Everyone stared at the bounty hunters in horror. "Not this, not this, not this," Denki was thinking to himself. Or was he saying it? "Shut up," Kyoka confirmed that.

"Lovely to see you again, Prince," Tomura said smugly, "I'm so tickled it was this easy to find you, that I'm in a generous mood. If you come with us willingly, we'll only kill half your little friends, and we'll leave the rest wounded."

"That's generous?" Camie said in a small voice.

"It's generous not to kill all of you," Tomura said, "and just for surety, we brought some new friends. Himiko, and Jin, say hello."

"Salutations," said one hooded figure. It was a woman's voice.

"I don't know why I'm here, but it's nice to meet you... I hate all of you," said the other, a man's voice.

"What was that?" Mina said.

"Oh, Jin has a little curse problem, that's all," Tomura said dismissively, "He can't make up his mind very well, usually, but he has decided to kill all of you if necessary. Pick your poison, Prince Shoto."

A very apt way to put it. Shoto looked at all of them. If Tomura kept his word, the scoundrels might go easier on them. If he was lying, then it would be foolhardy to give in. The party looked at him and shook their heads. "We can take 'em," Ei said, without as much confidence as he intended.

The mages and the wizard would be one thing, Shoto thought. They could probably handle that, but that monster Nomu was stronger than all of them, and they couldn't even hurt it before--not by much, and its arm appeared fine now. No signs of being burned either.

Bakugo raised his hands. "Like he--- we're going to surrender to you jackasses! Prepare to die, brigands!" He charged in before anyone could stop him. "I guess we're fighting," Shoto said, in exasperation.

Momo held up her Staff of Creati. "To the death, then," she said.

"But let's try to avoid dying," Denki said.

"Deku," Shoto turned to him, "We'll distract them, but you should follow the map for the final mile. You can't help fight anyway. Maybe if you find the 8th, you can bring help."

"What?" Deku said.

"Yes, go," Ochako agreed, "I'll cover you so they won't notice."

"Brother, I got this," Camie flexed her fingers and blew a cloud of smoke to shield all of them.

Ochako grabbed Deku's hand and started leading him away, using a shield spell.

The others all rushed to help Bakugo not get himself killed. He'd launched himself right at the Smoke Wizard, thinking he was the biggest threat. The Nomu monster struck out at him, and Bakugo maneuvered away just in time. Then he blasted it, and it at least flew several feet, though it didn't seem very hurt. Bakugo lost no time in blowing up the wizard too. The wizard phased out of his range and over towards the others, sucking Camie and Mina into his smoke. He then spat them out right in front of the Nomu, who was getting up. 

"Nomu! Killed them all except that one!" Tomura pointed at Shoto. Nomu made a terrible growling noise and raised one mutated fist.

 "Ah!" Camie screamed, because no illusion was going to stop this. 

"No you don't!" Mina spit acid at its hands. It didn't seem to stop it at all, but she grabbed Camie and flew up out of the way, and it created a trunk sized dent in the ground where they had been.

 "I almost just died!" Camie was freaking out more than usual. 

"Hey, no time for that!" Mina gave her a jerk. "Focus, or we will die for sure! Cover me!" 

 Camie blew more smoke, and they seemed to disappear in a mass of clouds and fog. "Blasted mage!" Tomura complained, "Jin, Himiko, you deal with the small fry. I'll take care of that King and that Paladin--" He was cut off by Momo ramming into him with her staff. He grabbed the staff, and destruction magic crackled over his hands. Her staff was resistant though.

"Right!" the woman figure said. She suddenly ran at Denki and Kyoka without any real warning. Knives shot out from under her cloak. Denki had no time to react, but Kyoka shoved him down, and the knives glanced off her armor. For once, it was a good thing to be a little more weighed down than the others. "Ah, armor that's cheating," the figure said. Her cloak hood came down, revealing a girl not much older than them, with a crazy, mad gleam in her eyes. If not for that, she wouldn't have looked like a rogue working for the Dark Lord. She slashed at Kyoka with more knives-- Kyoka parried with Deathmetal and kicked her in the torso. The girl skidded back.

