"Hm♪ Hm♪ Hm♪"
Humming a tune, Herod sits cross-legged in Nezu's office. Behind him were two Seraphs. Sitting behind his desk was Nezu and next to him was All Might in his deflated state, his true state. He looked like his more muscular state but was skin and bones.
"What did I say Toshi?" Herod looked at All Might. "Look beneath the hood and we will slaughter your students."
Around him were monitors set up by the Seraphs. Each one showed the student body of U.A. gathered out back in the open field by the Seraphs. They had several people hostage at either gun or knife point.
There were even some dead bodies that were brutally desecrated. Several of the students were shaking in fear, crying, or huddled together. As for the staff, most were in Quirk-restraining gear or were cut down, people like Recovery Girl and Thirteen were restrained while people like Eraser Head and Midnight were pinned down through violence.
So far only one teacher, Cementoss, who taught modern literature, was killed for how troublesome his Quirk is.
"Sorry about the dead kids. Gotta show them we ain't the type to fuck around. It's the USA way baby!" he made a snarky grin. "No one kills students as good as us!"
Nezu and All Might glared at Herod with utter contempt and rage.
"You fucking scumbag!" All Might said through gritted teeth.
"Shouldn't have looked into our business Toshi. Got eyes and ears everywhere. Honestly I didn't think Cathleen would learn Cain was her son. Pfft! It is so funny that they didn't think True Whistle worked for us!"
"How does this end, Herod?" Nezu asked as his brain fired off to try and flip this situation.
"Well it ends when Cain gets here. That boy is tough as hell, so I am sure he'll make it here… barely. I did go and activate the nanomachines to start breaking him down from the inside so he would be in a very bad state when he arrives. That is not even mentioning the other stuff those little things are doing to him. Not counting the Seraphs who are attacking him like he was a bunch French fries on a beach being eating by seagulls."
"You are not gonna get away with this. This is far too open even for the United States own liking."
"Which is why we will blame it on the League of Villains. This has truly been a stroke of luck for us! We can say it was their guy Twice who did it! Hahahaha!!" he laughed boisterously. "And the media will eat it all up! That is not even mentioning our media, which we own as you know."
"Other heroes will—"
"They are dead." He said plainly. "We have killed every cop, and every hero in the city. The Seraphs work fast and efficient, just like him. No one is coming… well except Cain of course. Say how is he doing?"
He turned and changed one of the monitors with a remote. On it showed a live coverage of Albert fighting off the Seraphs in the head of the train.
They saw him the bloodiest he ever has been with several knives stuck in him. He was still breathing and warding off the attack from the Seraphs. The three watching were shocked much life Albert has to keep moving in such a state. But they were in time to see the train crash into another at a station.
From where they were they could hear the crash. They look at the screen to see Albert come out of the devastation even worse than before. Yet he kept running. Some of the blades were removed and some of his injuries were slowly closing back up, but significantly slower than usual.
He left behind a trail of destruction in his wake as he ran as fast as he could. Then more Seraphs appeared and attacked him, slowing him down. These little gnat flies were taking advantage of his slower state of mine to get in a few licks.
The look of desperation on his face, a act he himself did to lure those watching to think they had him cornered, was new to all watching. But to Nezu and All Might a thought came to them:
'Lancer isn't with him!'
"What did I say!" Herod smiles. "Tough as hell! He'll be here in about…. Maybe four minutes. So come along where everyone else is at."
Despite all of this, fear of his own death still does not set within him.
Albert kept running and running. He fended off the attacks from the Seraphs as he ran.
'I have went through all of U.A. and found that they are there! A lot of them! Your handler is the one giving orders! Should I kill him or…'
'No. Kill regardless of dead or alive. Wait.'
Albert gave as best of an order as he can to Mélusine, but it was hard, probably one of the hardest thing he had done.
'Ne thernt sorn.'
He never knew how hard it was to keep pushing forward when you were being destroyed from the inside. His regeneration hasn't increased at all. His DNA has been constantly being destroyed and repaired so that it was draining his energy quickly. His Quirk was given enough time to improve his abilities.
This something he never thought could or would occur. Then again this was the contingency plan for him. By the time he got to U.A. that feeling of danger and bloodlust that the Seraphs gave off were even more stronger.
As he ran towards the main school building he was jumped by even more Seraphs who waited in wait. They struck him into the building, and they kept attacking him with weapons that shot out concussive force, sending out into the back where everyone was being held.
As his bloodied and lethargically heavy body rolled across the ground his own classmates saw him.
"Albert!!" The entirety of Class 1-A shouted.
He shakenly gets up onto his knees, his eyes were by far not even focused and were looking around everywhere. He tries to get up but was stomped into the ground by a Seraph.
"You truly are our greatest masterpiece."
Albert couldn't recognize who said that. All of his senses were going haywire from his own building blocks being toyed around by little machines.
"Let me help you one last time. Te a quibusdam sceleribus tuis absolvi."
Immediately a great relief washed over Albert as his body began to heal faster than it was being destroyed. His regeneration skill also began to rank up more and more. Within a minute he could operate normally.
