Mystic Hero: Power Beyond Quirks(A Doctor Strange & My Hero Academia Crossover)

Chapter Six.

     "Ethan, what's that?" Sato asked, gesturing to the notebook in my grip.
     "I keep journals on any ancient relics or artifacts I hear about," I replied. "It's kinda like a hobby." That wasn't a lie. But it wasn't the whole truth either. It was a journal on all the monsters my foster father and I had captured, as well as the ancient relics we'd discovered. "My father says I should study it often, but I find that hard to do. We all know I don't fancy hard work."
     "Notes like Midoriya's," Kirishima said, examining the journal, drawing the attention of several others.
     "Midoriya's journal is all about heroes, and their powers and techniques, mine is on some artifacts I never end up reading," I said, willing the book to vanish in a flash of yellow light. It was true that I never studied the books my foster father gave me. It was a thing of wonder that I could even do any proper magic. I rarely opened any books. "Also, there are power-hungry, blood-thirsty villains before us. Is all you wanna do talk about my journal?"
     I stared at the villains still coming through the mist. It was a portal of some kind. Obviously a Quirk, as I didn't sense any magic.
     "The only real heroes I see are Thirteen and Eraser Head," a deep, resonant voice said, echoing across the facility. I looked around but no villain was speaking, which meant the voice was coming from the purple mist.
     "That mist is a sentient being," I pointed out.
     "Perplexing," the mist added.   "According to the schedule we retrieved from UA, Almight should be here as well."
     "So you scumbags used the press as a cover and sneaked unto campus," Mister Aizawa said.
     "Where is he?" the blue-haired man with hands all over him said. "I went through the trouble of bringing so many friends who are eager to meet him. They want Almight, the great symbol of peace. They can't believe he's not here. Maybe if I kill a few kids, he'll come out to play."
     "Okay, now that's just dark," I said.    "Why would he say something like that? That's probably enough to land you in jail."
Mister Aizawa lifted his scarf and waved it. I stared at the crowd, quite scared.
     "What?!" Kirishima exclaimed. "Real villains? No way. How could so many of them get into a UA facility this secure."
     "Yeah, Thirteen," Momo Yaoyorozu said. "Why aren't the alarms going off?"
     "I'm not sure," Thirteen replied.
     "Is the the entire campus under attack, or is this their only target?" Shoto asked. "Either way, if the alarm sensors aren't being triggered then one of these villains must have a Quirk that's masking their presence here. They carefully chose this isolated facility as an entry point at a time when a class was being taught.   They're fools for trespassing here. But they thought this out. Whatever they planned, they must have a concrete objective in mind. But what is it?"
     "Maybe their hunting down perverts," I joked. "Mineta, ready yourself." Everyone turned to eye me offensively. "Okay, not willing to make jokes about it." I looked away.
     "Thirteen, get them out of here," Mister Aizawa said, stepping towards the stairs, ready to descend to face the villains near the fountain. "And alert the main campus. Actually, if they've got the ability to block our sensors, then they might be jamming our regular communications, too. Kaminari, try using your Quirk to contact the school."
     "Yes, sir," he replied.
     "What are you gonna do?!" Izuku exclaimed. "You can't fight them on your own. There's too many of them. Even if you can nullify their Quirks..."
     "Yeah," I added. "They can still punch you in the face. Or are you a skilled punching bag. Maybe used to getting hit a lot?" People around me glared once more. "Although it's a joke, I do make a good point and that question isn't too bad." I shrugged. They all looked away, but Iida stared for a second longer.
     "You can't be a pro if you only have one trick," Mister Aizawa said. "I'll leave it to you, Thirteen." He leaped straight from the top of the steps, about thirty feet down to the ground below.
     "Can you do that, Ethan?" Kirishima asked.
     "I jumped from a building during the entrance examinations, and only conjured a mandala a few feet away from the ground. I jumped from a greater height than this."
     "He actually did," Ochaco confirmed. We watched as Mister Aizawa send forth his scarf, immediately ensnaring like three villains at once. He was blocking their Quirks, but one dude literally had four arms and a skin made of stone. But Mister Aizawa caught him in his scarf, and threw him up into air. While he was looking away, another came from behind him and threw a punch, but Mister Aizawa ducked backwards, then kicked him into two others, simultaneously slamming the villain he trapped in his scarf, on the ground.
     His Quirk was making it hard for them to work together. Wonderful.
     "What's a mandala?" Izuku asked me.
     "A mandala is like a symbolic representation of the universe, typically depicted as an intricate design or pattern. A traditional mandala usually features a central point or circle, surrounded by concentric shapes, patterns, and symbols," I explained.