 "Ah, no fair! Kicking is not fair!" she whined.

Denki scrambled up. Jin seemed to be muttering some kind of chant. Suddenly, there were three Himokos in front of them.

"A multiplying spell? Those are supposed to be forbidden!" Denki said, "Something about driving the user crazy..."

"I'm not crazy," Jin said, "Oh, I'm completely mad," he said in a different voice.

"I guess I should have seen that coming," Denki muttered. Three Himikos were striking at Kyoka at once, and she was just barely dodging. Only all of her combat training against multiple opponents was keeping her alive. 

Denki focused, then grabbed her and yanked her behind him at the last second. Lightning shot out and connected all three Himiko solid images--- they all yelled in unison, then two melted into the dirt and the last one fell over. 

"No!" Jin yelled, "Ha, served her right!" he disagreed.

 Kyoka looked at Denki. "Uh... thank you..." 

"Don't mention it. Let's take care of that guy too," Denki said. 

"Nice magic," Jin said. He made some kind of signal, and to Denki's horror, two solid images of him appeared. "I think I'll put it to use myself," Jin said, and this time there was no contradiction.

Mina and Camie were keeping the Nomu distracted, but not doing it any real damage. It kept healing every time Mina spat acid at it, and Camie wouldn't do any lasting damage either. She tried stabbing it, but it didn't work.

The smoke wizard was tossing Shoto all around the area, always keeping him from interfering, till it nearly drove him mad. But this did keep his attention only partially on Bakugo, who kept attacking, only to get thrown away. Why the wizard didn't just send him into the water was a mystery, but one might suppose he either had to see the place, or it took too much stamina to do so, and he was too focused on keeping all of them at bay.

Ei got tossed by the wizard quite a distance away and had to rush back toward them. Then there were many wizards and many Tomuras and Himikos. Far more of them than they were prepared for.

Deku and Ochaco managed to get away from the fight because the others had them so distracted, and Ochaco hid them. They raced up the peninsula, but Ochaco kept glancing back and seeing the others getting surrounded more and more. 

"Deku," she said, panting. Deku turned and looked.

 "Oh no... they are outnumbered? How did that happen?"

"It must be one of the new people's magic," Ochaco said, "I have to go back there and help."

"We'll both go." Deku turned, breathing hard.

"No," Ochaco said quickly, "You need to go. Find the 8th, we're almost there." 

Deku held up the map. "We're so close... but I want all of us to get there together."

Ochaco took the map and shoved it into his chest. "We don't have time for that, Deku. You have to go now! If you don't go find the 8th, we're all dead. We can't run away this time-- we'll lead them right to him. And they can't get the map! You have to protect it. Go! Get out of here!"

"But Ochaco," Deku protested, "I can't just--"

Ochaco grabbed him without warning and kissed him, shocking him into silence.

"You can. You can do this! Go now! We'll stall them as long as we can!" She shoved him. "Go!" She lightened his pack with a spell, and then she turned and ran back towards the others.

Deku just stood there for a whole second before realizing he was wasting time, and he turned and started running as fast as he could toward the end of the peninsula, where trees hid any sign of a house. There was a village over the edge of the land, down by the beach. He could see a clock tower down there, but he kept running straight ahead.

He went on and on... and then he was in the trees, and the map was showing the end of the trail getting closer. The distance was shrinking each second. It was almost here... and then it was gone. He looked up just in time to trip over a log.

In front of him was a very small house built into the side of a huge tree. The tree was as wide around as a tower, and old, and the top was gone and replaced with a roof.

Deku scrambled up so fast, he didn't really get properly back on his feet. He just stumbled the rest of the way to the house and banged on the door. "Help!" he said, "Somebody!"

There was a pause, and he kept banging, and the door opened, and he nearly hit the person in the face. Then he drew back. The person before him was not anything like he remembered. It was an old, small, shriveled man who looked like he'd lose a fight to a cat.