'What a fucking mistake you made Handler. Such arrogance…' Albert thought as he regained full control over his bodies functions.
"You fuck." Albert said angerly as he slowly looks up from the ground.
Herod was sitting on a chair as the entire student body is being held hostage. He saw everyone was scared. But his eyes went to Asui, and he could see she was crying terribly with a deep look of concern. This refreshed his mind as to why he is so arrogant, he has someone he cares about being held hostage.
"I bet your wounder now… why am I doing this?"
Albert looked at Herod with hate in his eyes.
"I'll fucking kill you."
'Mel, not yet… the time needs to be right or else this gets even worse.'
'I am at your command!' She replied.
"You see word got around that… you are getting help from Nezu and Toshi. Hell even your teacher here."
He snapped his fingers and Aizawa was brought out and slammed to the ground near Herod. There were knives stabbed into his arms and legs to stop him from moving around.
"Ugh… Al… bert." He said weakly.
"You see, he began to look into you and thus into us." Herod answered. "And we can't have that… Such a shame." He leaned back and his eyes landed on Asui. "If only someone kept their mouths shut none of this would have happened."
Asui crumbled even more as she saw him in such a state and even more when she saw he kept and protected the charm she gave. Albert gritted his teeth as he threw the Seraph off his back and stood back on his two feet.
"Herod…" Albert said.
"Cain. The fun and games ends now. I will give you a chance to redeem yourself. Kill everyone here and everything is back to normal. Froggy here is staying alive, just for you."
If this was months ago Albert would have obliged but no more. He is different, a changed young man who doesn't follow orders blindly any longer.
"No."
He can't kill her. She is his one of his insurances to keep Albert in chains.
"Tch. Who taught you that word? Bring her up."
One of the Seraphs broke away and went towards Asui.
"Leave her alone!!" the entirety of Class 1-A moved to block them.
"HEROD!!" Albert shouted.
Still, there are fates worse than death. He tossed the Seraph off and stood back onto his feet.
"Kill 20 of the management students." Herod ordered immediately upon their defiance.
Without hesitation the Seraphs killed and mangled the students in the management department. They were by far the weakest within U.A. This immediately made everyone halt in shock.
Their cries and deaths were forever seared into the mind of the students of U.A. Highschool. Asui shakenly pushes aside her classmates and lets herself be taken to at least spare what remained. Albert didn't feel bad about what just happened, but Asui did.
"Please… please no more!" She replied with tears staining her eyes and face.
This did tick Albert off and elicited a emotion from him. The Seraphs grab her and dragged her from the group. As she was brought next to Herod he leaned forward.
"You see kid, the girl you like was the one who got you burned. Check that necklace of yours."
Albert hesitatingly looked around and at Asui and she couldn't meet her eyes. He held the charm and opened it with hesitation. His heart raced as he opened it. In it he saw a device. He knew what it was. He seen many like it for his work.
"… A tracker."
His mind went blank, his heart filled with a dull, acute pain.
"No one loves you, Cain." Herod's words were cold.
His words rung in Albert's head. He was right. Albert has done sinful things. Even when he was not ordered he still killed the innocent. The blood of a young, bright hero, Mirio, and the blood of a veteran hero, Nighteye. They both stain his hands.
Deep down he felt and knew such luxuries were never within his reach.
"… Shut up." Albert scowled deeply as he crushed the tracker and tossed it aside. "Shut your fucking mouth!" He glared at Herod with pain and fury.
"Hmm… no." He reached into his pocket and took out a EpiPen filled with a clear liquid. He then injected it into Aizawa.
"Gah!?" He screamed out as the Seraph kept his eyes open. "My Quirk!?"
He quickly looked away and was faced towards Albert. Albert upon being struck by Aizawa's Quirk simply…
[Connection lost!]
Kneeled over as his eyes rolled to the back of his head.
"!?" He was confused on what happened, the world just shut off for him.
He fell flat on his face. He could feel it, something inside him broke free.
"Hahaha!" Herod laughed, not expected Albert to just fall over. "Damn! Just like that?" he looked to one of the Seraphs. "Check if he is alive or not."
As one of them walked over to check they hesitated as they saw reached towards Albert's body and it convulsed. Then… an intense, thick feeling of malice began to spread through the area.
The Seraphs all took arms and the whole body of U.A. jolted back to some semblance of focus. They all looked at Albert as he slowly picked himself up and his true appearance began to come to the surface.
As everyone looked in shocked as his horns began to sprout from his head his hair turned an even more rich brown, scales covered most of his body and a long serpentine tail grew out from the base of his spine.
Then out of instinct he unleashed his mana burst and the aura of a Beast candidate washed over everyone.
Suffocation weighed on them as stress continuously began to prick away at their souls. This was nothing not even the experienced heroes ever felt.
"… Ah…" Albert let out a sound. "Ahh…"
It got louder.
"Ahhh…. AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
His shout—his cry cracked through the air like thunder as everyone's eardrums nearly burst, even the Seraphs were not excluded as they dropped their weapons and covered their ears.
Aizawa closed his eyes, but Albert kept screaming louder and louder. The earth began to shake violently as to match the air's vibrations.
