped. Their bodies and clothes remained soaked.

They witnessed an empty ancient Japanese village district, taped off by police. Shattered windows, broken down doors, blood stains painting walls and the earth itself; the homes were broken. And in the street, the corpses of men, women and children scattered everywhere.

Midoriya felt sick.

Again they saw the blue-haired girl. Traumatized eyes gazed emptily upon the scene, tears flowing down her cheeks at the death she was surrounded by.

"Wha- what is all this?" Mineta whimpered.

A forest replaced the district. For the briefest of moments, the giggling returned. Three children, two boys and one girl, raced through the trees, playing together. The blue-haired girl looked happy.

Then their world shuddered. The girl let out a horrid cry. They could only watch one of the boy's cut her face open then kill her friend. They could only watch her hold the dying boy in her arms as she sobbed.

"Do you think this is some sort of game, Villain!" Igarashi shouted. She was trembling with rage. "Do you think death and suffering is some kind of joke?"

The illusion shuddered violently. Suddenly they were thrust back into Ground Beta, and their previously soaked clothes and bodies became dry once more.

"A joke?" hissed a familiar voice.

Midoriya slowly lifted his eyes to the nearby street lamp, and gasped. A red eye gleamed beneath the shadow her wild blue hair casted over her face; it was the heart of a fire tornado, swirling and hateful, knowing only destruction and devastation. Killing intent swam through Class 1-A, brushing against their bodies like hungry sharks toying with their prey.

"No. It isn't a joke to me. It isn't an illusion. It's real. Every single painful moment of it. All of you are the ones who treat this world like a game. Like a joke," she spat. "You and your prestigious schools, your precious titles of Hero and Villain. They're only words. Utterly meaningless. Those who claim the name of Hero seek only to gain fame and attention, willfully ignorant to the suffering in this world so long as they make their money. When everything I ever loved was ripped from me, when I was sobbing, wishing for my pain to end, where were your Heroes, huh?!"

Igarashi recoiled. Everyone did, to a degree. The killing intent swirled around them, stole the air they hoped to continue breathing, made their muscles feel stiff and their hearts hammer against their chests. Made them feel cold. Invisible needles pricked at their skin. Shivers and shudders danced at the base of their necks, their primal instincts triggering the fight-or-flight response at highest alert.

"And Villains," she hissed. "They steal what cannot be replaced! I thought…I thought maybe this school might actually take the word Hero seriously. I thought this world would change if I tried to relinquish my suffering and hatred to become a Hero." Her eyes sharpened. "But nothing changes. This society is built on greed and fame. You're all so pampered. So sheltered and naïve. I can't stand it!"

Aizawa maneuvered through his students to stand guard in front of them.

"I'm impressed you managed to escape custody. But that doesn't explain why you've come back."

The Last Shinobi's hateful eyes fell onto their teacher. "You're a failure as a teacher. None of these children understand the darkness in this world. They don't understand suffering. They're brats! Look at them!" She gestured to the group. "Some of them already think they're Heroes, all because they have a costume and arrogance. I could kill every single one of them."

"Let's see you try, you damn Villain!" Bakugo shouted.

The aura around her darkened. The air grew thinner.

"I'll inflict suffering onto all of them," she promised darkly. Her harsh and terrifying gaze fell upon them individually. "I'll break every single one of you. All of you will understand what I've suffered. You'll shed the same tears I have, you'll experience the same heartbreak and terror and loneliness this world has forced upon me. But you."

The Last Shinobi singled out Bakugo, eyes searing into his.

"And all those like you will be purged. You're the kind of person I hate the most. You're the kind of false Hero who couldn't save the people I loved."

Bakugo ground his teeth together. Aizawa clutched his scarf in one hand.

"Once this battle begins, I want all of you to run for the entrance," he spoke calmly and to the point. "The little glimpse you saw of her skills was only a fraction of her real abilities; none of you stand a chance in one on one combat against her. I'll hold this Villain here. Run and find any teachers you can then tell them to come straight to Ground Beta."

No one had the opportunity to protest. Their teacher dashed forward, throwing his scarf as soon as he was in range. The Last Shinobi evaded into a back-flip, landing gracefully on the pavement. She spun two short, onyx blades into her hands.

"You heard Mr. Aizawa! Back to the entrance!" Iida rallied his classmates.

Every instinct of Midoriya's wanted to ignore his friend. It demanded him to act, to fight against this girl who was consumed by darkness so he could reach through it and save her. He wanted to ignore all the laws that strictly stated the use of Quirks to fight against Villains was forbidden unless one possessed a license to do so.

He stood half-turned to join his classmates in their retreat, green eyes looking back at the battle between the Erasure Hero and The Last Shinobi.

Aizawa's hairs stood on end. Small cuts were already torn through the fabric of his outfit along his left sleeve and chest. The Villain danced gracefully on her toes, evading the capture weapon and physical blows Aizawa struck with.

Blades spinning deftly in her hands, she feinted a stabbing attack with her left hand and quickly slashed with her right, tearing through the fabric of his pant leg and opening a wound along his thigh. Then, with a twirl of her blade, she switched the knife in her left hand into reverse grip, ducking beneath Eraser Head's scarf then lunging up in an effort to open a vertical wound from his belly to his throat.

The Pro Hero narrowly evaded back with a hop. The Last Shinobi threw her knife. Eraser Head dodged his head out of the way, the blade whistling past his face, failing to draw blood.

His hair fell.

In the span of one blink, the Villain vanished and re-materialized before his eyes fully opened again. The blade she'd thrown was back in her possession, and she was in perfect range to strike at his exposed back.

With the sense only a veteran Pro Hero could possess, Aizawa preemptively threw his scarf for the nearby street lamp when she vanished, feigning an attempt to capture her before he blinked. After all, this Villain already knew the limitations of his Quirk, and Aizawa was prepared for her to exploit it.

The scarf yanked him up and through the air faster than he could physically evade. In the same movement he launched the other end of his scarf back at the Villain, who had just finished her failed fatal strike.

Midoriya's heart soared with hope when the capture weapon wrapped around her left wrist. Eraser Head was truly amazing; this fight was all but finished now that he had even one weapon hand captured. The Last Shinobi tried to cut the binding.

She can't cut through it, Midoriya analyzed. Mr. Aizawa's capture weapon isn't exactly a scarf, or made from materials of a normal fabric. It's made from carbon fibers and a special metal alloy. Her blades may be sharp, but they won't be able to free her.

The momentum of Eraser Head's big leap tugged the Villain along with him. She dug her heels in, dropping down into a crouch, fighting not to be torn off her feet. With a sudden hue of green around her right blade, the Last Shinobi impaled the weapon into the pavement.

She braced her right foot against it, and the blade held, granting her a point of solid leverage to hold her ground in this very dangerous game of tug-of-war. The girl didn't stop there. She dropped the captured kunai, catching it with her right hand to then impale it into the pavement as well. Bracing her left foot on the hilt of the blade, the soles of her sandals began to emit a hue of blue light while she struggled against the capture weapon. Trying desperately to bring her right hand and left hand closer together.

Aizawa swung himself onto the top of the street lamp, mirroring her previous position and freeing the other half of his scarf for use. He deftly controlled his weapon and captured her right wrist.

He's got her!

"Give up, kid. Nothing good will come from this vendetta you've chosen," said Aizawa.

"Chosen?!" she spat. "I didn't choose any of this!" The Villain brought her bound wrists closer together. "When my Big Brother was murdered, when my parents and Clan were slaughtered in the middle of the night, when the boy I considered a brother betrayed me, what choice did I have!" she screamed. "I never had a choice! This path was forced upon me by the darkness in this world! This vendetta is my family's gift to me!"

"This is a cruel world. But your family wouldn't want this for you, kid. They wouldn't call this hatred of yours a gift. You've been branded with a Curse."

"Gift, Curse, it's all the same! This is the inheritance they left me! It's just like Stain said: These streets must run with the blood of hypocrites! But I've added my own tenets to his Creed; I have my own convictions to complete. False Heroes, bastard Villains, the sheep that worship either side and the Shepherds who herd them will all be purged!"

Midoriya felt himself take an unconscious step further away from the girl. A bead of warm sweat slid down his cheek, caused by the fear he felt from the strength of her convictions.

"And those who would try to stop me from accomplishing this goal…"

Her struggles bore fruit. She brought her hands together to weave a strange sign language.

"Will burn!"

Flames burst forth from her mouth, chasing along the scarf binding her on a destructive path straight to Eraser Head. The Pro Hero never had the chance to dodge.

The flames exploded upon impact. What remained of the scarf binding her wrists became kindling, burning on the ground around her until only embers glowed. And then even they faded. From the plume of smoke, the Pro Hero Eraser Head fell lifelessly off the street lamp, his clothes tattered and singed and his skin bearing visible signs of burns.

He crashed hard against the pavement. And did not move.

"No. Mr. Aizawa," Midoriya gasped.

She…she defeated him with a single attack. I thought her Quirks were a speed enhancement and some type of warping ability.

"It wasn't until recently we were able to confirm she wields multiple Quirks."

Midoriya swallowed roughly. How many Quirks does she have? We've seen speed, warping, illusions and now a fire emitting Quirk. Her flames, are they as strong as Todoroki's? Stronger? What do I do? I can't leave Mr. Aizawa at her mercy. He could feel his body trying to cool itself off. But can I grab him and run away in time? I think she's as fast as Yukiko. Maybe faster. And what if she catches me in another illusion?

What did he do? What could he do?

There has to be some sort of limitation to her Quirks. Come on. Think!

His body wouldn't budge.

You need to act! Move! Come on!

The Villain yanked her knives free from the pavement. Then she slowly turned around, red eye burning through the blue strands of hair right at him. Midoriya stiffened and took an involuntary step back.

"He told you run, didn't he?" she hissed. "And yet you stand here still. Not acting to help your teacher. Not following his command. You're indecisive." She turned around fully.

He gulped and took another involuntary step back.

"Indecision is the worst trait for someone who thinks they can be a Hero. Indecision leads to innocent people dying. People like my family and Clan."

She took a single step forward. At that moment, he felt cold, invisible claws bury themselves into his flesh. His entire body went numb, becoming paralyzed.

Wh- what is this? I- I can't move! And my heart, it feels so tight and it won't slow down!

He tried to swallow, but his mouth was dryer than the desert. He tried to clench his trembling fingers into fists.

The burning red eye noticed all of it. It glimmered majestically with darkness.

"What you're feeling right now is terror," she explained in an emotionless voice. "You've witnessed one of your protectors fall right in front of you. Now what is left for you to do? Fighting? Yet it feels hopeless, doesn't it?"

It did. It absolutely did.

She took another step forward. The claws buried deeper into his flesh. Midoriya grunted. He was beginning to feel nauseous. The contents of his stomach were climbing up his throat.

"You're utterly helpless. Hopeless. You are so afraid your entire body is trembling. What next, Hero? Choose your next move wisely."