{Image from LINE 17QQ}

"Uh, young man? Why are you banging on my door? The village is that way," he said in a flat, though not bad tempered tone.

"Uh... I... I thought..." Deku held up the map in some confusion. The man looked at it, then he blinked and looked at Deku. "You're that boy from Green Village... Torin actually came through?! Wow," he said.

"You're...the 8th?" Deku said in disbelief.

The man chuckled. "I'm not surprised at your reaction. I guess I've changed since we met... We need to talk."

"I... my friends!" Deku cried. Suddenly he was angry at him. "They are fighting for their lives, with these people who are looking for you! And I came to you for help--"

"Where are they?" The man's whole demeanor changed.

"Back there," Deku said, pointing, "just down the peninsula."

"Hold on." The man dashed back into his room and came out a minute later holding a sword that glowed with golden light. Deku gawked at it. "We have to hurry. I won't be able to hold this for long," the man said, "You need to follow me! This is going to have to be quick!"

Deku went from angry to excited. "Yes, let's go!" he said. 

Deku and the 8th, who finally introduced himself as Yagi, sped back to the others far faster than Deku would have believed the skinny little man could run, but on the way something strange happened. Yagi was holding the sword up, and he was saying some words about light and generations--Deku only heard part of it. But as the sword began to grow brighter, and even longer, Yagi began to change. He grew taller, and muscles formed over his whole body, and his face filled out. Deku began to recognize the man he'd met before, with that large smile plastered over his face. He almost didn't notice his party at all until they were right on top of the fight, but things were not going so well.

If Jin had been able to make more images of the party themselves, they would never have survived, but luckily, they realized he had to be close to you to use the power, and everyone got out of range. Jin also began to run low on magic, but as it was, he made enough multiples to still outnumber them.

Momo was still standing, barely, but Tomura had backed her into a corner with multiple forms of himself, all trying to grab her by the arm or leg or hair. The staff seemed to keep her safe, but her light was dim, like her magic was almost up.

Shoto had been unable to get to her because more forms were blocking him, and his dragons were only just keeping them at bay, and they were tiring too. Ei was cut off from the rest of the party too. Mina and Camie couldn't fly anymore and were running around from the Nomu on foot, while Bakugo attempted to attack both it and the Wizard at the same time. The wizard seemed tired too, but by now, his power was hardly needed. Ei was also trying to fight the Nomu, but he appeared to have taken some hard hits since Deku left. Ochaco was trying to shield him and Denki at the same time. Kyoka was fighting with Himoko again, but there were too many, and she was slowing down. Soba, the horse, was kicking at Jin, but that didn't seem to be doing much to stop the mirror images of the others running around.

"This is serious,'' Yagi said in horror, "Those poor youngsters! They're magic is almost gone! Stand back, young apprentice, let me show you how to use the SOL."

Deku nodded.

Yagi raised the sword and cried in a loud voice, "I call upon the power of the Seven holders and the Spirit of the Sword of Light, to give me the Might to defeat you evildoers!"

All the bounty hunters turned in shock to look at him. "What? How is he so strong?" Tomura sputtered, "I was told that flame was nearly extinguished in him!"

"Master," Jin and Himiko yelped, "We don't have the magic to fight the the holder! You said we didn't have to!"

"Master, I agree, we cannot fight him!" Kurogiri said.

"Quiet, all of you!" Tomura snapped.

 The Nomu monster looked up from chasing the girls, and just then Camie collapsed and started coughing. Mina tried to pull her up, but then she shook her head and fell over too.

 "Uh oh!" Ei cried.

Momo was distracted by the appearance of the 8th and stopped moving. One of the mirror images of Tomura grabbed her by the arm.

 "No!" Shoto yelled desperately, "Move!"

Momo turned just in time to look horrified--and then Yagi moved at breathtaking speed and ran his sword right through the image of Tomura. It vanished with a poof of smoke, and Jin made a sound like he could feel it. 

"Sorry, young lady," Yagi said, "I was a little late."

Momo's mouth dropped open.

