The Deity Entertainment Network

Chapter 223 – A Terrifying Stain Remover

"Momo? What is- what happened here?" John asked her as he came out of the rabbit warren of back alleys into what appeared to be a triage centre from that old TV show M.A.S.H. The drone saw her from above, dragging two people in hero costumes out of the alley, so he made his way here.

Nearly a dozen injured people were laid out on old army cots, being tended to by several people wearing blue hospital scrubs with L.O.V.E. embroidered on the back. A cube van was parked nearby, with the same acronym on its side, and two people beside it were treating another wounded person. At a glance, most of the wounds appeared to be burns, though a few people appeared to have been injured in other ways.

She turned her head at the sound of his voice, then sprang to her feet. "Mr. Wayne! Come quickly! It's Tenya. He's been stabbed." She said, then grabbed his hand and brought him over to the teenager and the other man she had been dragging on a sheet of metal. He hadn't recognized him at all from the drone, as he was wearing a full suit of armour, though part of his helmet was split open, revealing half of his face. He had no idea who the other guy was, but he could wait while he healed the kid.

"Heal! Damn it, Heal!" John said, cursing slightly as he had to cast the spell twice because he wasn't getting buffed by the Black Templar armour right now. The stab wounds closed completely on the second cast, causing the teenager to let out a ragged breath as the pain subsided.

"Can you speak, Tenya?" John asked. The teen appeared to be trying to speak, but couldn't get words to come out of his mouth. After giving him a moment to try, he looked over at Momo. "What happened?"

"The Hero Killer attacked him and that other hero. The three of us found them paralyzed while the villain was monologuing. I was just dropping them off here before running to find Rumi in the square. They are fighting him right now, trying to stall him while I go and get her." She said, then tried to run. He grabbed her wrist and held her here. 

"Wait one moment." He said while contemplating his spell list. Paralysis Recovery was slightly more expensive than heal, but from what Rumi and Anan had told him, the hero killer paralyzed someone by controlling their blood, not severing their spine. It should work. "Paralysis Recovery!" 

Green energy flowed into Tenya, causing him to gasp and then sit up immediately. "I can move! How? Thank-"

"Not important right now. Can you run?"

"Yes. My engines were not damaged. Why?"

"Carry Momo to the square and find Rumi and bring her back to where Stain-" John said, then stopped. His drone had found them.

"Mr. Wayne?"

"Run. Now." John said coldly. Cycling his wind magic and Ki, he darted off down a nearby alley, leaving the two teenagers behind.

Tsui knew this was a bad idea from the start, and now she was about to get stuck with a damn sword because of it. 

When they got off the train earlier, Ochaco had been texting Midoriya, who mentioned that Tenya was in Hosu as well. While they pulled one of the injured heroes back to the civilian recovery station, they asked the man whether his agency was the one Tenya was with. It was, and it turned out that he had run off down this alley just prior to them responding to the villain attack.

They tried to text him, but when he didn't respond, Momo and Ochaco decided to go see if he was okay. Tsui was adamant that they shouldn't do that, as they already had their directions from Rumi. They were not heroes, but heroes in training; they still had a bunch of rules they needed to follow to stay safe, especially in situations like this. When the other two refused to budge, she had actually considered staying behind, but Ochaco was one of her closest friends at U.A., and she didn't want to lose their friendship over it.

So she tagged along, which led to rescuing Tenya and some other guy, but now she was fighting the Hero Killer.

Alone.

She sprang off another wall, using her powerful legs to propel her away from that wicked-looking blade. She was trying to draw the Hero Killer away from Ochaco, trying to prevent her from being stabbed yet again. She had two knives buried to the hilt in her body, and a slash from his sword had left a nasty gash across her chest. 

When she had goaded him into attacking her at the start, she had jumped to the side, and he had followed her. That left an opening Ochaco should have been able to exploit, but one quick flick of his off hand and a knife was buried into her shoulder, followed swiftly by another into her side.

She had tried to run then, but he slashed out with his sword, cutting her chest and drawing blood. He then licked the blade, and Ochaco fell to the ground, completely disabled.

Tsui tried to attack him then, but was repelled rather quickly, her speed and her thick leather jacket the only reason she hadn't been paralyzed as well. She was forced on the defensive ever since. 

He was toying with her now, taunting her with some baloney about how she wasn't cut out to be a hero, and how she should give up. She couldn't focus on his words, her mind trying to come up with a new plan to escape while dragging Ochaco with her. She was tempted to use her tongue and wrap her, but she was almost positive he was faster than her already. Adding the weight of another person would only slow her down further.

Besides, I'm keeping my tongue in my mouth like John said to do, as a surprise weapon if I get the chance. Right now, all sticking it out would do is give this creep a chance to get my blood. Not to mention cutting my tongue off; I'm sure he would like that.

She jumped up higher, bouncing from building to building, then stopped well above him. "Hey, quick question. Why didn't you just leave?"

"What? What idiotic drivel is coming out of your mouth now?" Stain replied, his hand pausing before throwing another knife at her.

"I mean. We are not heroes, we're just students. First year ones at that. Sure, we stopped you from killing that other hero and our friend, but you offered us to just walk away. Why didn't you? It's not like we could have stopped you. Isn't your whole thing about injuring and killing heroes or something? Where do inexperienced teenagers fall into that?" She said, improvising some bullshit. She wasn't always the smartest girl around, but she had a quick tongue. If she could get him talking again, that would give Momo more time to get Rumi and end this farce.

He actually stopped, lowering his weapons to his side. Tsui remained tense, ready to jump again the moment he made a sudden movement, knowing full well how fast he was. 