Albert moved his hands and cover his face, but he kept screaming even louder. Every window in the area shattered from how loud and intense it was.
"All…" He said with a strained voice. Bloody tears running down his cheeks. "That I wanted… was freedom, love… and to… be normal." He stumbles trying to take a step forward. He barely catches himself as he glares at Herod.
"Handler… Handler… HANDLER!!!" He shouts as he raises his hand up, his command seals shining bright. "YOU AND THE GOVERNMENT TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME!!"
Herod tries to step back but his fear was crippling him. Even the Seraphim wouldn't dare move.
"My head…" He holds his head with his other hand, everything hurts, everything was making him feel miserable as he shakenly keeps himself standing. So he called the one person who would protect him from the world, his best friend and partner. "Mel… MÉLUSINE!!"
The command seals glows even more brightly as Mélusine appears above Albert in her armor. Her own fury and malice mixed with Albert's. The will of the master is their servants will.
"By my command, kill—"
In a flash of bright red a red haired woman appeared, Aoko, and shouted at the top of her lungs. She appeared from seemingly thin air and drew everyone's eyes.
"I declare!"
A large magic circle forms beneath her were blue light springs from it around Aoko as strong winds blow around her and all around her. The magic circle spins and spins with greater speed each time. Beneath her the dirt was gone and replaced was a patch of lush green grass.
Electricity crackled around her a the magic circle spins on as she is covered in white light. Her voice echoed out as she speaks.
"By the name Blue, I speak for order. Hear me."
Then just as fast the magic circle beneath her rapidly expanded out.
"All is not sane, yet all shall be right."
A blue whirlwind whisks around her like a silk cocoon then it was all gone and beneath her and everyone else was a field of lush green grass. All around the trees went into a spring bloom.
The seasons—time began to flow backwards as it turned form spring to winter to autumn to summer and back to spring in quick succession. Then white flowers appeared, as far as the eye can see. Brighter than snow, they rippled like a wave across the world, devouring it.
The flowers were more than a match to the flowers that sprang from Type Earth. They were breathtaking.
"Five timeless words: Order has fallen to ruin." Her words were heard by all.
Everyone looked at the woman who has her red hair glowed with a bright, vivid red hue, her blue eyes shimmered like the clear blue ocean. She had returned to them their hearing. Even Albert stopped screaming as they faced her general direction.
"I am sorry for this, but I can't let you throw a temper tantrum. Circuit, connected." Aoko raised her left hand to eye level.
VRRRRRRRRRR!!!
Power generated within her. The sound was like a turbine turning on. But it was sheer instinct that told everyone that what is about to happen is destruction.
Albert stands up with a an awkward, shaky posture, his shoulders slumps and his arms swaying. He looks up with glowing red eyes and he lunges at Aoko.
"Sorry kid! It's nothing personal! I just can't have you walk down the road of misery!"
Then she fired at Albert, striking him with a blast at the speed of light, something in his current state could not evade. It sent him flying far back into mountains. Mélusine was fast but not that fast, at least not yet in her current form.
"YOU!!"
Mélusine moved in to attack, Aoko sharply turned to meet Mélusine's eyes and point her finger at her.
"Lancer, I need your help."
Her face contorted into what could only be described as a fierce, wrathful deity of red.
"My help! You attack my master! I'll kill you and then that stain of a man!" She glares at Herod who already began to run away with the Seraphim.
"Do you want Albert to get any more hurt? Now that his Quirk has been disabled all of those changes he was undergoing are running rampant. You can trust me, I am with Kischur."
Mélusine grits her teeth so tightly Aoko thought they would shatter.
"You…!" She clenches her fists tightly blood was drawn. She took a deep and long breath. For her beloved she would chock that rage in her for his survival and wellbeing. "What do you suggest?" She un-curled her pensive fists.
"Help clear the city of the civilians. I don't want anyone to get caught in the crossfire."
"C—can we help?"
The two red haired maidens look to see the whole of U.A. there. The one who asked was Asui, still shaken by the events of today.
"Yes. Get everyone out of the city. This will be the battleground. I will handle Albert as he goes through his… metamorphosis." Aoko replied.
"Then… Albert will be okay?"
"Quiet frog." Mélusine glares at Asui. "I deem you unfit to be with him. You who broke his heart. I don't even wanna see your cute face."
She then turned around and quickly left, soaring through the skies like a comet. Asui, however, only made an even more painful expression.
Aoko comes up to her and places her hand on her shoulder.
"You will get the chance to speak with him again. I promise. Until then do not let Albert stain his hands with more innocent lives. His mental state is not good at the moment."
Asui only nods in response. The rest of U.A. then quickly got on the move. Aoko looked at where she shot Albert to and she could feel every cell in her body telling her to run away.
"What is going to happen to him?"
Aoko looks down to see Nezu by her side.
"… He is undergoing a… change."
"Will he still be… himself?"
"Who is to say. The dam that held himself together was shattered. His Quirk is working to piece it all back, so it'll be a while. That is where I come in, to accelerate that process."
"… I… I hope he will come out of this alright."
"… I as well."
A kind lie. She knows what becomes of Albert. After this he will fundamentally change.