𝐖𝐑𝐀𝐈𝐓𝐇 || ᵇ.ᵏᵃᵗˢᵘᵏⁱ

LXI

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Jinyoung tried to stand. Tried to continue fighting for his sake, his sister's sake, for Eri's sake...but he couldn't.

He stumbled to the floor as his vision danced, looking around for the arm that had been severed. He reached for the limb and pulled it towards him. He'd have to get it reattached—if he survived.

Aeri shot over to him when Deku took over the fight. Her breathing was laboured as she pressed her shaking hands over the wound to try and stop the blood from gushing out as fast as it was. She swore and ripped the shrug jacket from her shoulders, binding it around the stump as best she could, making sure it was tight so that minimal blood would leak through. She leaned forward and covered his body with hers when the ceiling came crashing down, to protect him from any further harm and it made Jinyoung feel extremely disappointed in himself. He was her older brother, he should be protecting her, but instead, he was the one teetering over the edge into darkness while she saved him.

Aeri could've sobbed when she saw it was back up and not another swarm of villains. Uraraka and Tsuyu made sure none of the rubble hit them and the heroes rushed over to Nighteye, lifting him off the spike whilst he yelled out in pain and sobbed at them to leave him. They eventually got him off and loaded him onto Ryukyu's back. Aeri teleported over with her brother in arms—and his arm in her arms too—and let Uraraka and Tsuyu lift him to safety.

Then she turned back to the battle. She limped towards where Deku was using 20% of his power to weaken Overhaul and slit across her palm with a moonstone dagger. She probably could've just used the blood that was already dripping from the various wounds covering her body but she wasn't thinking. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping her awake currently.

Thanks to Ryukyu, who had now taken off back to the surface with her dad, brother and Nighteye who were all badly injured, the sky was now above her, meaning Dalnim could see her. She drew the circle on her forehead and Dalnim appeared instantly, her face hard and determined.

"Dalnim, merge," Aeri commanded, catching the attention of Deku who paused to look back. Aeri could've sworn she saw his eyes twinkle at the sight of the deity but she didn't have time to make observations.

Overhaul shot through the gaping hole in the ceiling and Deku rushed after him, already knowing what his intentions were. He was going to take Eri back. Aeri followed, hot on their trail as Dalnim's soul nudged hers aside. She teleported up with two moonstone daggers in hand, the power lent to her by Dalnim pulsing through her.

Aeri managed to block the hit that Overhaul sent towards the both of them but Deku didn't dodge in time and ended up with an injury, though it was nothing major. Eri rushed out, breaking free from the crowd of paramedics and the heroes and rushing towards Overhaul, Aeri and Midoriya.

"Stop! Stop! Don't hurt them!" Eri yelled, sobs wracking through her body. "I'll come with you, just stop hurting them!"

"Eri no!" Aeri shouted, her voice echoing together with Dalnim's. Overhaul flashed a creepy, sadistic smile and gathered Eri into his many, fleshy arms.

Deku and Aeri charged after the pair with everything they had left in them and Eri looked back at them as if she regretted opening her mouth. The little girl desperately wanted to be saved but she was devastated at the amount of people that had gotten seriously hurt after trying to save her and just wanted it to all stop.

Her quirk chose that moment to make its appearance and she used her power to return Overhaul's body to its human form. Deku grabbed her and slung her onto his back, ordering her to hold on tight. Aeri struck just as Overhaul merged with yet another body, not phased by Eri's reversal. This time, he was bigger, and scarier, and stronger.

Aeri decided that now would have to be the time she used her ultimate move for the first time. She had no other choice.

No matter what they threw at Overhaul, how many heroes went up against him, he always found another person to merge with and always became stronger. Aeri needed this to be over. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Deku preparing for something big too, his green lightning glowing a turquoise blue from the power he was borrowing from Eri.

Aeri closed her eyes, burrowing down deep into Dalnim's power. The deity didn't bother trying to stop her, this was a dire situation and she didn't want to think about how many people would die if she didn't let Aeri do what she was about to do, even if it would risk her host's life.

The wind whipped around her and she felt the surrounding area become darker as Dalnim assisted her in gathering power, the moon emerging from the clouds as it moved to shine down on Aeri. There were gasps as the spirits flickered to life around her and when she opened her eyes, there had to be at least 20 of her ancestors staring straight at her.

Her mother, Eunji, her grandmother and other ancestors...they were all there, staring at her as if waiting for a command. Aeri took a deep breath, and then charged at the same time as Deku, her spirits falling into formation around her.

She teleported upwards and the spirits followed, all using the same quirk that had been passed down for generations upon generations. She began using her daggers to slice up any part of Overhaul's body that was near to her, targeting the protruding blue veins as her spirits did the same, delicately dancing over Chisaki's giant limbs as he tried to shake them all off.

They, along with Deku, attacked faster than Overhaul's recovery time, allowing them to get the upper hand for the first time since they began their fight against him, though Aeri could swiftly feel Dalnim's power draining, as well as her own energy.

Deku delivered his onslaught of punches, using Eri to keep his bones from breaking so he could continue beating down Overhaul to a state where he couldn't fight back. Aeri sheathed her daggers and pulled her katanas free, needing a longer blade to actually do any real damage to Overhaul's hulking body—but thanks to her family, he was already slowing down, blood trickling down and landing in a giant puddle at his feet.

Deku landed the winning punch a second later, sending Overhaul's stumbling backwards with an echoing thud. Unfortunately this sent Aeri flying off, her spirits disappearing along with her energy and Dalnim. It also sent rubble and debris into the air where Aeri sustained multiple more injuries.

A gash across the stomach.

A sharp rock piercing her shoulder.

A jagged piece of glass slicing open her throat.

Aeri didn't even register the screams of her name as she plummeted and focused the little speck of power she had left in her on teleporting safely to the ground.

She let out a strangled noise as she landed on her back, putting pressure on the wound on her throat. She wasn't dead so she knew the glass had missed her carotid artery, but that didn't change the fact that she was losing blood, fast.

She dragged herself over onto her stomach to stop herself from choking on her blood as her vision began to spot. The last two things she saw before everything went black were a burst of power from Eri and three pairs of legs running towards her.

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