The Last Shinobi flashed forward, reappearing within arms distance of Midoriya in an instant. The Hero trainee gasped and cried out wordlessly. Instincts told him to flee, to run as far away as he could; he tried and tripped on his own feet in the process, crashing roughly to the ground.

His entire body was trembling. His back felt soaked, his hair damp. Green eyes were wide and his mouth slightly open.

She took another methodical step forward.

I…I have to run! I have to get away from her! But—

"I can't move. It's like I'm buried in cement."

Midoriya gasped. "How did you—"

"Read my mind?" Again she said exactly what he was thinking, word for word. "Does she have a Telepathic Quirk? No, stop it! Stop reading my mind!"

"Stop!" they yelled in unison. His voice was full of terror. She mocked it, as if mimicking a whining child.

What curled onto her lips wasn't a smile. It was the mockery of a smile, dark as the blackness of an empty void.

"With these eyes, I can see into the future," said The Last Shinobi. "You should know the classmates who ran away, the ones who aren't coming back for you, are running right into a trap. You'll be too late to save all of them, though."

The Last Shinobi crouched in front of him and stared directly into his eyes. The scar on her face was visible. Tangible. And though the flesh had healed, the wound had not. She was still bleeding inside. Still crying. She needed to be saved, yet…

The red and lavender eyes branded his soul with terror.

He couldn't breathe.

"Where is your Symbol of Peace now? Is he coming to save you, Hero? Will he come if you cry out his name loud enough?" she whispered spitefully. "Tch, Symbol of Peace. This world worships him and believes everyone is safe because he exists. It gives reason for these so-called Heroes to relax, to take their jobs lightly. It makes this society of Heroes weak. I'm not fool enough to believe I can kill All Might. But I can kill you. His chosen successor."

Midoriya inhaled sharply. No. No. She couldn't know…

"That will break him. Then he'll understand the pain his Symbol causes me. He made the Heroes who could've saved my family lazy and weak. Without another Symbol of Peace, Villains will rise up and bring more pain to the world. Then, as new Heroes arise with an understanding of true pain, they'll build a society of pillars. A true Hero society, not a society built around one mortal, fragile old man.

"How can she know about that?" Midoriya gasped again when she repeated his thought out loud for him. "My eyes grant me sight you couldn't possibly imagine. And All Might's time is coming to an end. Now run along, Hero. You have classmates to fail saving."

Something suddenly wrapped around his waist and yanked him through the air, farther away from the Villain. Ice cascaded towards The Last Shinobi, who evaded with a single powerful leap. She landed on the side of a building, a blue hue around the soles of her feet, and flickered away.

"Nice work, Asui, Todoroki," Iida congratulated once Midoriya was back on his feet.

"It's Tsu. Ribbit."

"Are you all right, Deku?" asked Uraraka, placing a hand on his arm.

He was still trembling. He couldn't find the strength to speak, and oxygen seemed utterly absent.

"You should know the classmates who ran away, the ones who aren't coming back for you, are running right into a trap. You'll be too late to save all of them, though."

Midoriya's eyes widened. He looked around quickly at the gathered group. Asui, Iida, Todoroki, Uraraka and Igarashi had returned for him.

Everyone else was…

"We have to stop them!" he said, Full Cowling activating. "They're running right into a trap!"

"Wha—"

"Of course," Todoroki whipped around to face where their classmates had run, interrupting Uraraka. "She's going to cut off our exit."

Midoriya prepared to dash after his classmates, but Igarashi's hand snatched his arm and held him in place.

"What are you doing?!" he demanded, full of emotion.

"Stop and think for a moment, Midoriya," she ordered sternly. "We'll only end up falling into one trap after another if we're reactive."

"Yukiko is right," Tsuyu agreed with a nod. "I'm worried about our classmates, too. But we can't rush after them without a plan. Think about it: The Villain has infiltrated Ground Beta, cut off all communications and set a trap for all of us back at the entrance. She's planned for this. She wants us to be afraid, to react without thinking."

"Then she'll pick us off one by one," Iida said, bringing a hand to his helmeted chin in thought. "It's psychological warfare. First, she showed us those memories of her past to leave us shaken with the death and misery she has suffered. Then her plan was to eliminate Mr. Aizawa—the only Pro Hero teaching our class today." He eyed Midoriya. "It's likely she told you of her trap to send us there in a frenzy, perhaps to be caught in another illusion along the way, or to witness the results of her trap to further demoralize us."

"Escape may not be an option," Todoroki informed stoically.

"I don't want to risk a fight if it can be avoided," Iida stated firmly. "Mr. Aizawa made it clear we can't beat her one on one, and we each understand what the laws against Quirk use say." He sighed. "But you're right. Escape may no longer be an option against this Villain. I won't let my classmates be killed or tortured by her, even if she is a child."

"…Do you think we can talk to her?" Uraraka spoke up. "I mean, I know she's injured Mr. Aizawa and wants to hurt or kill us, too! But…" The Zero Gravity wielder pursed her lips. "We all saw what she's been through. My heart aches at the thought of it. She's so young, but she's lost so much. Surely there's something we can do…right?"

"Ribbit," Tsuyu nodded.

"Your heart is in the right place, Uraraka," Igarashi said, placing her right hand on her shoulder. "But it will take more than words to reach her. Words are empty to her. Condolences, tired platitudes, they're meaningless. Hollow. To her, everything beyond her pain is just white noise. People who don't understand, can't understand or refuse to understand what she feels inside."

"Is that what you felt?" Todoroki asked bluntly, but not cruelly.

Yukiko said nothing. She lowered her hand from Uraraka's shoulders and looked past them to their fallen teacher.

"We need to gather our classmates and bunker down somewhere in this fake city," Igarashi said instead. "Time is against her. Our other teachers will realize our entire class is missing when this period is over. If we can avoid a fight and bunker down somewhere for that length of time, reinforcements will come."

"Or we'll be able to overwhelm her with sheer numbers," Todoroki said.

"Right. All of our strongest classmates together have the power to take on someone of All Might's strength." Igarashi looked at Iida. "Class Rep, you and I should go after the others. Uraraka, Todoroki and Midoriya can grab and protect Mr. Aizawa while Tsu scouts a decent base for us."

Iida nodded. "Yes, I agree. When we return with our class, Todoroki can use a large ice attack to block her path and then we can flee with any injured back to our base. From there…" He sighed. "Conflict seems inevitable."

"One bridge at a time, Class Rep. Everyone know their role?"

Everyone nodded.

"Good. Let's get to it, then."

A Clone of Amari watched the group split off from one of the many rooftops on the street. She smiled.

Not bad, fledgling Heroes. Not bad. You've reinvigorated Izuku Midoriya's spirit and come up with a plan to hold out against me on your own terms, without falling into more traps through reactive decisions. The kunoichi chuckled. Though you also think I'm alone, which is a grave mistake. With Atsuko and Osamu, plus Clones and the Byakugan, I have eyes all over this city. There isn't anywhere you can hide from me. You'll be forced to battle me: a girl who you know has suffered many great losses. This battle won't be black and white for you. I'll make sure of that.

Her eyes trailed to the two sprinting after their classmates, Byakugan eye zeroing in on Yukiko Igarashi.

I know you already feel it. I feel it, too. It's why you yelled at me. At first you thought I was mocking someone's suffering, but now you know the truth. Now you know a distorted version of my past. And you want to reach out to me. Do it. Try to redeem me. Try to find my heart. Reach out and save me from myself. Nobody except you can.

And I think you know that.

But first, there are other students who need to be tested and taught a lesson. Let's see how they handle what I have planned.

The Clone dispelled itself.

Amari was waiting for Class 1-A at the entrance. Clamped around her wrists and ankles like shackles were Mei Hatsume's invention—high density weights. The weights themselves were ultra-compacted black rectangles lining the silver cuffs and added a quarter of her body weight, just as Aizawa asked them to.

So far they hadn't blown up. The kunoichi hoped that luck continued.

I'm amazed she crafted these four so quickly. Amari lightly toyed with the cuff on her right wrist. The size was almost snug. Almost. It fit like a bracelet half a size too large for her wrist, shifting with a distracting proficiency. So far they haven't impeded on my ability to fight. But the real test will be this next battle.

She adjusted the cuff again then lowered her arm back to her side, eyes rising to meet the students running her way.

Back to being The Last Shinobi.

Unfurling her killing intent took little effort, and with it her red and lavender eyes intensified. The veins around her temple bulged with the activation of the Byakugan. She'd need it for this next act.

Of the fifteen students who ran for the entrance, fourteen of them halted out of fear or moved in front of their fearful classmates as protectors. Among the protectors were Eijiro Kirishima, Mezo Shoji, Mashirao Ojiro and Rikido Sato. Fumikage Tokoyami and Hanta Sero stood among them as well, though they maintained range—a tactical decision.

The brain of this operation, by her estimation, was Momo Yaoyorozu, who was positioned near the back. Kyoka Jiro stood in front of her, Earphone Jacks slowly lowering towards the amplifiers on her boots.

Every single student, even the protectors, looked nervous. Bravery shone in some of them, but even the bravest of soldiers could feel fear. It was natural. But a soldier did not allow fear to control them, or to make them indecisive. A soldier took a breath, examined the situation and made a plan. Then they executed it.

Of the fifteen students, who weren't soldiers, one launched ahead of them all.

"Die, Villain!"

Amari sneered darkly at the would-be Hero. Explosions erupted from Katsuki Bakugo's palms; the propulsion cleared the distance between them in a mere moment. But her eyes saw right through him.

To Bakugo and all but one of his classmates, she appeared to teleport.

"Bakugo, below you!" Mezo Shoji warned, his Dupli-Arms Quirk activated with multiple new ears and eyes.

The warning came a second too late. Amari appeared beneath his guard, foot glowing with chakra, which she crashed into his gut. The blow sent him sailing into the sky.

Bakugo didn't react like most kids his age. Rather than react to his injury, he aimed his gloved palms down at her position, grinning wildly.

A massive explosion erupted from his palms, rippling through the air, vibrating the glass windows around them and consuming her position.

"You better not be dead yet!" Bakugo used smaller explosions to descend from the sky. "I haven't finished squashing you like the bug you are, you damn Villain!"

From the smoke, a blade of fire ignited. It slashed through the air, and the fire jumped from the short sword, cutting through the air. But it was not aimed at Bakugo or the gathered class. The fire sped towards the entrance, colliding against the invisible body of Toru Hagakure.

The invisible girl let out a terrible cry of pain. Trickles of blood cascaded down her invisible back.

"Toru, no!" Mina Ashido cried out for her friend.

"Going somewhere so soon," The Last Shinobi hissed menacingly. A dark chuckle bubbled out of her, the likes of which Zabuza Momochi would have appreciated. "How precious. You thought I couldn't see you."

The smoke swirled as the kunoichi Body Flickered out of it, directly to the invisible girl, whose blood made her all the more easier to see.