     "So those are the circles you cast magic with?" he realized. "Wouldn't mandalas be solid and regular? Yours are solid, but they spark and they're holographic, not to mention the different colours they come in."
     "Yes, that's just how it is," I said. Then we all took off, away from the fight scene, towards the USJ's exit. But the purple sentient mist blocked our path, its yellow eyes flashing.
     "There is no escape for you," it said, in the same deep voice we'd heard earlier. "It's a pleasure to meet you. We are the League of Villains. I know it's impolite, but we decided to invite ourselves into this haven of justice to say hello. And besides, isn't this a fitting place for Almight, the symbol for peace to take his last breath?" I tapped Izuku to stop shivering. "I believe he was supposed to be here today, and yet I see no sign of him.  There must have been some sort of change in plans we could not have foreseen." He examined us. "Urgh, well. In the end, I suppose it doesn't matter. I still have a role to play." The mist spread itself out in front of us.   Thirteen took off the cap over one of her fingers, and aimed it at the mist.
     But before she could do anything, Bakugo and Kirishima lunged forward, and attacked. There was a large explosion, followed by quite a lot of smoke.
     "Did you think we were just gonna stand around and let you tear this place to shreds?!" Kirishima demanded, smiling. But its voice returned once more...
     "You live up to your school's reputation," it said. "But you should be more careful, children." When the smoke cleared, I was shocked to find there was a metal, cylindrical cover over what I assumed could be called his actual body, as there was no human's body shaped like a cylinder's.  "Otherwise, someone might get hurt."
     "You two! Get out of the way right now!" Thirteen ordered, but the mist wasn't slow to act. It spread its mist over us.
     "I'll scatter you across this facility to meet my comrades, and your deaths," it declared. Only some of us escaped through the mist enveloping us. However I wasn't one of them. "Oh. And Ethan. There's someone who'd like to meet you." I froze at that. Who was looking for me? That was all the time the sentient mist needed to teleport me to an isolated area in the facility. It appeared to be a blizzard area.
     There were strong, cold winds and snow pelted me over and over, and the light mist, as well as snow obscured my vision. I began looking around. I had a suspicion as to who wanted to see me...
     ...but I hoped I was wrong.
     A portal opened on the distance and a voice came from it. I'd never heard it before, but my instincts told me who it could've been.
     "Hello, Ethan," it said coldly. A black man came through and grinned at me. I examined him. He was wearing a dark green cloak, and black clothes. Good. It wouldn't be hard to see him in the snowstorm. His clothes created a highly noticeable contrast with the surroundings. Maybe I wasn't screwed after all.
     "I don't know you," I said. "Yet that sentient mist said you wanted to meet me. Are you Doctor Strange's enemy?"
     "You mean Kurogiri," he said.
     "So the mist has a name," I commented.
     "You've never seen me before, yes," the man said. "Has Doctor Stephen Strange told you about me? Also yes."
     "How do you know?" I asked.
     "Because it's not possible he wouldn't have," he said. "I'm Karl Mordo." Then I remembered my foster father's stories...
     "Mordo," I said. "The one who got jealous when he became Sorcerer Supreme and has made it his life's mission to kill him." His expression turned sour. "Yep! I know you."
     "I'm going to kill you and leave Stephen broken," Mordo declared.
     "Well, I don't wanna die, so I won't let you kill me," I shrugged. "Hopefully, I can survive." He conjured a small mandala on his balled fist. "But don't you think it's stupid? Devoting your life to try to kill a guy out of jealousy? Just because he was better than you?  And failing everytime because well...he is better than you."
     I'd like to tell you that I made him question the purpose of his existence.  That I broke him and left him in the dust to wither. That my words demolished his self-esteem so much, he couldn't fight me through his shame and embarrassment. But that's not what happened, so I can't tell you that.
     What I will tell you, however. Is that I regretted calling him out. He really cast some deadly dark magic. First of all, the giant burst of purple energy that threw me twenty feet through the air into a heap of snow. The breath was knocked out of my already freezing lungs and I struggled to breathe. I cast a heat spell on myself, to raise my temperature till I felt normal again. Can't afford to go down with a cold in the middle of a fight against Mordo.
     He was coming closer, orange mandalas floating around him.
     "Come on," I complained. "I'm fourteen." In response every mandala fired off a beam of red energy at me. I set up a complex tower of mandalas for protection. It held up quite well against the attack and I took off while I had the chance. As I ran, a portal opened up in front of me. I only managed to keep from sliding on as Mordo stepped out. Shit!
