The Musatafu Guild

Deku Vs. Shigaraki: Round 2

Midoriya and Shigaraki charged each other. When they collided, their swords locked together. They glared at each other, breaking the sword lock and clashing into each other's swords three times. Midoriya then dove at him and managed to land a solid strike on his gut. Shigaraki's health went down a bit.

"I have to say, Deku," Shigaraki said, "I always wanted this! A duel to the death with the thorns in my side!"

He then slashed Midoriya in his arms, depleting a bit of his HP.

"Why do you do this?!" Midoriya asked, "Why do you make people suffer?!"

Midoriya gave Shigaraki a small cut on his cheek.

"Why are you so hung up on what happens in this world? This world is just ones and zeroes! What happens here doesn't happen outside!" Shigaraki shouted

"But people have died! How can you justify that?!" Midoriya responded.

"That's just how you play these games! Do you really think people who have sex in this game get pregnant and have a kid on the outside?! I'm just reminding everyone that this is a game! And this world has no real and lasting effects!"

"Tell that to those who are permanently traumatized! The ones you tortured! Raped! Robbed! Do you think they'll recover from that?!"

They charged back to each other, swords drawn back. Midoriya blocked Shigaraki's attacks. He then managed to land a solid strike on Shigaraki, which pushed his health into yellow. Shigaraki responded by stabbing Midoriya in the gut.

"This world isn't real. You really think this game would have been approved for release, or the NRV gear available for public use if people really were affected by anything in this world?" Shigaraki asked.

"How could the beta testers have counted on this happening? They were able to log off, die without consequence! If death here wasn't permanent, then why don't we still have ten thousand people?!" Midoriya asked.

"Would they even want to return?"

Midoriya fought trying to remove Shigaraki's sword from his stomach.

"If it meant telling everyone that Kayaba was lying, then of course at least one person could have come back to tell us!" Midoriya said.

He finally got free of Shigaraki's sword and quickly slashed at his chest. Shigaraki's health was in the middle of the yellow. Midoriya couldn't see how many hit points Shigaraki still had. But he still had several hit points left. He needed an idea to beat Shigaraki fast.

"Deku!" Uraraka shouted, "One For All!"

Before he could even process what she'd said, Shigaraki attacked again. Midoriya fought as best as he could left handed, as he activated One For All and switched back to right handed. Uraraka tossed him one of her daggers. He grabbed it and slashed at Shigaraki's shins, cutting his lower legs clean off. He then quickly cut off his hands.

"Master!" Kurogiri shouted, reaching to pull out a healing crystal.

"No you don't!" Uraraka shouted, running right at him.

Midoriya passed her dagger back to her, and she rolled past Kurogiri, cutting off his feet. She then swung around cutting off his hands and the healing crystal clattered on the ground.

"Yield," Midoriya said, holding his sword beside Shigaraki's neck, "Just because this place isn't real, doesn't mean everything we do here is meaningless. What happens here, the good, the bad, it stays with you forever. You can't forget when something bad happens. Even if our bodies aren't really being violated, it's still a body we control. A body we inhabit."

Shigaraki glanced from the sword to its wielder. He backed himself away from the sword and attempted to run himself through. Before he could, Midoriya pointed his sword up, so he couldn't.

"Nobody else is dying today," Midoriya said, "not even you."

Shigaraki looked to the rest of the Musatafu Guild and the Nomu. The Nomu had been paralyzed again. He glared at Midoriya putting his stubs up. Bakugo ran past Midoriya and slammed cuffs onto Shigaraki's stubs and gave him a healing crystal, restoring his hands and ensuring the cuffs would stay on. The same was done to Kurogiri. Just before he went to cuff and cure the Nomu, he gave a warning to Shigaraki.

"Order them to attack me, and I'll cut out your tongue so you can't do that again," he said.

Shigaraki glared at him.

As Bakugo left with the prisoners, Midoriya was still standing in the position he had been when he ended the duel with Shigaraki. He then collapsed to his knees.

"Deku!" Uraraka ran up to him, staring at his health. It was extremely close to fully depleted, "Deku! Stay with us. Stay with us." He was panting extremely heavily. And she was concerned that even just falling on the ground would deplete the last of his health, "Stay with me. Stay with me."

"Uraraka..." he said.

"Why do you push yourself like this, Deku? Why do you put your life so close like this? You have people waiting for you outside. You have people you care about out there."

"Uraraka..."

She collapsed and put her left hand on his left shoulder.

"And you have people in here who care about you. Don't you know what dying here would mean for all of them? Those in and out of SAO? Do you... do you even know who here cares about you here?"

"Uraraka..."

Tears began to stream from her eyes. She bowed her head.

"Do you know how I'd feel if you just die and leave all of us? Leave me? Please... can you not do that anymore? I... I care about you way too much."

"Uraraka..."

Midoriya turned around and raised her head. To the astonishment of everyone there, he kissed her. Ashido, while shocked, kept her squealing down. Uraraka was wide-eyed at what Midoriya was doing. But quickly, she closed her eyes and reciprocated.

"I fight to my last to make sure all of my friends are safe," Midoriya said, with his head bowed, "I fight so hard to make sure that everyone can be free from this Hell. but most importantly... I fight so you don't die. Uraraka, I... I... love you."

"Deku..."

"Can... can you please heal me?"

Uraraka went into her inventory and looked for at her crystal supply. She was shocked to see that she didn't have any healing crystals.

"S-sorry. I don't have any," she said.

He chuckled and raised his head. An idea crossed his mind and he sent Uraraka a request. She was shocked by his straightforwardness.

"A m-marriage request?" She asked.

"I have healing crystals, but... I'm tired. And I want to spend the rest of this game with you by my side. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

She accepted the marriage request. Silver bands appeared on their left ring fingers. Uraraka then got into their shared inventory and activated a healing crystal, restoring all of Midoriya's HP. They saw little flashes of light from the other four couples and saw they too now had silver bands on their left ring fingers.

"Did you guys just..." Uraraka asked.

"Blame Ashido," Kaminari said, "she told us to wait for the marriage requests until you two got together."

Uraraka and Midoriya chuckled and all ten returned to their headquarters, where Bakugo was already waiting for them.

We're almost over. Soon they will wake up.