Bakugo, she sensed, couldn't believe what he saw—she was uninjured by his attack. How? He likely made false assumptions about durability or intangibility Quirks, never suspecting she used the flash and smoke of his attack to conceal her use of Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu, where she remained safely hidden within the surface of the cement until the danger of the explosion passed.

Then she launched her counter, now bearing an extra level of intimidation thanks to his attack.

At her feet, Toru Hagakure was whimpering. The pain of the simultaneous cut and burn was too much for the student innocent to war and injuries. Still she earned the kunoichi's admiration, because despite the pain she was clawing and crawling her way towards the exit.

Please, don't hold this against me, Amari thought, looking down at the trickles of blood revealing her invisible body. I don't want to hurt you. But I can't go easy on you. If I did, how could you ever hope to grow?

"You should've trained harder to move silently. Tell me, Hero, are you afraid? Do you want to plead for your life?" The Last Shinobi kicked her square in the ribs, knocking her onto her side. Hagakure moaned and coughed. "Do you feel helpless? Can you feel even a fragment of my pain yet?"

Amari leapt suddenly away from the downed girl, evading a sparkling laser beam shot by Yuga Aoyama. Tape attached itself to Hagakure's body and pulled her away from the kunoichi. As Amari corkscrewed through the air, she threw kunai and shuriken in rapid succession at the two long-range users.

Kirishima jumped in front of Sero and hardened his body to deflect her whirling shuriken. Tokoyami's Dark Shadow blocked her blades with his purple and black shadow hand.

Bakugo launched after her again. When her feet touched the ground, he flew in from her side and unleashed yet another explosion on her exact position.

On a normal day, in a normal fight, she may have chosen to target him first to eliminate a relentless enemy intent on testing her abilities with pointless attacks. But two factors changed her plan. First, she wanted to infuriate the boy, toy with his ego before crushing it into dust; ignoring him was the best way to do that.

The second factor was of a personal nature, incensed by one individual.

"Yeah! Get her Bakugo! Blow her clothes off!" Minoru Mineta wailed.

The Last Shinobi materialized behind the short pervert, surrounded by a dark aura and a high density of killing intent that froze every student around her in sheer terror. Their throats constricted. Sweat beaded at their foreheads as they found their bodies refused to move. They could feel the cold chill of death's breath against the nape of their necks.

It was a sensation they'd never felt before this moment. Not even against the U.S.J. Villains. This was true fear. The sensation only purest darkness and killing intent could conjure.

This was what a true figure of darkness felt like.

Mineta, with tears in his eyes, whimpered like a wounded animal. And she hadn't even punished him yet. Slowly, he turned his head to gaze in terror at the demon looming over him in a crouch. The Sharingan and Byakugan seared her visage into his memories, a visage corrupted by a demonic black dragon.

"I- I- I- I- I-"

"You have my undivided attention," she hissed venomously.

True horror crossed Mineta's face. Horror she knew he would never forget or forgive her for. Amari didn't care. This shameless pervert, this fiend who told his classmate to blow her clothes off required a punishment worse than death.

"After all I've suffered, after all I've lost, you dare to say something like that to me? It's not enough that I've lost everyone I've ever loved to keep your vile urges at bay. You, a so-called Hero, seek to knock my clothes off in a perverted bid to see a naked girl. I ought to slit your throat here and now."

The kunoichi leaned in. Mineta stiffened, back facing her as he whimpered incessantly. An evil smile pulled onto her lips.

"But I have a better idea. You deserve a fate worse than death." She slapped a Paper Bomb onto his back. Then formed the Tiger handseal. "I swore I'd never use this technique on anyone. But someone like you deserves this punishment. To bear the shame of falling to it for the rest of your miserable, perverted life."

"N- no! Please don't!" Mineta pleaded but was unable to move. She held him firmly in the Shadow Possession Jutsu.

"Too late for begging. Too late for bargaining. This is the end for you.

"Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu: A Thousand Years of Death!"

With chakra at the tips of her finger, she stabbed and unleashed the chakra simultaneously to send the perverted boy sailing through the air. Tears poured from Mineta's eyes. He grabbed at his butt and cried out with agony and shame he would never shed, especially when this was all over.

Amari switched handseals into Snake and detonated the paper bomb.

From the smoke, Mineta crashed to the earth with tears still pouring from his eyes—unconscious. Whether because the shame was too much to bear or because of the low-yield explosive, no one would ever truly know.

Reining in her killing intent to a smaller dosage of darkness, The Last Shinobi cast her burning eyes to the students surrounding her. She didn't have to wait long for their next attack.

Kirishima jumped at her with his hardened limbs, sharp as blades and strong as the sturdiest of shields. She sidestepped but didn't attempt a physical attack. His attacks were easy to predict, too straightforward without the speed or skill of Rock Lee, Might Guy or Mimi Inuzuka to close distance on someone as agile as she was. Even with the weights, her reaction speed was greater.

"Is this all you can do?" she taunted. "You're not blessed with a flashy Quirk like other fools, yet your Quirk grants you the power to be a shield and a sword. But what good is a sword that can't find flesh and a shield that cannot protect his comrades?"

"I'll protect them! Just you watch! I'll be the sword and shield that protects the people who need me! That's the kind of Hero I'll become!"

Internally, Amari smiled. Yes, you'll make a fine Guardian one day.

She skipped back in an evasion then immediately ducked beneath the jumping high kick of Mashirao Ojiro. The Tail Quirk wielder continued his spin and slammed his muscular tail for her exposed back. Rather than evade, she blocked the attack with two kunai, impaling them into the appendage. Ojiro grimaced. But the force of the blow carried through and knocked her back. He dashed in and, with a finer skill than his classmates, engaged her in close-quarters combat.

Even with the blades in his tail, he still attacked with it. Amari parried away two punches and countered with a combination of punches. Ojiro blocked well, but his style was too easy to read. She could read his movements without the aid of a dōjutsu; his feints were simple, predictable and his follow-ups were too straightforward for his own good.

However, he did not fight alone. The numbers advantage was Class 1-A's to claim. Amari blocked a straight kick from Ojiro then shifted her weight and flowed chakra to her right foot, performing a back kick to Kirishima's gut. The release of chakra didn't hurt him, but it did buy her an extra moment.

"I can see right through your movements," taunted the kunoichi, never once taking her eyes off Ojiro.

She parried another kick with a kick of her own, leaned out of range of his fist and clutched the offensive arm, twisting it into an awkward angle to gain leverage before he could react. She released chakra from her feet and corkscrewed over his head, arm still in her possession as a laser blasted past her previous position.

Amari landed on his tail. She held his arm around his neck and balanced precariously on the swaying limb. Ojiro's eyes were wide, and she knew exactly what he and his classmates were beginning to think.

She was unmatched. A monster. A demon.

Those thoughts were a deadly poison. On those thoughts alone she could tell where they were in terms of experience and level, and the difference between them was vast.

Yet there still remained a spark of determination in his heart. That was commendable.

However, it was not groundbreaking.

The kunoichi cracked him in the ear. He grimaced and shut his eye. His tail lifted up. Moving quickly, Amari released his arm, crouched down and yanked both of her kunais out of his tail, leaping again over his head and drawing one blade along the length of his back. Crimson quickly began to stain his white karate Gi.

She landed in front of him and stuffed both kunai back into her pouch. Ojiro stumbled towards her, brain and body reacting to the sudden unzipping of his flesh. She bolted in, stepped onto his left knee to use it as a springboard and flipped herself into a back-flip, left foot crashing against his chin.

At the same moment, Kirishima launched in to attack her from behind. He didn't expect the momentum of her attack to float her over him. She landed behind the student, yanked a paper bomb tag off one of her kunais and slapped it over his back. A chakra kick sent him stumbling into Ojiro. The low-yield explosion consumed them both.

"Gah!" Kirishima cried out. "Damn, that hurt!"

Amari dashed towards Sero, who stood in front of the downed form of Toru Hagakure protectively. Before she reached him, Rikido Sato under the influence of his Quirk charged in from her side. She evaded his first grab with an agile duck, then scrambled narrowly out of the way of his fist. The concrete cracked beneath his strength.

Shadow Clone Jutsu!

Three Amari's materialized beside the kunoichi and jolted forward. One flipped over the muscular student, wrapping her smaller arms around his thick neck in an admittedly ineffective choke-hold. As expected, he rose up and grabbed at her arms, leaving himself open to the other two who zipped past him, opening two cuts along his sides.

The wrestler roared and grabbed the Shadow Clone, ripping her off his neck and slamming her back first into the ground. The Clone dispelled instantly. Before her two sisters could claim vengeance, Tokoyami's Dark Shadow crushed one beneath his fist. The other evaded into the air.

"My apologies mademoiselle, but this is the end for you." Aoyama clasped his hands behind his back and unleashed another dazzling laser into the airborne Clone.

The red eye of The Last Shinobi fell upon Momo Yaoyorozu. The strategist grimaced beneath the glare. The back ranks, consisting of Kyoka Jiro, Mezo Shoji, Fumikage Tokoyami and Yuga Aoyama were well-organized. Jiro held a sword, standing as the final guard with Aoyama. Shoji and Tokoyami were her powerful swords and shields.

You're dissecting my abilities, figuring out the best way to attack and defend your classmates by gathering Intel on your target. You've organized these ones, but the rest are still disoriented, unorganized. Because the other one who could be a leader here…

"I'll teach you to turn your back on me, you damn Villain!"

Amari sniffed but didn't face him. She listened to the sounds of his explosions, watched him with her Byakugan. He feinted another foolish head-on charge, but halted at the last moment. His boots skidded over the concrete briefly, stopping him within a two strides of her position. He immediately began to unleashing a rapid-fire series of explosions that consumed the kunoichi.

Again the flash and smoke of his Quirk worked against him. Only Shoji realized what she had done. But he realized it too late.

"Bakugo, stop!" he yelled.

"Don't tell me what to do, you damn extra!"

Bakugo kept firing.

Until he heard Kirishima yell come from inside the smoke.

"Bakugo, what the hell?! Stop! You're hitting me!"

The Explosion Quirk user halted his attack. Cursed under his breath. Then cursed her quite crudely.

"What the hell are you doing there, Kirishima?!"

"How am I supposed to know?! One moment I was helping Ojiro up, the next you were blasting me!" Kirishima coughed as he tried to wave the smoke away.

"She has a Warp Quirk, remember?" Yaoyorozu tried to help strategize.

Substitution Jutsu, actually, Amari thought, hidden among the shadows of the nearby alleyway. She held her breath to ensure Shoji couldn't hear her. Made no physical movement so the shifting of clothes wouldn't give away her position. Her Shadow slunk and slithered towards her next target: Hanta Sero.

"Don't lecture me, Ponytail!"

Your attitude is beginning to annoy me. If you actually rallied your teammates, you'd stand a chance at overwhelming me. But your ego is too big to ask for help or work with others. That's why I've been able to injure a few of your classmates. The kunoichi changed targets. Let's see how you handle a broken bone before I break your pride.