"The 8th!" Shoto said, in amazement. The other Tomuras came at Yagi. The real Tomura ran toward Kurogiri. "Get us out of here! Nomu will take care of him! Why should we risk our necks just to kill a few brats? Grab the Prince."

Kurogiri reached some smoke toward Shoto, who wasn't paying attention, but Momo looked over. She used her staff to vault that direction and knock Shoto out of the way, then she released the magical energy at Kurogiri, and a large chain seemed to form around his smoke and weigh it down. It didn't fully stop him though. His other side was free, but Bakugo blasted into it and knocked him down. 

"Hey, get off him!" Himiko--maybe the real one, cried and slashed a knife.

 Bakugo turned to block it, and it cut across his arm but didn't actually go through it. He just grinned at Himiko. And blasted her. Himiko screamed and went sprawling.

 "Kurogiri!" Tomura kicked him, "Get us out of here! Do you hear me!?"

Yagi was slicing through all the other images of them at a lightning fast pace, and then the Nomu rushed at him. He began slicing it--but the sword wasn't cutting it the same way as the other things.

"The Dark Lord put spells on that Nomu to make sure it could hold out against the 8th, if he met it," Tomura said, "It's why he created them!"

Kurogiri was very weakened after that double attack, but he managed to get all four of the human bounty hunters out of sight. The party looked around, and only images of them were left. Kyoka stabbed two of them and they vanished into smoke. Denki hit another with his lute. They were the only two who still seemed to have any fight. As soon as Himiko was gone, Bakugo collapsed. Ochaco's magic gave out, and she put her hand over her mouth and bent over. Deku ran to make sure she was okay. Yagi kept grappling with the Nomu.

Momo sat up for a second,."Sorry," she said to Shoto, "I had to knock you down."

"It's fine," Shoto said. Momo nodded. "I think I used too much magic..." She fainted. Shoto didn't really have to catch her, but he grabbed her shoulders, so they didn't knock heads, and sat up, 

"Get them away!" Yagi yelled, "I need more room to fight this demon!"

Shoto grabbed Momo and started carrying her away. 

"Bakugo, get up." He nudged him. Bakugo made some indiscernible mumbling sound.

 "Come on, we have to clear the area. Wake up." Shoto dropped some ice on him. Bakugo sat up. 

"I'll kill you!" He stumbled to his feet.

Ei picked up Mina and Camie and rushed away with them. He couldn't use his dragon form anymore. Deku helped Ochaco walk away too, and Denki and Kyoka ran. They all got a good distance away and turned to watch the 8th fight.

The movement was so fast, no one could exactly make out what was happening. The monster was trying to hit the 8th, but he was striking back too fast and hard, and the monster was slowing down and seemed to be taking actual damage now. It stumbled back a little. It seemed like it took forever, but, Kyoka said later, it was only about two or three minutes before the Monster finally fell down, and the 8th ran his sword through its heart.

The Nomu disintegrated into ash and a dark goo that just sank into the ground, and the grass around it died.

"Ew..." Kyoka muttered.

Yagi turned and panted. "Well... that was a lot... Probably more than I should have done... Quick, young man...What was your name?"

"Deku...sir," Deku said.

"Quick, Deku, we have only a short time." Yagi held up his hand. Ochaco looked up. "What? What does he mean?"

Deku let go of her and hurried up to Yagi. Camie looked up. "Uh...what's going on?"

Momo blinked too. "What did I miss?"

"Something..." Shoto was watching closely. Bakugo frowned.

Yagi gestured to Deku.

"I wish we had more time, but that little bit of magic was all I had left... It is well you didn't have more enemies... I will have to pass the mantle to you now."

"Now?!" Deku squealed.

"Hold out your hand, Deku of Green Village," Yagi said importantly.

Deku gulped and held it out.

"What's he doing?" Denki asked.

"Quiet..." Momo said oddly, "Let's just watch..."

Yagi held up the sword. He was shrinking already, but he put the sword into Deku's hands.

