Chapter 20: Mother of Learning (Patreon)

A/N: Well, peeps wanted longer chapters, here it is.

Edit 11/07/2024: Fixed a continuity error, thanks for pointing out. Also fixed some other errors I could find.

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Izuku blew on his blade, wiping it with a cloth to clean off the dust that had made its home across its surface. Getting in close, eye to blade, he let out a satisfied hum as he put All Strike back into its sheath. Leaning it across the wall nearby, Izuku stood up and glared at the incoming students all making their way for him and Aizawa who was already fast asleep.

“Took your sweet time.” Izuku approached the gaggle of students, all of them having looks of confusion plastered on their faces, most of which being one Katsuki Bakugo. In fact, it was hilarious that the ash blonde’s eyebrows vanished into his hairline as he saw him walk towards them with a steady gait. “You know, I’d expect you all to be punctual, what with all of you being heroes-in-training.”

“Wait a minute, aren’t you that knight from the USJ?” One redhead commented and nearly everybody went on edge, all of them tensing for a fight ready to break out. The sight put a smile on his face. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Why, I’m your new instructor.” Izuku shrugged and all of them froze, confusion once more taking root within their thoughts. “Yes, you can thank the rat for that. I still don’t know why he wanted me here to teach you, but I owe him a favor for making my stay here pleasant, so teach you I will.”

“What the fuck, Deku?” Katsuki, the loudmouth that he was, stormed to the front with eyes like daggers. Izuku could see the guilt hidden deep within, but it was overshadowed by the sheer confusion that plagued his inner thoughts. “You’re the same age as us!”

The revelation got most of the students shouting their confusion, and it was spectacular. Let it be known that Izuku has a new hobby with messing with people, courtesy of Patches the Untethered, damn the slimy snake.

“So? Go and express your grievances with the principal, I’m sure that’ll go over well.” Izuku drawled and some of the students looked like they were indeed thinking of doing so. “And before you go doing that, just let me remind you that Principal Nezu does not like his time being wasted.”

The area went silent for a minute, with Izuku bearing the wary gazes that pierced through him. Not anything new, he was used to this ever since he got his quirk.

“All right, that’s enough.” Aizawa finally thought it was time to speak up from his yellow sleeping bag. “Midoriya here will be teaching you this afternoon and that is final. Either put up with it or go home, but that will cost you your slot in the hero course. It’s your choice.”

His piece said, Aizawa inched towards a corner like a worm and faced the wall, fully content to let Izuku handle the fallout.

Looking back at the students, Izuku could see them murmuring to one another, their gazes seldomly crossing against his before they went back to their hushed whispering. His eyebrows twitched, fingers rapping against his waist as the students all expressed their displeasure at the sudden change in instructors.

Well, it was time to correct that sentiment.

“Alright then, since you all don’t know me, and I don’t know you bar a few of you I’ve already met back in the USJ, allow me to introduce myself.” Izuku turned his back and moved to where he laid his Zweihander. Picking it up with a hand and hefting it atop his shoulder, he approached the students with an easy-going smile. “Midoriya Izuku, your temporary combat instructor for the afternoon. Also, your training starts now.”

A feral grin formed on his face and Izuku zoomed towards the gaggle of students, their eyes wide as they saw his form blur. Arriving right next to Katsuki, Izuku didn’t hesitate to swing his sheathed sword at the blond teen.

Imagine his surprise when Katsuki managed to block the incoming strike, but that didn’t negate the impact that followed it. He heard a groan for a brief second before Katsuki was sent flying into the cluster of students, all of them finally getting the hint and taking defensive positions.

A tangle of vines suddenly burst from underneath him and tried to subdue him. It had thorns that looked mighty deadly, and Izuku couldn’t help but whistle at the quirk. But alas, it wasn’t enough to contain him.

A spectral dragon claw formed around his off hand and ripped the vines to pieces. Due to its size, gales of wind blew outward as the vines were sent flying to the air, some of which rapidly flew towards the students.