"We have to organize," Yaoyorozu tried to talk sense. "This Villain has multiple Quirks, more than we first assumed. Without a plan, we'll—"

"I don't need a plan from you! I'll fight and win my own way! Without help from you extras!"

"Is this really the time to argue?" Kaminari asked, head swiveling around in search for the kunoichi. "We have no idea where she went. Or where the others are."

"I already told you I don't need help," Bakugo growled.

The Shadow snaked closer. As it wrapped around his ankle, Kirishima noticed the tendril and gasped. He tried to reach forward and push his classmate out of the way.

"Bakugo, you've gotta jump, man!"

To his credit, the Explosive Quirk user tried to blast himself into the air. Unfortunately, the tendril had already coiled and constricted his ankle like a serpent around its prey.

He kept blasting more and more explosions, trying to escape higher into the air. No amount of struggling would break her hold.

Amari inhaled; she couldn't hold her breath any longer

"She's in the alleyway over there!" Shoji informed.

"Then it is a battle of darkness! Dark Shadow!"

"Right!"

The sentient Shadow lunged towards the alleyway.

"Let go of me, damn you!" Bakugo cursed.

"You wanted my attention, didn't you? Now you have it, you fake Hero!"

Bakugo bristled and aimed his palms at her position.

Ninja Art: Shadow Dragon!

Everyone heard the ankle bone crunch beneath the pressure. Even louder was Bakugo's scream of pain.

Dark Shadow lunged towards her. She relinquished her Shadow and jumped onto the nearby building wall, hearing the crunch of the metal fire escape railing beneath the creature's fist. She raced up the wall and away from the persistent and dangerous shadow creature on her tail.

Again, to Bakugo's credit he didn't react as a normal human might when their bone was broken. He kept himself in the air with his explosions, fury burning in his glistening eyes as he watched her charge directly for him. The broken bone was making him sweat more.

"I'll kill you!" He aimed his palms at her.

The Last Shinobi flared and Body Flickered, leaping up and over the explosion. Suspended in air, he believed her to be helpless. He grinned fiercely and brought his finger to the pin of his right gauntlet, crafted to resemble a grenade.

"Now die!"

Kill. Die. Kill. Die. Kill. Die. His childish use of those words burrowed beneath her skin, and the darkness she was channeling began to spread.

At that moment, her body erupted into Crows, diving and flocking away from the massive explosion. The explosion made her ears ring. The heat brushed against the feathers of the Crows and her flesh as she reformed and drilled the feral brat with a powerful chakra kick, straight in the rib-cage.

Bakugo crashed into the pavement back first, cracking the cement and coughing up blood and saliva on impact. Not finished with him, Amari landed directly on his abdomen for another cry of pain and spitting of blood. She connected her Shadow to him immediately to prevent his hands from posing any threat to her.

"Kill? Die?" she hissed. "You use those words so carelessly. You throw them around like you understand what death is! Like you know what it's like to take the life of another!" Amari placed her foot on his cheek and exerted pressure onto it, pressing his skull harder against the unforgiving pavement. Killing intent was irradiating off her. "You know nothing of death! You've never watched lives taken so callously right in front of you!"

"Shut…up…" he ground out.

"I don't care what kind of Quirk you have," Amaririsu Yūhi the kunoichi hissed, "I don't care what power it gives you. Someone with your temperament, who doesn't accept help, who refuses to work with his allies, who cares more about winning than about protecting those who need protection, who throws around the words die and kill like an immature child; someone like you should never be allowed to call themselves a Hero."

He was struggling harder against her control. He wasn't going anywhere.

"Like I care what you think! I don't care what your motives are! I'll beat you and send you to join your weakling family if you miss them so badly!"

The darkness roared from the molten pits of hell and the façade of The Last Shinobi broke.

Her Will of Fire shifted black.

Green chakra like flames erupted off of Amari. The black tips whipped furiously about. Her full power, unrestrained by her desire to teach and released by her rage, cascaded over the street. The students who had been moving in to attack froze in place at the terrifying sensation of unrestrained killing intent and darkness flooding off of her.

Bakugo growled and snarled and tried to struggle free. Yet when he looked back into the eyes of the kunoichi, he did not see the act of The Last Shinobi, nor did he see Amari.

He saw the demonic black-scaled dragon and its red eyes lusting for bloodshed and destruction.

He saw his own death flashing before his eyes.

He saw the Mangekyō Sharingan in all its burning fury.

And for what may have been the first time in his life, Katsuki Bakugo was truly afraid.

"Listen up and listen well, Katsuki Bakugo." She did not hiss or yell. The kunoichi spoke in an even, dangerous and venomous voice devoid of mercy. "The words die and kill may mean nothing to you. But they mean something to me."

The kunoichi crouched down on top of him, foot pressing harder into his face. She stared directly into his fearful eyes with a cold, unblinking gaze.

"So when I say I'll kill you if you ever insult my family again, trust that I mean it. Trust that I will make every moment leading up to your death a living nightmare. You will beg me to kill you before I'm finished. Do you understand me? My family sacrificed their lives for me and for the sake of the future. They asked me to endure through tragedy and hardship, to see a better future for them.

"What would you know about that kind of burden, huh? A pampered and spoiled brat like you could never handle my burden, let alone make the sacrifice my family made. You lack the strength to walk the path of a shinobi. You'd rather let these extras die in your place."

She sneered at him. "You can't even stand to lose a fight to someone like Izuku Midoriya! The mere reality of your inadequacies and weakness sends you into shock! Oh no, I lost to someone I thought was weaker than me!" she mocked him.

Rage and shame replaced fear.

She exerted more pressure on his face, smashing him farther into the concrete. None of Class 1-A could move. Try as they might, their bodies were seized by terror.

"How does it feel to be beneath my sandal, squashed like a bug? Isn't that what you said you were going to do to me? Where's all your bravado now, you pampered brat? Do you understand now where you stand compared to me? How far beneath me you really are? Can you feel the depth of difference between our power? This is the power of my family! The power of their Wills and mine!"

The chakra cloak pulsed and whipped furiously at the air.

"Does this feel weak to you?! Do you think you can kill me now?"

Surging power belonging to someone else snapped her attention up. The weights made her reaction speed too slow, and that allowed the bolt of lightning named Yukiko Igarashi to tackle her off of Bakugo.

They tumbled together over the pavement. Road rash injuries opened up on the exposed areas of their skin; arms, shins and knees, upper chest around the collarbone for the student.

Amari freed herself from the embrace and spun onto her feet. Igarashi did the same.

"Iida, get everyone moving! I'll hold her here!" Igarashi ordered.

"All right! Everyone, I need you to head back down the street. We have a plan! Shoji, Sato, Kirishima, grab the injured. The rest of you, please be prepared to use long distance attacks to keep the Villain at bay!"

Igarashi stared into the Mangekyō Sharingan, and rather than becoming overwhelmed by fear, sympathy flashed in her eyes. The sight of the kindred spirit woke the Uchiha to her senses.

What the hell am I doing?

The Mangekyō Sharingan and chakra cloak faded. Her kindred spirit didn't lower her guard.

Yukiko Igarashi's Hero outfit consisted of an unzipped olive-green bomber jacket with three-quarter length sleeves and a high collar, a maroon tank top and black jeans tucked into her combat boots. On the bottom of her right forearm, just beneath her wrist, a tattoo of a skull and two flintlock pistols grinned at her.

A symbol of her delinquent past. A symbol for the family she had found and lost.

For a moment, the battlefield consisted of only them. There were no other students fleeing for their lives. Even the concrete structures collapsed and faded to dust, leaving the kindred spirits alone together in utter silence. The brush of wind rustled through the wild mane of blue hair and thick black hair and its icy white highlights.

Yukiko clenched a fist in frustration. Amari struggled to maintain her fake face.

"We have the same eyes," the kunoichi said softly.

Yukiko's violet eyes opened wide.

"I…I never thought I'd run into someone like you here. Please, stay out of my way. My quarrel isn't with people like you. You've already suffered enough."

Amari moved to walk around her. Yukiko blocked her path.

"I can't let you hurt them," the Hero trainee declared.

"And I can't let them live sheltered lives any longer. Life isn't a game. Being a Hero means becoming a soldier of light to fight against the darkness. There's no room for greedy fame seekers or fools. The only reason you understand me is because we've both suffered. Suffering made us stronger; it forced us to grow up. They're weak, childish, naïve and immature. They act like kids."

"Because they are kids," her kindred spirit argued calmly. "This is their first semester in high school. You and I were forced to grow up. Our choice was stolen from us. We didn't ask to suffer, we didn't ask for our loved ones to be torn from our arms. The darkness in this world did that to us. We never had a choice."

"Which is why this society has to change. Without an understanding of pain, of loss, they'll never see this world from our perspective. They'll always be righteous Heroes defeating dumb Villains. These kids seek to become Heroes without understanding what that means. And without that understanding, they'll be mediocre Heroes regardless of their Quirk. More girls and boys like me will lose the ones they love because of them unless someone forces them to grow up, too."

"There has to be a better way," replied Yukiko. "There has to be another way to teach what we've experienced without inflicting our pain onto them. People can understand each other if they try."

"How many tried to understand you, Yukiko Igarashi?"

The High Voltage wielder inhaled sharply and recoiled back.

"How many of your classmates tried to understand what you experienced? Your pain? Your lack of choices? The decisions you made? Did anyone try? Look at how your classmates have treated me so far. I accidentally teleported into your classroom, tried to plead my case, but I was attacked by your teacher and two of your classmates. They called me a Villain before they even bothered to understand my circumstances. And when they had me in custody, they refused to listen to anything I said.

"I was just another Villain, all because of my faulty teleportation Quirk. After I escaped, I realized that the flaws of U.A. and our society were intertwined. It starts here, at the root where future Heroes are educated. The media plays its role, too, in manipulating the sheep of this world.

"But I gave you all one last chance. I showed you my past and my pain in hopes that maybe it could form this bridge of understanding you believe is possible. Yet…"

Amari curled her hands into fists. "Yet they look at me with those same eyes. Like I don't have feelings or a heart. Like I wanted any of this. And it makes me realize why some Villains become Villains in the first place. Because the world looks at them the same way, and it festers this darkness and resentment in their hearts. Society shuns them for one reason or another. It pushes them aside. Ignores them. Leaves them in the street struggling to survive. Without a purpose. Without a reason to exist."

The Last Shinobi's eyes sharpened. The majority of Class 1-A was on the move. It was time to continue.

"I found my reason, my purpose to fulfill. I'll change this society with my own hands."

"This doesn't have to be your purpose."

"I'm not wrong to feel the way I do."

"No, you're not. But that doesn't make what you're doing right. This isn't what your family would want you to do." Yukiko raised her hands and took a step forward. "Let me help you. You don't have to be alone anymore."

"What else do I have, Yukiko?" she demanded in a quiet voice. "What do I have without this vendetta? Without this purpose? I have nowhere to go. No family. No friends. I have no reason to exist."