He started to mumble something under his breath, made an angry face, then mumbled again. She wasn't a psychologist, but the insane man appeared to be arguing with himself, almost like he had two or three separate personalities inside his body. She stayed as still as possible, waiting for him to work out whatever was going on in his head. If she were faster or had some sort of weapon, this might have been a good time to strike. As it was, short of spitting on him with some weak acid, she didn't have much she could do to him.

She could run away, but that would be leaving Ochaco in the hands of this villain, and she didn't want to see her friend hurt further. 

Suddenly, something wacked the side of Stain's face, bringing him out of his mad ramblings. In front of him was a little drone, which hovered right in front of him for a moment, then flew upwards rapidly.

"What- ARGH!!!" Stain shouted, suddenly covered in a net that was snapping loudly.

Tsui had no idea what was happening, but took the opportunity to run towards Ochacu, intent on them escaping. Before she made it there, someone she had not expected showed up, stopping beside her friend. "Mr. Wayne?"

"I can't deal with her injuries right now. Tsui, take her out to the street; there are some medical services there." He said coldly. There was a small tear at the corner of his eye. 

"What about him? Don't you need help taking him down?" She asked, pointing at the struggling villain. He was almost out of the net that John had launched from the back of his hero suit. It kept shocking him, but it was only a matter of time before he was out.

He turned towards her and gave her a much softer smile. "I appreciate it, Tsui, but it's more important that you get Ochacu out of here than it is to help me. Besides," He said, standing up, walking towards the Hero Killer, "This isn't our first fight. He ran away last time; he won't be leaving this time." 

John was torn. He wanted to pull the knives out of Ochacu right then and heal her wounds, but that would take time. Time he didn't have.

The net launcher didn't catch Stain cleanly; the shocks coursing through him were not much worse than an electric fence. Sure, it hurt a bit, but it was nowhere near as effective as it should be. He was already out of the net, though that sword he used was still fouled up in it. That made John smile as he drew his own weapon, ignoring the shock fists that were installed on his hero suit. 

He has committed assault and murder, and now has assault on a minor added to the list. While some shock therapy might be therapeutic for his ass... 

"Another false hero, coming to save the day? Who are you, anyway? Even the students knew to introduce themselves first." Stain said, giving up on the sword and drawing a long dagger from his hip. 

He doesn't deserve to breathe any longer.

Stepping forward, John swung the weapon, which Stain intercepted with the dagger. The metal, while in much better condition than that sword, couldn't stand up to the power behind the Sword of Truth. It was sheared off in an instant, leaving Stain holding its hilt. 

He hissed, then jumped back, pulling another dagger out from the rags he was wearing. "Fine then. If you don't want to talk, a taste of your blood will be more than enough to make you regret your decision."

They began to dance then, John poking and prodding the other man with his longer reach, while Stain tried to move in under his guard and slash at him. The suit had armour on the chest, back and thighs, and his two wrist-mounted shock fists were armoured enough to act as vambraces. Even buffed, he wasn't as fast as Stain, but he was fast enough now that he could keep up.

Stain continued to circle him, trying to stay within John's apparent blind spot on his right side. It might have worked if he hadn't had drone footage just above them. He wasn't able to intercept those strikes, but he knew when he had to dodge. 

John tried several times to land a killing blow, but the villain was too quick for him to connect again. He had refrained from casting Darkness and Waterball on him; he wanted to end the threat now, not let him have a chance to escape.

Despite her protest, Tsui had carried Ochacu away from the fight, the pair of them hopefully reaching safety. He had no idea how they ended up in this situation to begin with, but he would deal with that later. Right now, he needed to create an opening and end this.

Swinging the sword slightly more wildly, he tried to look more desperate as their fight continued. He changed from cycling water magic to shadow, further slowing his reflexes. The man continued to press his right side, grinning manically at his slower opponent.

Then it happened. One-handed, John overswung his sword, and the man stepped inside his guard and stabbed at his neck. John immediately started to glow, golden light surrounding him as he activated his invulnerability. He brought his left arm around and grasped Stain by his greasy clothing just as he was realizing his dagger didn't embed itself in John's neck.  

"This is for all those you maimed and murdered, Shit Stain," John growled, driving his sword into the man's guts, his shadow magic coursing down the edge of the blade. "You have been judged, and I sentence you to death."

"NOOOO!!!!" The man screamed, clinging to John's arm, preventing him from moving the blade further. He spat out flecks of blood as he shouted at John. "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO JUDGE ME! YOU ARE NOTHING! ONLY ALL MIGHT HAS THAT RIGHT! ONLY HE CAN END ME!"

The absurd amount of power in the man's voice washed over his divine shield, causing ripples in the air around him. John just smiled at him, blue flames shooting out of the side of his eye as he pumped more magic into the sword. "All Might is too good a person to deal with the likes of you. Not as you deserve, anyway. I'm your huckleberry, partner. Now, die!"

The wound in Stain's gut started to mummify, spreading out away from the blade as the shadow magic seeped into him. The man continued to scream for a few more seconds as it rapidly consumed his body, ending abruptly as it spread into the man's lungs. In a few moments, there was only an empty grey husk standing in front of him, his face frozen in agony.

John pulled his sword free and released the magic still coursing through him. The body toppled to the side, parts of it breaking up just as the training dummy had when he used it before. 

"God damn, that power is bloody terrifying." He said to himself, then sheathed his blade. 

"JOHN! YOU'RE OKAY! WHERE IS HE!" Rumi shouted, sprinting towards him from down the alleyway. She had his bow nocked, ready to take down Stain from a distance. He could see dozens of people following well behind her, from other heroes to police officers. 

He just waved to her and sighed. It was going to be a long night.