Fortunately, somebody was able to block the vines via solidifying the air. Looking at the source, he spotted a brown-haired teen that was huffing out hair. Izuku deduced it was a quirk that relied on his breathing.

Suddenly, he felt himself sinking into the ground, his head turning downwards as he saw the concrete melt into something like pudding.

“Ha! Don’t underestimate class 1-B!” A blond looking fop boasted with a self-satisfied smirk. “In fact, we don’t even need class 1-A to help us, isn’t that right guys!?”

Izuku blinked. Looking at the students surrounding him, it was obvious the teen was disliked. Did he not see that? Hell, the students from class 1-A - those he recognized, at least - bristled at the comments.

Not like it mattered. Boasting in the battlefield was a terrible mistake to make, one Izuku would make sure to beat him out of.

Whistling, Torrent answered his call and the spectral steed neighed, immediately jumping away from the softening concrete with Izuku clambering onto his back. The students all blinked at the sudden inclusion of his noble steed and Izuku felt it was time to make that blond fop eat those words.

“Come on Torrent, you see that blond with an infuriating smirk?” Torrent’s hooves clopped on the ground. “Rush him.”

Torrent neighed and rushed towards the blond fop. His eyes widened when he noticed both of them getting closer and closer. Izuku readied his sheathed blade and smacked him across the face.

Too bad the blond fop was too busy gratifying himself with delusions of grandeur that he wasn’t able to react to the sudden dosage of reality. And damn did it hurt like a bitch, seeing that he was sent careening to the ground screaming.

Izuku was sure the teen’s nose broke at the impact, but eh, they were going to get more injured the more they stayed in this course.

“What the- Iida! Get him!” A feminine voice yelled from the background and Izuku’s ears picked up the sound of a roaring engine. Twisting his head to the side, Izuku managed to narrowly avoid a fast-moving foot that grazed the tip of his nose.

With a quick flick of his hands, Izuku dismounted Torrent as he turned to blue motes of light. The students all prepared to gang up on him 40 to 1, and he liked those odds. He inhaled deeply, time going in slow motion as the students all rushed towards him. Then, he bellowed.

A loud roar escaped his lips that shook the ground. His core went on overdrive as his muscles bulged, and with a feral grin, moved.

The ground beneath him quaked as cracks spread from where he once stood. His form blurred as he stopped directly in front of a student he deemed problematic. The teen had ash blond hair not unlike Katsuki and he had no lips, teeth on full display but without the gums. This was the one responsible for softening the ground as he had seen when he mounted Torrent.

His face was locked in abject horror, fully realizing what was going to happen to him within a split second. Izuku didn't give him any time to react and slapped him across the face with an open palm. The teen was sent flying, blood hurtling out of his open maw and crashed into a nearby wall.

Horrified yelps resounded all around him, and it sounded like music to his ears.

Izuku heard something whistling through the air and immediately tilted his head to the side. He felt a sharp, stinging pain as the whistling thing zoomed past him, a trickle of blood flowing down his cheek. But he had no time to inspect the damage, as one redhead pounced at him with a war cry.

He grabbed the fist of the redhead but he was poised to strike with his other hand. Another student with pink skin danced around him and flung acid, although it was only irritating at best. Can’t have them killing their own instructor, after all.

Still though, it did its work as the acid she flung was slippery, his foot slipping a bit as the redhead managed to land a punch against his nose. Izuku’s head didn’t budge even an inch at the sudden impact, and without much warning, tossed the redhead into the air before giving him the dragon claw.

The redhead was swatted out of the air and Izuku continued slamming his dragon claw on the ground, cracking the concrete deep to its foundation. The ground rumbled and some of the students fell back on their asses, and Izuku didn’t let the opportunity go.

Those that fell were immediately subjected to his relentless attacks. The other students that managed to stand upright weren't able to stop him, not the explosions, not the ice forming in the air, not a foam grenade that instead caught the other students by surprise, and certainly not the purple balls that stuck to the unfortunate students who were in their way.