"Then we'll find a reason, together." Yukiko took another step forward. "Give me a chance to prove there is good in this world. Let me be your light in the darkness. We don't need to fight each other. I don't want to hurt you. Please, let me help you find a new reason, a new path that doesn't involve more bloodshed." The Hero trainee reached her hand out. "Here, take my hand."

Amari shifted her foot back, wearing a torn and emotionally breaking face.

"I- I don't… "

"I swear I won't hurt you. This isn't a trick, I promise," Yukiko swore genuinely. "I want to help you. Please. All I'm asking for is one chance to make you feel less alone."

It was then Yukiko Igarashi passed the individual Pop Quiz Amari had for her. Had this been any other time, had there been no other students around, the kunoichi would have rushed forward and wrapped her kindred spirit in a hug and thanked her.

But the Pop Quiz for the others had yet to end. And one student in particular was playing this scenario exactly how she needed him to.

Amari reached her hand out.

"You damn Villain," Bakugo ground out with a shaky voice. He was propping himself up, having shoved himself free of Kirishima's grasp. "You may have tricked that gullible idiot, but you aren't fooling me!"

"Bakugo, stay out of this!" Igarashi commanded.

"Shut the hell up, Spark Plug! And get out of my way!"

The Explosive Quirk user aimed his second gauntlet at the pair and pulled the pin.

Amari's dōjutsu's perceived the scene in slow motion. The dangerous and majestic eruption of his stored up nitroglycerin-like sweat; the look of pure shock on Kirishima's face as his classmate launched a full-power blast at Yukiko and her; the shock-wave that pulsed against their bodies; Yukiko's Quirk activating and her furious expression; she saw it all.

But she never had the chance to move.

Small, violet bursts of sporadic lightning crackled around Yukiko Igarashi. The surge of electricity flowing through her caused the ends of her hair to slightly levitate, defying gravity as her violet, stormy eyes glowed. Then, as Amari prepared to Body Flicker and escape the rush of explosions, the Hero trainee jolted into her as fast as Mimi under the influence of her All-Fours Jutsu, lifting her off the ground and carrying her out of range of the attack.

It happened within seconds. A mere moment. And when it ended, Kirishima spun to his classmate in disbelief.

"Bakugo, come on man! You could've hit Igarashi with that!"

"If she's too slow to dodge, that's her problem." Bakugo ground his teeth together. "What the hell are you doing, Spark Plug? Finally showing your true colors, huh?!"

"Overgrown firecracker," Yukiko cursed beneath her breath, setting Amari back on her feet.

"Yukiko." Amari's quiet voice acquired the undivided attention of her kindred spirit. The kunoichi kept her eyes on the pavement. "Thank you for reaching out to me. Truly. Follow your path. Become a Hero. Become a pillar. Don't let anyone deter you from your path. I truly believe you will become a wonderful Hero."

"Wait. Just ignore that hotheaded idiot," Yukiko pleaded.

"I'm sorry." Amari clenched her hands into fists. "I wish my path could be different. I wish I could've seen the world through your eyes." Sharingan and Byakugan locked onto Bakugo. "But I can't allow someone like him to claim the name Hero. The arrogance of this brat! To launch an attack when you are in range—you're his classmate!"

"He's not worth losing your heart!"

"I died a long time ago, Yukiko. But you've saved what little of my heart remains. I've relinquished my vendetta because of you. Thank you. It's because of you I realize what my path really should be now. It's not a vendetta I seek—I seek a revolution! Those who have the heart of a Hero like you will bring about the society of pillars I dream of; I'll protect and help guide them. But people like him!" she hissed, beginning to stride forward. "There's no place for them in my ideal society. I'll break their bodies and destroy their egos!"

"Let's see you try!" Bakugo grinned wildly.

Amari Body Flickered, re-materializing behind the fool.

"The blood I spill today is on your head. Remember that!"

The kunoichi rushed forward, vaulting over Kirishima's head and slapping another paper bomb onto his back. Then she bolted down the street after the other students. An explosion enveloped Kirishima again, but his hardening Quirk spared him from any real damage.

He let out a pained cry but quickly turned around and sprinted after her. Yukiko activated her Quirk and sped after her. Bakugo gave chase with smaller explosions acting as a means of propulsion.

Mezo Shoji was the first to realize she was on their tail. He carried Toru Hagakure on his back, shielded within a cocoon of his Dupli-Arms. Rikido Sato carried Minoru Mineta underneath one arm like a ball while Koji Koda braced Mashirao Ojiro.

"Here she comes!" Shoji shouted.

"Jiro, Sero, now!" Yaoyorozu ordered.

Jiro spun around and plugged her Earphone Jacks into both boots.

"Take this!"

Her rapidly racing heartbeat, amplified by her support equipment, roared over the street, directly on a path for the Nara.

They expect me to leap to either side of the street to evade, Amari deduced. Then, while I'm flying, Hanta Sero will unleash his tape in one of two ways. First, he'll either try an attack to ensnare me. But that would be risky. Yaoyorozu has been dissecting my combat abilities; she'll expect my agility to allow me to evade, or that I'll use the Crows to escape an attack. That's why Sero will instead create a blockade of tape across the street in the direct line of my path, to stall me so Yukiko or one of the other two will have time to attack me.

The Nara smirked. Not a bad plan under the pressure of fear.

She leapt onto a street lamp then onto a building, evading the sound attack. As she predicted, Sero began to launch his tape between the structures on both sides of the street, forming a tape-like spider web of traps. Jiro re-targeted and launched an even louder heartbeat sound-wave directly for the kunoichi.

Jumping off the side of the building, the windows of which shattered behind her when the sound-wave crashed into them, she formed the Clone seal and created a Shadow Clone beneath her. The back of her clone was an excellent springboard. She vaulted over the layers of tape and equipped her tantō, flames igniting over the blade. Her Shadow Clone landed on her feet on the pavement below.

"Damn!" Jiro bit out, re-targeting her attack again.

"Allow me, mademoiselle." Yuga Aoyama laced his fingers behind his head and smiled, all but twinkling in his knight armor and sparkling cape. "The curtain of darkness will be dazzling so long as the stars continue to twinkle! Au revoir, you poor girl. I take no pleasure in—"

"Just shoot your laser already!" Jiro boomed, face red in disbelief.

"How rude. You cannot rush perfection, ma chérie!" Aoyama fired his sparkling, colorful laser from his shining belt.

As the laser neared, the Shadow Clone of Amari released chakra from her feet and shot through the air, clasping her original by the wrist to swing her above the attack. Aoyama watched on with a stunned expression, eyebrow twitching.

"Aoyama," Jiro growled.

"I have no flaws!" he declared and fired off another laser.

The pair of kunoichi's worked in synchronization. The Shadow Clone spun her original through the air, acting as a fulcrum to swing her to the nearby building. She took the laser in Amari's place. But her sacrifice wouldn't be in vain. The Uchiha, blade coated in flames, landed gracefully on the wall of a skyscraper and swiped her tantō in a vertical slash.

The flames jumped from her blade directly for Aoyama and Jiro. Another member of Class 1-A, dressed in white armor with engine pipes on it, sprinted to them and forced them all out of the way of the attack.

Tenya Iida, Amari noted. His Engine Quirk definitely makes him fast. But physical speed alone isn't enough.

"Thanks for the save, Class Rep," Jiro thanked.

"You couldn't leave the star behind, could you?" Aoyama lifted his nose, his faux arrogance shining brightly. Jiro glowered at him.

"No time for that. We must keep moving!" Iida ordered.

"Run all you like. In the end, you'll still suffer!" she yelled at them.

The Class Representative glanced back at her, but soon followed after the two he saved.

Jumping from the building, Amari's attention was instantly drawn to the bolt of lightning chasing her. Yukiko Igarashi was sprinting fast enough to race up the side of the building the kunoichi had previously landed on.

Amari sheathed her tantō and spun around. Yukiko launched off the building and tackled her, the velocity of her defensive attack throwing them across the entire street and into a nearby building in the midst of construction. No walls. Just several floors of open space, construction equipment props lying around and metal beams on higher floors where they had yet to construct a floor or ceiling.

The pair slid across the new floor. Acting on instinct, the kunoichi threw her attacker off and spun with flourish onto her feet. Igarashi combat rolled onto her feet and into a fighting stance, holding her fists up in a guard.

"Don't stand in my way," Amari warned. "I don't want to hurt you. But if I must relinquish my heart and become The Last Shinobi to achieve my dream, I will!"

"And I don't want to hurt you," Yukiko said softly. "I want to help you. I want to save you. But I can't let you hurt my classmates."

"So you're my enemy then?" Amari demanded.

"No," her kindred spirit replied. "I'm your friend. I'll protect my classmates and save you from this darkness you're consumed by. That's the Hero I'll become. Doesn't matter how hard you fight, I'll keep coming back to reach out to you. We'll fight until neither of us can fight any longer. And when the dust settles, I'll still be there to help you find a new path."

Internally, Amari smiled warmly. I'm happy we were able to meet, Yukiko.

The structure of the building carried the echo of Bakugo's explosions to her ears before he entered the battlefield. Amari flicked her eyes to the right and watched him through her Byakugan. Despite the pain of a broken ankle, Bakugo maintained complete control over his Quirk. He used it to keep himself off his feet, still mobile and agile enough to attack and evade.

Just as he entered the building, the kunoichi spun around and whipped a handful of shuriken on a path straight for him. He cursed loudly and evaded with his Quirk, using the propulsion properties to push his body to the side, out of the way.

At the same time, Amari saw Yukiko dash in behind her with the low-level voltage version of her Quirk. The weights were making her slower. Her opponent swept her legs out from beneath her with a solid kick and, with enhanced speed, prepared to grab and slam the kunoichi into the ground to pin her.

Amari caught her hand at the wrist and used it as leverage to minimize her crash. Yukiko was forced to bend over at the waist. With quicker reaction speed and more combat experience, the kunoichi—lying on her back—kicked her opponent in the stomach twice and released her wrist as she kicked a third time with a burst of chakra at the sole of her foot.

Igarashi managed to block the kick, but the recoil of the chakra left her stumbling back. The kunoichi kipped up quickly. She closed in on her stumbling enemy, combining low, mid and high kicks. The Hero trainee blocked and evaded with her speed.

When she countered a kick and burst forward to change defense into offense, Amari was immediately reminded of Mimi's speed and relentless attacks. Yukiko fired off a combination of jabs, hooks and uppercuts, always maintaining her guard to as she tried to overwhelm the kunoichi with speed and power. She had never fought a shinobi, though, nor one who possessed the Sharingan and Byakugan.

Neither had Bakugo.

As Amari ducked low, Bakugo propelled himself at her back, roaring wordlessly in preparation to attack. The kunoichi launched into the air, flipping to land feet first on the ceiling. Bakugo changed his trajectory deftly and propelled himself directly at her. With his right palm drawn back and aimed at her and the other aimed at his side, he fired off the latter as she bulleted at him, evading her completely.