     "Mordo, I do not feel like fighting you," I said, stepping back.
     "Then it'll be too easy to end you," he said. I deflected an energy projectile with a mandala.
     "First of all, you're not going to kill me," I said.
     "Why do you think so?"
     "Because Shuma-Gorath wants me kidnapped, not dead," I smiled. I saw his features constrict in annoyance.
     "So Strange told you the whole thing, huh?" Mordo scoffed bitterly. But I refused to respond. Instead, I turned invisible. But it wasn't long before Mordo found me, and I had to pick another form of stealth, by literally turning into wind. Still, I was found. For what could have been the next hour, I evaded and hid, Mordo found and attacked, with my strategy being to wear him out, then start fighting. But all that ended once he found my sorry ass, and got in to close for me to run. He engaged me in hand-to-hand combat, but I didn't last three seconds, before he thrust out his arm, using a burst of arcane energy to shoot me dozens of metres through the air, till I crashed into the fountain back in the centre of the USJ. I found myself drenched and exhausted. I slowly pulled myself out of the fountain, unto the ground. I was gasping for air. I looked around to see several pros present, and the police as well. Some of my classmates were nearby.
     Adrenaline shot through me as I rose to feet. Mordo was already making his way through a portal, towards me.
     "Ethan!" I heard Kirishima's voice call. Some pro heroes started running over, but Mordo lifted an arm, and a wave of force pushed them all back.
Mordo smiled...
     A large mandala opened above him. I watched as a large, monstrous humanoid creature pulled itself out. I immediately encased the mandala in a holographic polyhedral prison, trapping the monster.
     His smile widened as dozens of other mandalas materialized all around the USJ. Oh no. I focused and conjured another polyhedral prison. This time, a very large one. Once I had it wrapped round all the monster-spawning mandalas, I compressed the prison, as quickly as possible. The spawning monsters slammed into one another, some of them eating their partners. But while  I was distracted, it gave Mordo the opportunity to blast me square in the chest. The force blasted me off the ground, narrowly missing the fountain, then crashing back into the ground.
     I was drained from that fall, my vision was blurry and Mordo was not backing down. I forced myself up to my feet. As he came closer, an idea popped into my head. I focused and willed the water in the fountain to move. It went crashing into Mordo, drenching him and creating a small puddle around him.
     He stared at me with murderous intent, but I didn't care.
I lifted my arms. The water on the ground around him rose up, and collected on him. I willed everything to freeze, trapping him in a glacier.
But when I looked, he wasn't in the ice.
     I quickly turned around, just in time to deflect his holographic sword with a mandala. He grinned and sent a kick for my torso, but I took a big step back. Once more, the onlookers tried to interfere, but Mordo used another wave of force to send them flying.       Even I was tossed through the air.         However, I stopped flying halfway, as Mordo now had me in a an eldritch whip, sparking with energy. He made a pulling motion with his arm, but I was faster, immediately conjuring a holographic dagger and slicing his whip. I dropped twenty feet to ground and rolled once I landed, coming up to my feet. He doubled his sword, holding one in each hand. I doubled my dagger as well. He charged at me. I quickly side-stepped, but this wasn't Bakugo. He followed me up, slicing madly through the air, but I stayed alert, evading every attack he threw at me, and parrying some. I moved quickly and transformed one of my daggers into a whip. I lashed out, wrapping it round his waist and pulling him in. I gave him a quick roundhouse kick, which sent him sprawling across the ground.
     To no one's surprise he got back down and charged at me, I flipped towards him and landed a kick on his forehead. He stumbled back, but sent energy projectiles at me, but I crafted a large holographic mallet, nearly thrice his size.
     I smashed it into him, but he conjured a mandala above himself, straining.   He gritted his teeth as the mallet slowly pressed him down to the ground. He tried a subtle move, sending a whip to wrap up my ankle, but I was unto him, telekinetically catching and dissipating it.
     The onlookers once again, tried coming in, but Mordo closed his eyes. Some runes on a cuff round his right wrist, glowed. Suddenly, the onlookers who came running appeared to be running on one spot, never truly coming closer. At the same time, the space around my mallet was distorted, and the mallet simply vanished.
     "You're manipulating reality," I said, then read the runes in his cuffs. "Oh, now I see why Doctor Strange is better than you. He doesn't need enchanted cuffs to bend reality." That also tipped Mordo off, and he attacked again...