"I pass on the Sword of Light, Guardian of the Land, and Bearer of the Powers of All That Came Before into your hands, Deku. Carry it with pride, and never raise your sword against the innocent. Protect the weak and build up the strong. Never fail to do what must be done to defeat evil, until the day that you also choose a successor. So it is until the end of time."

Deku blinked.

"You have to accept it," Yagi hissed.

"Oh...uh..." Deku had a hard time getting the words out, but he knew he must. He couldn't turn back now. "I accept...Yagi...the 8th holder."

"Nicely done," Yagi nodded.

Deku closed his hand around the hilt tentatively, and the SOL burst into flame that didn't burn and then shrank into his palms, and he glowed all over briefly. Then it vanished.

Deku expected to feel different, but he felt nothing.

Yagi went down on one knee, back to the same shrunken form he'd had before. "It is done," he said, "and so am I..."

"What?" Deku said.

"WHAT?!!!" The entire party cried-- and with some reason.

Yagi put a hand on Deku's shoulder. "I wish I were in better shape. It's not supposed to go like this... but listen, you must train,and master the sword and defeat the Dark Lord, before he snuffs out the entire world. Worse things are coming than that Nomu monster, if he's left unchecked. But you will be able to do it. When you need help, call upon the Sword, and the memories of the previous holders will guide you."

"What?" Deku was not believing that. "You're supposed to train me..."

"I am unable to do that..." Yagi said, and his face looked a little ghostly, "Find Torin again. He will explain it all to you... He won't like it, but tell him it was my final request. I know my old friend will come through...Thank you, Young Deku. You came just in time..."

"You... what? You can't do this..." Deku said.

"Yeah, he can't. What is this?!" Bakugo said, angry.

But Yagi faded out, like a spirit into the air, transparent and then not there at all. And they were all left standing out in the grass, staring at the spot where he'd been.

Bakugo punched Deku into the ground. "Explain this! Now! Before Ei murdered you!" he cried.

Deku held up his hands. "I'm sorry!" he cried, "It's not what I thought was going to happen..."

"Deku, what just happened?" Shoto demanded, supporting Momo with one hand and pointing at him with the other accusingly, "What did he do? Did you just become the next holder?"

"Yes..." Deku said in a small voice.

Bakugo raised his fist, but Ei grabbed his arm. "Hold on, man. You can't just do that. Let's hear him out."

"Yes, Deku start talking!" Denki cried.

Deku told them the whole story. It wasn't that long, and they were completely silent the whole time he was talking. Bakugo kept clenching his fist. Ei shook his head. Shoto stared at the ground. Momo bit her lip, and Kyoka rubbed her wrist like she might punch him next. Denki just fiddled with his lute. Ochaco and Mina were the only ones not visibly upset. Mina seemed a little surprised, but she shrugged. "Why didn't you just say so from the beginning?"

"Well, he told me not to," Deku said, "I wasn't sure how to explain it. I wanted to tell you guys, honest, but then I never seemed to find the right time."

"I think you could have risked it being the wrong time," Shoto said, and his tight voice showed he was angrier than he looked.

Deku hung his head. "I swear, I didn't know he was going to die. It wasn't supposed to be this way. He was supposed to train me first."

Silence.

"I think," Ochaco spoke, "that it would be wrong to blame Deku for that completely. We all got into trouble, and he couldn't have predicted that."

"That's true," Momo agreed, "and, while the 8th's death is a crushing blow to us, I would agree, it's not Deku's fault. His dishonesty still troubles me. We have all been totally honest with him, and I thought we all knew what the other person wanted. Unless someone else is hiding something, it looks as though Deku was the only one not truly committed to this party."

"What? That's not what I meant at all," Deku said.

"It does look that way," Denki shook his head, "I trusted you, Deku. I thought we were friends. But Momo's right-- you hid this big thing from us all, even if you were supposed to. We all risked our lives to get to the 8th. It's like you used us."

"And now you're the 9th, and you're not trained," Kyoka added, furious, "and we all have problems we needed solved right away, not to wait for you to train!" She kicked the dirt. "I can't even kill you, because then the power will be lost completely."