"Too easy!" Bakugo's right palm began to crackle with explosions.

The ceiling above him suddenly exploded. Dazed and in pain, the falling boy failed to counter the kunoichi as she released chakra from her feet again and tackled him through the newly formed hole and debris into the ceiling of the next floor.

Coughing and cursing, he wasn't prepared for the Uchiha—whose feet were planted on the ceiling—to launch them back towards the ground again, spinning him so he slammed back first onto their new floor. She used his chest and stomach as a platform to land upon. Bakugo coughed up blood but still aimed his palms at her.

"Get off me, damn you!"

The kunoichi jumped back and landed on his broken ankle—on purpose.

Bakugo's scream was almost drowned out by the explosion he unleashed. Almost. The retreating members of Class 1-A heard it loud and clear.

Smoke from his explosion made it impossible for him to see her. He kept his palms up, crackling with his next attack; his teeth ground hard together, to the point of almost cracking as he fought the nausea and the blackout inducing pain.

From the smoke, the silhouette of Amari charged directly at him.

"Die!" Bakugo shouted, unleashing another explosion.

The Explosion Quirk user was satisfied briefly with his work. Then he heard two bodies collide behind him. An unscathed Amari charged through the smoke.

"Just die! Die! Die! Die!" he screamed, unleashing explosion after explosion at the girl. She remained unscathed.

Amari snorted, amused by his ridiculous screaming. The normal intangible Clone Jutsu and her planned attack would've been perfect. Bakugo was fortunate Yukiko attacked her before she could place a blade to his throat.

Yukiko ducked beneath a spinning kick and crushed her fist into the kunoichi's stomach; the power behind the blow sent her sailing back through the air. Amari landed on her feet and slid back on her heels, grimacing as her kindred spirit dashed after her. The cuff on her right wrist slid up and down her arm.

These damn weights are getting in my way.

This was like fighting Lee and Mimi with her Weighted Seals on. However, unlike Lee and Mimi who could unleash their speed relentlessly because of their stamina training, Yukiko could only unleash hers in short bursts.

It was a small advantage, but an advantage nonetheless.

As her opponent neared, she deactivated her Quirk and attacked with a front kick. Amari blocked the attack with a kick of her own. Then she Body Flickered at her opponent, appearing to phase through her despite a physical blow landing in her gut.

The kunoichi repeated the same attack from behind, bulleting back and forth and attacking relentlessly. Yukiko shuffled and sidestepped as best she could, though every attempt was thwarted and turned into a stumble as the Body Flicker user tore past her as fast as she could while burdened by weights.

Violet electricity crackled to life again; Igarashi's stormy eyes glowed. Right as Amari jumped into the air for a kick aimed at her head, the Hero trainee raised her arms in a flash and blocked the blow. She gripped her leg, but the kunoichi was already moving. Bending her body so the top of her head faced the concrete, she kicked with her free leg, landing the weights right on top of the shoulder of her opponent.

Yukiko grimaced and released the captured limb. Amari caught herself in a handstand and attacked with her feet, alternating kicks once, twice, for a third then forth time. Her feet met blocks until she sprang out of her handstand, flipping forward into a flying punch that caught the student in the face.

Small explosions were chasing her; it was only a matter of time before he realized the Clone wasn't real.

Equipping her tantō, she lunged at Igarashi. She slashed every manner of strike, yet found no flesh. The girl's Quirk afforded her amazing evasive maneuvers. But Amari's goal wasn't to land a blow. She was buying time and wearing down her opponent simultaneously.

When Bakugo neared, the kunoichi was ready. She flooded her body with chakra and dashed around Igarashi, cutting open a short surface wound along the side of her thigh. In one fluid move she swept Yukiko's legs out from beneath her, rose up and kicked her with chakra directly into Bakugo.

The collision of bodies was painful. The two classmates crashed at high-speeds, and Yukiko landed on top of Bakugo's broken ankle. He screamed and cursed violently. Amari didn't waste any time listening. She Body Flickered towards the first opening and jumped down onto a faux power-line, then began ninja jumping over the buildings after the other students.

Bakugo's ideal version of what a Hero is—a person who always wins and defeats Villains—isn't entirely wrong. I'm sure there are plenty of scumbags who need to be blasted by a Quirk like his. I won't question his conviction to it, the kunoichi thought. However, I stand by what I said—he wouldn't last in the shinobi world the way he is now.

For all his talent and power, Katsuki Bakugo exhibited just as many flaws. He had an ego larger than the egos of the entire Uchiha Clan and Hyūga Clan combined, which Amari swore was an impossibility before meeting him; he vehemently refused help of any kind and spat on the idea of teamwork to fight and win on his own; too much pride and arrogance combined with his narcissism made him selfish, entitled, as if he were already a Hero of All Might's caliber; he lacked empathy, and his abrasive attitude was very un-heroic.

Yukiko had ended the battle non-violently. Yet he still attacked.

He was humiliated in front of his class. Made to lay flat on his back with her foot on his face. Rather than admit defeat both at her hands and through Yukiko's ideals and empathy defeating Amari without exchanging a single blow, he lashed out again, seeking his ideal of victory without thought or care to the consequences of his actions.

No, Bakugo wouldn't last in the shinobi world. And now Class 1-A would suffer because of him.

You live in an illusion, Katsuki Bakugo. One where no one can defeat you and you'll always win, no matter what. But it's time to face reality.

Every student and teacher present throughout U.A. High School watched the battles. The majority of the school gathered together in the auditorium, where multiple screens of live footage revealed the many angles of the battle as Class 1-A struggled to regroup and fight against their powerful opponent.

Every student was phone-less, forced to turn them in or face punishment before entering the auditorium; Principal Nezu and Aizawa were adamant to ensure no footage of Amaririsu Yūhi reached the public or was uploaded to the internet.

The Business course discussed how to promote the girl known as The Last Shinobi to the public, since her stock and opportunities for success were spiking off the charts. The Support Class considered new equipment advancements that could help 1-A, or accent the multiple Quirks this girl showed. Mei Hatsume watched from the Development Studio as she worked on new babies, already making mental adjustments to the weights she created.

General Studies students watched on in amazement at the skill of this one girl; they commented on how blessed she was to wield multiple powerful and useful Quirks. Those in the Hero Courses, especially the underclassmen, gaped at the scenes of battle, struggling to process how one girl was able to get the better of an entire Class. Class 1-B in particular gulped and prayed their teacher didn't throw them to this girl as training like Aizawa had with his students.

The upperclassmen watched on with intense expressions. This was the kind of Villain many Heroes feared to face. A Villain who was highly trained, highly focused, backed up by not only a powerful Quirk—or multiple Quirks—but a genius intellect. And so they watched, knowing Class 1-A would be slaughtered before the period ended if they didn't steel themselves and work as a coordinated unit.

All Might watched the battles from the shadows at the back of the room, a grim and serious expression on his face. He and Aizawa didn't always agree on methods, nor did he ever take pleasure in the suffering of his students. Yet what he had seen so far proved Aizawa right beyond any shadow of a doubt.

Exams against robots were outdated—irrational.

Robots could not strike true terror into a Hero. Robots could not adapt as Young Yūhi continued to do. Robots could not express emotion or be saved by a Hero. And saving people, whether from evil Villains or from themselves, was the essence of being a Hero.

"I wasn't sure about this Pop Quiz when Aizawa first mentioned it," Midnight said softly from the seat next to him. "But he was right: They've already forgotten their experience at the U.S.J. They've forgotten the stress and fear we experience in life and death battles against Villains." She crossed her right leg over her left. "Amaririsu has simulated the worst possible scenario a Hero can encounter—a prepared ambush."

"Indeed," All Might nodded. "The League of Villains attack on the U.S.J. was the same scenario, with a larger number of untrained and undisciplined Villains. This time, though…" He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and interlacing his fingers. "This time there are no low-level Villains to give them a false sense of confidence, and no All Might to save them from a powerful Villain."

"This battle may have ended differently if Bakugo hadn't attacked."

All Might hummed in agreement and looked to the camera feed of Bakugo and Igarashi chasing after Amaririsu. It was clear the boy was in pain and furious. Igarashi wore a calm exterior, yet in her violet eyes he could see the storm brewing.

The quarrel between her and Bakugo had only intensified since they joined U.A.

"Young Bakugo has a clear vision in his head of what a Hero should be. I'll never dismiss his hard work or dedication to become a Hero. However, his inferiority complex and ego will only ever hold him back. To put it bluntly, Young Yūhi is years ahead of our students in terms of situational awareness, combat experience and tactical prowess. Today, teamwork was a prerequisite. It wasn't optional.

"Unfortunately, Young Bakugo has returned from his internship at the same level he left. Meanwhile, others in Class 1-A, such as Young Midoriya and Young Igarashi to name only two, have returned with improved control over their Quirks, new convictions and new experiences. There is envy in his heart, because he feels as if is falling behind. And, as usual, his reaction is to lash out, to prove his Quirk and his power is greater than theirs.

"Young Yūhi has targeted the weakness in his ego repeatedly. She goes out of her way to attack it in hopes he bites the bullet to overcome the challenge. I suspect Young Bakugo realizes the vast difference of skill level between them. Whether or not he accepts it, or relinquishes his ego for the sake of others, is another matter."

All Might glanced to a different screen monitoring Midoriya, Todoroki, Asui and Uraraka. The group had hidden Aizawa away in their new base. Now the four were rushing back down the street, likely realizing their classmates were in need of immediate aid. Asui and Midoriya leapt ahead of their two classmates, the latter using his Full Cowling to keep up with the Frog Quirk wielder's leaps.

He watched his successor intently.

Young Midoriya, how will you act now? Will you allow fear to control your actions? Or will you face your fear with a smile to save as many lives as possible? That is what you must decide now. That is the decision every Hero must make when facing a life or death battle.

"Oh no, The Last Shinobi has caught up to Class 1-A! What will she do next!" Present Mic announced enthusiastically. "Run, you little fools! Run as fast as you can! There's no stopping this ruthless assassin!"

"Well, at least he's enjoying himself," All Might sighed.

Midnight hid a giggle behind her hand.

Their colleague wasn't wrong. Amaririsu had leapt back into battle, landing right in the center of the students. Shoji's Quirk again proved useful, alerting his allies to her presence before she landed.

The first two to attack were Tokoyami with Dark Shadow and Hanta Sero with his Tape. Dark Shadow lunged for the shinobi and swiped a large shadow hand at her, intent on capturing the Villain without harming her physically if successful. Amaririsu countered the grab with a narrow evasion and threw three kunai, attached with explosives directly into the shadow creature. The explosions, while low-yield, left Dark Shadow recoiling back towards Tokoyami, looking shaken.

Sero began to fire streams of tape at her, attempting to create a net to catch her in. Amaririsu proved too agile. She dashed and danced on her toes, twirling below and jumping like a pole vaulter over the streams as she severed them with her tantō.