     I telekinetically pulled on the cuff, but some of its runes flashed and my telekinesis was nullified. I conjured a phoenix, its skin blazing with cosmic fire. It rushed at Mordo who sent two dragons at it. The creatures collided in a ball of energy and they were all dissipated. We didn't stop. We sent forth creatures from countless planes of existence, we both distorted space and reality, manipulating time and energy. The USJ shuddered, trying to maintain its structural integrity. I could feel the looks of awe from all around as reality shuddered under our influences. I lifted my arms and countless mandalas materialized around Mordo, monsters rose from each, all coming towards him. Buy he lifted his arms and mutated each one.    Then they turned against me. I mutated them even further. They all developed more dangerous features and faced Mordo once more.   Suddenly, they all exploded into confetti. The only reason everyone else wasn't dead, and he USJ still existed was because I made sure to cancel out some of Mordo's attacks completely, and I trapped Mordo and I in the Mirror Dimension. Yet, the outside world was affected by our fight. The USJ was about to fall apart, and heroes were evacuating the place.
I turned to face Mordo. I had to end this now.
     So far, Karl Mordo was keeping up, because I'd been predictable, so he always had a solid defense. The manner in which he was smiling at me said it all.
     I needed to overwhelm him with a barrage of ever-changing tactics, so setting up an effective defense wouldn't be possible. I began with illusions, generating multiple clones to charge him, all of them casting different spells simultaneously.
     I could see Mordo's eyes widen as he tried for a simple barrier, but that failed, as some of the spells came from right beneath him. He was effectively restrained and only managed to free himself, before another round of varying spells came. Thai time he flew up into the air. Good. I opened a portal beneath myself and opened one above Mordo. I dropped from the one above him and grabbed him, pulling him down to the ground, propelling myself with magical energy.
     I slammed him into the ground so hard, he went limp for a second. I then conjured dozens of bonds round him, and held a spear in my hand, aimed directly at him. When he recovered, he saw me aiming the spear at him and froze up.
     "Until next time," he said. "Master!" With that, he teleported in a flash of blue light. I sighed in relief, my muscles relaxing. I dispelled the spear.
     So Mordo had a master huh? Probably Shuma-Gorath.
     I went outside to meet everyone.
     "Ethan!" Momo called. "You won!"
     "I won!" I exclaimed, just for the sake of it.
     "Bakugo," Kirishima said. "I hope you now understand why he held back against you."
     "That fight was more destructive than Almight's with the Nomu," Sero exclaimed.
     "That's all beside the point," Shoto said. "You." He was staring at me. "That man..." I cut in.
     "Karl Mordo," I offered.
     "You both had very similar powers," Shoto said. "And he must be the one the mist..."
     "Kurogiri," I said.
     "The mist said wanted to meet you." I gulped. Shoto had me all figured out. I prepared to cast the Runes of Kof-Kol to alter their memories of the USJ attack, but before I could even move, Bakugo spoke...
     "Don't even think about magicking yourself outta this one," he growled and I discarded the idea.
     "I wasn't going to," I lied. "And I don't know why Mordo wanted me."
     "How do you know his name then?" Momo asked. She was trying to be clever, but I was ready.
     "Kurogiri took me to the Blizzard Zone," I explained. "Where Mordo met me and introduced himself, surprised I didn't know him. I told him that the mist told me he wanted to meet me.  Then he told me the mist's name, which was Kurogiri."
     "So you don't know who that man is?" Iida asked.
     "No, I don't," I lied.
     "We'll have to take your word for it," Mina said.
     "His word isn't good enough," Iida declared.
     "Excuse me?!" I gasped.
     "Show udls proof," Iida said.
     "How the hell do you want me to do that?!" I demanded.
     "That's up to you," Iida answered.
     At this point, I was curious enough, but I indeed had a plan to prove myself innocent.
     Starting...
     ...now.
     First of all, I acted like I wouldn't try to provide any proof of my innocence.
     "Iida, I have nothing," I said coldly. "Nothing to prove to you." I looked around at each of them. "Or anyone else for that matter." Then I stomped off.
     I got home and waited for Doctor Strange to return.
     When he came home, late at night, hemet me pacing the living room pensively.
     "Um... Ethan?" he said. "What's wrong?"
     I stared at him. Should I have told him about Mordo? About the attack?
     No.
     I decided not to tell him.
     What if he withdrew me from UA?
     Or had a panic attack? What if he became to afraid to do anything at the thought of Shuma-Gorath's return?
     I just stared at him for a few seconds. Then I stepped forward and threw my arms around him, squeezing him into a hug.
     "Um...okay," he said before hugging me back. "You can tell me what you did later."
     He had no idea.
     No idea.
     And I knew this was likely going to be a bad decision. One I'd regret, but I almost didn't care.
     I couldn't tell him. I just couldn't.