Deku leaned away from her. "I never planned to get it that way!" he said.

"And if she wasn't right about that last part, I'd kill you, slowly," Bakugo said. He was clearly livid, but for once he was holding it together. "As it is, you make me sick, Deku. Sick. Curse all of this, I'm going home. This d--- quest was a complete waste of time." He turned and stomped away.

"Oh... oh, he's actually going," Ei said, "Uh... I'm sorry Deku, but I don't really feel right about you hiding this either, and Bakugo's my friend, and I better make sure he gets home all right. You know him... I gotta go too... Sorry, everyone. Maybe we'll run into you again back South..." He rushed after Bakugo.

"Hey!" Camie yelled, "Wait for me!" They stopped. Camie turned. "Well, I second all that.'' She slapped Deku across the face. "That was for lying to us. I heard there's no honor among thieves, but gosh, I thought we were better than that. I hope you master that stupid power and fix all this, but I never want to speak to you again, you scoundrel!" She stumbled after the other two.

"Uh..." Mina said nervously, "I kind of feel like should I stay with them... You know, mythical creatures gotta stick together... Sorry about this... I hope you succeed, Deku. I really do. Maybe we'll meet again sometime." She ran, since she couldn't fly yet, after them.

"What? They're just leaving?" Ochaco said.

"I think they have the right idea," Kyoka said. She glared at Deku. "I don't even have the heart to kick you... I'm going. Momo, are you coming?"

Momo was biting her lip and looking nervous. "Uh... Prince Shoto, what do you think?"

"I think I don't feel comfortable working with someone I can't trust," Shoto said, "Maybe he had a good reason, but it's just not right. After all we did... And since I can't rely on the 8th to save my mom, I need to go home and figure out a way to do it on my own, and I don't have any time to lose. What if those blaggards go back to my father? I only hope I make it in time as it is...." He shook his head. "Sorry, Deku... Good luck, I suppose, since you're the land's last hope. I just wish this was all in time to help me. But I guess that was too much to hope for after all." Those words probably hurt more than anything else he'd said, but he turned and took Soba's reigns. Kyoka shook her head. "Yeah, exactly." She started marching away. Momo sighed. "I can't disagree, and if they are going, I better go with them.... Best of luck, Deku." She walked away slowly too, but Shoto stopped to let her get on the horse. "Might as well stay together for now..."

"Uh... Deku..." Denki said, "You know, I feel bad about it and all, but..."

"Just go..." Deku slumped his shoulders. "No need to apologize... I understand."

"Sorry, dude..." Denki said, "I wish it wasn't turning out this way... I'm so mad right now though... Sorry, I gotta go..." He walked off after them.

Only Ochaco was still standing there.

"You can go too," Deku said dejectedly.

Ochaco looked down at him. "No," she said, "I promised to help you. That's what I'm going to do." She held out a hand. "Get up, Deku. We can't stay out here, it's dangerous. Didn't you find a house or something?"

Deku took the hand and stood up. "Aren't you angry?" he said in surprise.

"A little," Ochaco said, "but I kind of get it... and besides, this is exciting. You get to be the next holder... Anyway," she shrugged, "from the shape that man was in, I think he wouldn't have been able to solve all our problems anyway. But you can, Deku. If you learn how to wield the SOL, we can still fix this... and the others will forgive you then. They're just upset because they had their hopes on the 8th, but you see, I think I always knew deep down you had something more to do with this. You had the map." She smiled "So, I think, I was always hoping for you to do something, Deku. And I'm going to keep hoping. You have to train, and I'm going to help you. You can't fight yet. Someone has to say back and protect you. So that's what I'll do. Then we can defeat the Dark Lord together, and my family can have an easy life."

Deku blinked at her. Then he started crying. "Thank you Ochaco....I'm sorry..."

"Deku, you really don't need to apologize. Can we just go?" Ochaco said.

"Right," he nodded, "Right...Let's go." He took her hand. "It's this way..." They started walking back into the woods.

The End.