Every new move brought her closer and closer to the Tape Quirk wielder. Kirishima hardened himself and blocked her path, bringing up his guard and yelling:

"You won't get through me this time!"

"Come on, Kirishima!" Tetsutetsu of Class 1-B yelled out. "Stop that girl in her tracks! One blow is all you need!"

As Amaririsu jumped and twisted her body over another stream of tape, her tantō ignited again. Kirishima braced himself as she cut through the air and sent a stream of flames directly for him. The shinobi spun herself low to the ground, beneath a sparkling laser, twirling up and launching another stream of flame into Kirishima. His student refused to budge, using his own body to protect other members of his class.

The shinobi suddenly appeared to teleport.

"Above you, Kirishima!" Tetsutetsu yelled.

"Uchiha Style: Halo Dance!"

Amaririsu did not touch Kirishima with her sword; his Quirk likely would have fractured or broken her precious blade. But the flames burned straight down his arms and torso as she cut a downward slash during the descent of her jump. She landed on her toes. Kirishima held his Hardening and stepped forward.

"Now you're mine!"

His Hardening Fist phased right through the kunoichi.

"Huh?!"

Amaririsu appeared behind him, running at his back then jumping into the air. She alternated rapid kicks to his back and finished with a final thrust of both feet. The attack launched her off and away from him, into a roll she carried through directly at Sero. Kirishima stumbled forward.

"Hey! How did she do that?!" Tetsutetsu demanded.

"It was an afterimage," Neito Monoma analyzed. "This girl has the ability to move faster than our eyes and brains can process her movements, in a short distance, of course. Kirishima's mistake was waiting until she landed to attack. Had he attacked before, he may have hit her. But on solid ground she is so quick, we continue to see her last position even after she has long moved away. Hm. She is a well of endless possibilities."

"Yeah, well, Kirishima will withstand anything she throws at him!"

"I wouldn't bet on that."

"What'd you say?!"

"Tetsutetsu, surely you can see what she's doing? The explosives, the fire attacks; she's wearing his Quirk down with bug bites. She has no real intention of defeating him here and now on physical power alone. It'd be impossible for her against a Hardening Quirk. After all, she doesn't wield super strength; what she lacks in physical power she makes up for in speed and grace. That's why she strikes him quickly then moves on to the next enemy. Kirishima is a pre-Quirk tank, powerful with minimal maneuverability and tends to break down consistently under repeated assault."

You're not wrong, Young Monoma, All Might thought. Every single student has a weakness for her to exploit. And Young Yūhi is remorseless in attacking them.

Amaririsu dashed past Sero. A new cut opened on his right side. She sheathed her tantō, jumped and corkscrewed into a kick to the back of his neck. Sero collapsed to a single knee and hand; he threw his other arm out and tried to attach tape to his enemy. The shinobi sidestepped and closed in, grabbing the arm and twisting it into an awkward angle.

She hadn't lost sight of her other enemies, however. Amaririsu rolled over his back, maintaining a grip on his limb, bending it into an angle that made All Might and Midnight wince. On her feet again, she turned and roundhouse kicked Iida in the head, knocking him onto his back and sending his helmet sailing off his head.

The shinobi immediately lunged back into Sero, slamming repeating knees into his chest, stomach and helmeted face before buckling his knee with a kick to force him into a crouch.

Pressing his bent arm to his flat back, she vaulted back over his body again, never losing her fluidity. She landed where she started and forced the pain-ridden boy's hand to form the other half of her handseals.

"Can I borrow this?" Amaririsu asked coyly to Sero.

"Oh, poor Sero," Midnight sighed in sadistic amusement. "To be utterly dominated and controlled like that is a fantasy come to life."

All Might choked.

Finishing the final handseal, she grasped his hand at the wrist and wrenched it to control him before unleashing a repeating barrage of small balls of fire. The first barrage flew directly for Denki Kaminari and Mina Ashido.

Kirishima, with his brave heart, jumped in front of the pair and took the attack head-on.

The second barrage was aimed for Iida. The Class Representative rolled onto his back and onto his feet to evade the first, then dashed at high speeds to evade the following blasts and close in on his enemy simultaneously.

At the same time, Ojiro and Koji Koda rushed in at her back. Amaririsu ducked beneath Ojiro's tail then jumped and kicked Koda in his chest. Again she rolled over Sero's back.

The entire auditorium grimaced as the arm broke. Sero cried out horribly. He collapsed to both knees and came to rest his face against the pavement, free hand grabbing the broken limb.

"Uh… Do you think Recovery Girl can fix that?" he heard a student murmur.

"She repaired that Midoriya's arms after his fight against Todoroki. That shouldn't be too hard."

"Maybe he can…tape it back together?"

"Dude, not cool. Not funny."

"Aw. I thought it was clever."

Sheesh, All Might grimaced, I hope Young Sero will be okay.

Amaririsu fired off one final barrage—directly at Mezo Shoji. But All Might knew who her real target was.

Dark Shadow lunged in front of the Dupli-Arm Quirk wielder and endured the blasts, exactly as their enemy intended.

But Denki Kaminari and Kyoka Jiro launched a counter. The Electrification user jumped to grab the shinobi, covering himself in electricity to end the entire fight in one move. Simultaneously, one of Jiro's Earphone Jacks sped directly for the shinobi. Amaririsu danced on her toes, snatching one Earphone Jack and equipping a kunai before it could stab her; the rocker girl cursed and launched the other.

The shinobi Body Flickered and slid between the legs of Kaminari without touching him. Jiro's eyes widened at the sudden realization of what she was doing.

"Kaminari, deactivate your Quirk!"

It was too late. Her Earphone Jack was forcefully tied around the kunai already and on a path straight for the back of the Electrification user. The blade impaled into his back, and the volts carried straight into Jiro.

When the electricity faded, Jiro collapsed to a knee slightly dazed and fried by the friendly fire. Without his Quirk activated, Amaririsu swept in, removed the kunai and slashed it down the entire length of Kaminari's back. The boy arched his back, cried out, but was silenced by a swift kick to the back of his knee then a follow-up kick to his face. He skidded over the pavement with a bloody nose. Amaririsu removed the Earphone Jack from her kunai, drew the blade along the appendage to draw blood, causing Jiro to immediately retract it, grimacing in pain.

Amari slipped her kunai back into her pouch.

"Uh-oh," Midnight's eyes widened. "Tokoyami looks furious."

"You…You… You fiend!"

Dark Shadow, empowered by Tokoyami's rage, grew slightly larger. It lunged with a powerful roar directly at the shinobi.

Amaririsu's hands weaved a short set of handseals. Her Shadow suddenly split into multiple tendrils, three shaped like Dragons that wrapped, ensnared and bit down on Dark Shadow and three other normal tendrils that paralyzed Kirishima, Iida and Sato in place around her.

"Your Shadow creature is impressive, I admit," Amaririsu complimented genuinely. "It is incredibly versatile with physical abilities that most Nara Clan members lazily dream about. However, because it is a creature formed completely by darkness and shadow, my Shadow techniques can restrain it without straining me. The deeper the darkness, the more powerful my Shadow's become.

"And Dark Shadow weakens in sunlight and when exposed to other sources of light, like explosives and fire. My attacks have weakened it enough that even your rage doesn't grant it enough power to break free. You thrive in the darkness, while I am darkness and light incarnated!"

Bakugo and Yukiko were mere seconds away. Midoriya and Tsuyu were at least a minute. However, All Might suspected Amaririsu knew that.

Suddenly, a green flame swirled over the black pavement in a circle around Amaririsu.

"But go ahead. Attack me all at once. I'll show you how helpless you are to my power."

She relinquished her Shadow's. The captured students, Dark Shadow, Bakugo and Igarashi dashed in to attack. For All Might, the scene played out in slow motion. His students closed in, step by step. Amaririsu's feet glowed blue. She kicked at the ground like she was attempting to skate, pushing herself into an ice skaters spin.

Green chakra enveloped her. Then it grew and formed into an orb of green light—an orb his students all collided against. For the briefest moment, nothing happened; his students appeared suspended in air, caught by the vortex.

Without any warning, they were all flung in opposite directions like missiles. Bakugo and Sato crashed hard into the cement walls of nearby buildings. Igarashi, Kirishima and Iida tumbled over the pavement, with Kirishima smashing and bending a street light on collision. Dark Shadow was flung back towards Tokoyami with a timid look.

None moved immediately. All Might and Midnight both covered their mouths in shock.

"Things totally just spiraled out of control," Present Mic announced in a solemn voice. "Will Class 1-A be able to recover? The drama and anticipation is killing me!"

Those still standing watched the orb slow down and the shinobi appear from within, finishing her spin. With one look, without any genjutsu, Amaririsu caused Mina Ashido to collapse onto her butt in fear. Mezo Shoji placed himself in front of the stunned Yaoyorozu and Jiro.

"Take Hagakure and run. Both of you. I'll stall her as long as I can. Tokoyami, go with them. Recharge Dark Shadow and prepare for a fight."

Koda, though trembling, silently took his place in front of Sero. Ojiro joined him.

"N- no," Yaoyorozu stated through a trembling voice. "We can't. I've run every simulation I can think of. The only way to survive is together. If we start to separate, if we don't organize, we'll all die!"

"You're already dead."

Amaririsu vanished. Yaoyorozu was kicked onto her back with the kunoichi placing a foot on her chest and her tantō at her throat.

"Any one of you moves and I'll kill her. Believe me, my blade will be faster than any of your attacks."

Young Midoriya, Young Asui, you must hurry.

Amari took no pleasure in the absolute look of abject fear on Momo Yaoyorozu's face. The student's eyes were open wide and glistened in terror. She was trembling and breathing erratically.

"Do you know what your greatest weapon is? It isn't your Creation Quirk and its nearly limitless possibilities. It's this right here." Amari brushed strands of Yaoyorozu's hair out of her face with the tip of her blade and lightly pressed the flat end of it to her forehead. "This brain of yours is your greatest weapon. You are blessed with an amazing Quirk and in possession of a genius-level intellect. However, you are cursed by indecisiveness and doubt."

Amari sliced her free hand through the air.

"Look around you! Look at what I've done to your friends. Their injuries rest on your head just as much as they rest on that feral fake Hero! At first I thought you weren't using your Quirk to fight back because you realized the limitations; if you created endless weapons or traps, you would weaken and tire yourself into becoming a burden before you could finish your futile retreat.

"But I was wrong, at least in part. It wasn't the limitations of your Quirk alone that stops you from aiding your friends. You aren't sure what to create. You said you've run countless scenarios of how this goes. Tell me, what have those scenarios dictated you to create? Surely there is something."

Amari titled her blade deftly, gently, pricking open her fragile flesh to draw a bead of blood. Yaoyorozu was breathing more erratically.

"Surely there's something you could do here. Something more than asking your comrades to throw themselves at me again and again as you stand in the shadows, trying so desperately to think of one creation that could help." The trail of crimson streaked down through her eyebrow, over her eye and down her cheek like a tear of blood. "But you can't think of one, can you? All because you lost in the Sports Festival, yes?

"Oh, don't look so shocked!" the Last Shinobi laughed vindictively. "This is the consequence of this wretched society's obsessions and addiction to its technology! You all postured like peacocks in your little fake fights. Did you not expect people to study you? To learn your weaknesses? Wake up! You are supposedly the next generation of Heroes, yet all you think of is your adoring fans greeting you in public. Not the darkness in this world that plans to end your lives before you can threaten their power!"

Amari sensed the rapid approach of Midoriya and Asui. She had to finish this lesson for Yaoyorozu before they arrived.

"One loss and you crumble," she whispered. "My friend didn't have your gifts. All she had was fake confidence and basic control of her power. I understood her doubt, her terrible feeling like she was just a burden to us. A weak link in a strong chain. I wasn't always this strong. I was weak. Everything I lost… Do you know how many times I cried myself to sleep? Do you know how many days I just wanted my pain to end? I wanted to quit.

"But you? You lose one battle against a powerful opponent, all because you lack combat experience with your Quirk. You couldn't think fast enough to react to his attacks. And now you lay here, frozen in terror and indecision because you suddenly believe you aren't worthy enough to be a Hero? You have all these gifts, and yet one loss is enough to break you down? That annoys me."

Amari pointed at her classmates. "These fools, your classmates, relied on you to think of a plan, because they believed in you. They're your responsibility. They look to you as a leader. And you are failing them." Amari sniffed and lifted her blade away from the girl's face. "It's time to grow up, Momo Yaoyorozu. Stand by a decision. No matter how many times you fail, a true Hero will continue to fight, continue to think, continue to try to save lives. Be quick and find some courage, otherwise I'll purge you as yet another fake Hero. And you!"

The kunoichi Body Flickered away and stamped her foot onto Mina Ashido's chest, pinning her against the ground and pointing the flat end of her blade at her throat. She attached her Shadow to the girl to avoid any possible acid attacks.

"You better find a spark and some conviction fast. Fear isn't an excuse for cowardice. All of your classmates are afraid. All Heroes feel fear when faced with a life or death battle. But I saw your performance in the Sports Festival. You still treat this like a game, like this is fun. Let me guess: Bottom of the class academically? Goofing off too much and no studying?"

Ashido squeezed her eyes shut and whimpered.

"Frustrating, isn't it? But that isn't an excuse for laziness or cowardice either. A true Hero would train or study in their spare time; they'd push themselves harder than the rest to prove themselves instead of hiding behind a fake smile and nonchalant attitude. They'd persevere through failure. They would find some use of their Quirk in this battle without endangering their allies."

Amari tapped the flat side of her tantō against one of her horns. Ashido winced and whimpered.

"Time for you to grow up, too, Mina Ashido. This current world may reward flashy Quirks and flashy outfits. But in the world I've envisioned, that alone won't be enough to call yourself a Hero."

"Would you…just shut the hell up already?" Bakugo ground out.

Those her Rotation had flung away were beginning to pick themselves up. Of the group, Sato and Bakugo looked the worst. Sato braced his back against the wall, the effects of his Sugar Rush Quirk having worn off. Bakugo had one palm against the sidewalk and his good leg pressed firmly against the ground. His body was trembling in exertion.

"Go away, you gnat," she dismissed coldly, directing her attention back to Ashido. "Fake Heroes with zero potential don't interest me."

Bakugo growled like a feral dog. Sensing a weakness, she struck the final blow.

"Don't pretend to be All Might, Katsuki Bakugo. There isn't a single similarity between you."

His palms erupted with explosions. In a quick succession of events no one's eyes could perceive, Amari sheathed her tantō and captured Bakugo, slamming him chest first into the pavement, wrenching his right arm behind his back. Amari slammed her foot onto his broken ankle, coaxing a scream out of her enemy. Then she sat down on top of him and pressed her sandal on the top of his head.

Midoriya and Asui were fifteen seconds away, at an estimate.

Amari sneered viciously down at her enemy. "Here we are again. You beneath my sandal, like the insect you are. You attack and attack and attack on your own, guided by your fragile ego and this immature desire to defeat me on your own. Glare all you like. I know what you're thinking. I'm a dumb Villain. You'll kill me. Blah, blah, blah. And somewhere within that, there's that quiet voice in your mind that is acknowledging how much stronger, faster and smarter I am.

"But all I had to do was prod your fragile ego with one comment and you threw it all away again. Did hearing the truth hurt your ego? Hear it again: You aren't even close to being All Might. And you know what?" She leaned down to whisper in his ear. "You never will be."

With a single thrust, she broke his arm. Bakugo screamed out in agony.

At that moment, something wet and warm wrapped around her throat, tugging her off his back and lifting her into the air.

"Midoriya, now!" Tsuyu Asui called out.

Green lightning bolted directly at her.

Midoriya looked furious. Yet a nervous grin broke onto his face.

"I didn't want to hurt you, but you've given me no choice!" He cocked his fist back.

The kunoichi smirked. You think you've captured me. How cute.

Her body burst into a flock of Crows and re-materialized directly behind the boy. She heard him gasp, saw him glance back in shock.

Before she could strike, Tsuyu Asui leapt through the air at her back. Amari created a Shadow Clone beneath herself and flipped over her attack. Asui landed on the wall like a frog; again she shot her tongue out, this time wrapping it around her waist and reeling the kunoichi in as she jumped off the wall at her.

Asui's feet connected with her abdomen, but crimson blood splashed off her tongue as a kunai cut a surface wound over it. The wet and warm tongue released Amari as she plummeted to the pavement.

Flipping out of the fall, she landed on her feet and skipped back, dodging her upper body beneath a heavy and fast haymaker from Midoriya. Then she jumped into a back-flip to evade Dark Shadow's grab.

Midoriya and Asui are coordinating well. And their arrival has reinvigorated some of their classmates spirits. Amari smirked. All right. Things are getting interesting.

Yukiko dashed to meet Amaririsu on the side of the building she landed on. All Might watched on as the pair began to exchange blows at high speeds. They raced up and down the building, neither relenting in their speed or their attack and defense.

"Incredible," Midnight awed. "Amaririsu has kicked into an entirely different gear to fight Igarashi. Look at them! Oh, the fierceness these two are exhibiting has my blood pumping! They might take me over the edge at this rate," she moaned.

"Seriously, Nemuri?!" All Might choked.

His colleague giggled at her own shameless sense of humor.

"Tsu, are you all right?" Midoriya's voice drew his attention to the screen of his successor. He stood beside Tsuyu, his Full Cowling deactivated as he checked on her.

"I'll be okay. The cut isn't too deep."

"Okay. Todoroki and Uraraka should be here soon. That's when we'll make our move. Until then, we'll need to hold her off."

"Ribbit," Asui nodded.

"Midoriya, Tsu, be careful!" Yaoyorozu called out in a breathless voice. "She has more Quirks than we first thought! And her combat skill is beyond all of you! The only way to hold her back is through teamwork. If we split up, or fight her one on one, we will all die."

"Don't worry!" Midoriya declared. "Nobody is going to die, I promise! We have Mr. Aizawa somewhere safe. Please, anyone who can stand without help I need you to regroup and get ready to run. I'm sorry we were late to help, but we're here now! Everything is going to be okay!"

"Ribbit, ribbit!"

All Might grinned and nodded.

"Ohhh! Bravery like that turns me on!" Midnight moaned.

All Might choked on his blood and fell into a coughing fit. Nemuri bashfully patted his back and muttered apologies.

And that was how the Number One Hero almost died at the hands of Midnight.

When Amari felt the temperature of the air drop drastically, she knew the current battle had reached its end. It was as she was fielding off attacks from Igarashi, Midoriya, Tokoyami and Asui that the chill in the air brushed against her skin, warning her of the incoming attack. And she was thankful for it.

Amari jumped out of range of Dark Shadow, threw herself into a handspring to evade Midoriya, flung by Asui's tongue. Igarashi's attack was unavoidable. The weights and the drain on her strength and stamina slowed her down, left her panting as she stumbled back from a hard haymaker to the stomach.

That's when she saw the trail of ice racing along the pavement, around Igarashi. All she could do was release chakra from her feet and launch herself high into the air to evade the sudden, giant spike wall of ice that exploded into reality.

The ice wall consumed at least seven stories in height and the entire width of the street. Amari landed on a power-line and nearly fell off, breathing heavily.

"That was closer than I'd have liked. Sheesh. What a troublesome power."

Through her Byakugan, she watched Uraraka race around to the worst injured, tapping them with her hands and nullifying their gravity. All at once, those who could stand grabbed their lighter, broken allies and high-tailed it in a retreat.

The main combatants—Midoriya, Todoroki, Kirishima Asui, Iida and Igarashi—stood their ground. They waited for her return—expected it. Instead the kunoichi deactivated her Sharingan and dispelled the two remaining Shadow Clones within the city. She jumped to the roof of a nearby building and sat down in the shade of a large sign, wiping the sweat from her brow and exhaling a deep breath. Eventually the combatants followed after their allies, settling this round of combat.

As she sat there, Atsuko and Osamu regrouped with her.

"We know where their base is. But how are you, Young Haya?"

"Tired," she admitted. "But I'll recover after a short break."

"Have any passed your tests?" Osamu asked.

"A few. But even those who passed in this last round can fail in the next." She looked up at the blue sky, absent of clouds. "This is where it will really count. This is their last chance to pass this little test."

She began to unbuckle the weights from her arms and legs. After she finished she stored them in her Storage Scroll. Taking one final breath, she stood up and placed her arms out for the Crows to hop up.

Once Atsuko and Osamu were on her shoulders, the kunoichi looked to the horizon of ice and cement.

"Next they'll face the full, unrestrained might of the Uchiha and the Crows combined."

Review Response to ChillinInKonoha: I'm happy you've enjoyed this arc so far. I'd say you're concerns were legitimate about her darkness, given what happened. There's always the possibility she will learn a few of Madara's fire style jutsus. We'll have to wait and see if your prediction comes true in the final half of the fight, as well as if Class 1-A will forgive her for everything she has done and will do. There's a chance I'll have her return to the My Hero Academia world later on, though I don't know if I'll have her go to any other anime world. And there are a few interesting timeline ideas I have for her to hop into, but that's later on. After this arc ends it'll be back to moving the story forward in the current present.

It's a good Villain soundtrack, though I'd add Orochimaru's theme and the Akatsuki theme to the villain portion. Especially Orochimaru's theme, since that was prominent while I typed. For the fast paced or battle music portion I'd add the United States of Smash song and a song from Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans called Iron-Blooded Orphans Theme, or that's how I usually find it anyway. As for an opening, I'd pick one of three songs for this arc: Sora Ni Utaeba from amazarashi, Dawn from Sayuri and My First Story or Home from My First Story, in no particular order of favoritism. As for an ending, I'd pick a song named Friends from Stephanie, from the series Gundam 00.

I doubt the trope will show up.

Anyway, thank you for the review!