In just a single moment, the 40 students were reduced by more than half because of the friendly fire. This is what happens when you fight in a clumped-up mess. He could tell their teamwork was lacking, as if it wasn’t obvious, but that could be rectified in the near future.

The air tensed as he glanced at each and everyone still left standing. There was Katsuki, the redhead and his somewhat twin with silver hair, ice maker, acid girl, girl with hooves, a ginger girl, and some others he didn’t bother describing.

All that was left was to punt them to the ground to show that they ain’t shit, and what better way to do that than in a controlled environment. He sure as hell wouldn’t subject them to death on their first try in the real world, that would just be a waste of resources and human life.

Izuku stood, waiting for them to make a move. He’d already laid waste to most of them, he wanted to see what they would come up with. The remaining students looked at one another and they huddled closer. They didn’t take their eyes off of him though, which gave them plus points in his book.

Izuku was content to wait it out as those that remained planned out their strategy. Good thing they were able to adapt to the training quickly. Maybe the USJ did some good for their mentality where anything can go wrong at the drop of a hat.

He should know, even his plans went kaput every now and then, even with how detailed they were.

After about five minutes of silence, it seemed like the kids finally came up with a plan and Izuku was eager to see it. Readying his sword - still sheathed of course, he wouldn’t want to kill or maim them - his eyes tracked each of them still standing.

In an instant, everything burst into motion. Izuku was immediately assaulted with a loud shockwave that could’ve ruptured a normal person’s eardrum. Dragons roared louder, by the way.

Izuku was unfazed as the shockwave hit, but that wasn’t the end of the assault. The next thing that came was a wave of frost the size of a building. Grinning, Izuku called upon another dragon claw to meet it head on.

Ice wave met enlarged lizard claw and the ice wave lost. As the ice broke into pieces, Izuku’s eyes widened when he saw an open palm heading his way. The owner behind it had not a grin, but a guilty look on his face, which was quite amusing to Izuku if he did say so himself.

A spark and then a giant explosion.

Izuku’s vision went dark as the resounding explosion covered his entire head. His nerves screamed in pain, but he ignored it in favor of relishing Katsuki blasting him again with that quirk of his. It snapped something within Izuku, and he wanted it returned tenfold.

But that wasn’t the end of the assault. The next thing that happened was him being dragged in the air by something sticky that latched onto his waist. The wind rushed past him as he was brought out of the smoke and into the blinding light, revealing what had caught him.

Tape. 

All of a sudden, the tape disconnected and Izuku was flung directly into the wall of a building. A loud crack resounded in the area, and he felt himself slide down the wall and into the floor, all the while Izuku smiled like a loon.

That was way better than earlier, where friendly fire went on a rampage. They got a good few licks in, but it still wasn’t enough. Pumping energy into his legs, he inhaled so deep, it felt like his chest might burst, before he moved.

In less than a second, he was right in front of Katsuki - again - and smacked him with his sheathed zweihander. The ash blond was sent flying to another building wall, but Izuku didn’t stop to look at his handiwork.

He then proceeded to dodge multiple attacks from different angles, ranging from flying horns, icicles, iced ground, more tape, the redhead and his silver twin, a laser beam, a matryoshka doll(what?) that burst into foam that could’ve rendered him immobile for a while, another shockwave, and a pissed off Katsuki who came back with a vengeance.

Izuku was not going to lie and say that this wasn’t fun. It was refreshing, fighting like this without death hanging over him like a guillotine ready to drop. But sadly, as much as he wanted to continue fighting, he still had to teach, and he got some pointers to give out for those that got knocked out early and those that remained standing.

So, he got serious.

Instantly, the mood shifted and the standing students could feel the trepidation hanging in the air. This was the man who had felled a dragon - two, in fact - the man who had pushed through impossible odds to remain standing, undaunted. And the man who had felled a demigod, no matter how weak he was. Compared to a few kids with delusions of grandeur in their heads? This was a goddamn cakewalk.

Fully utilizing the boost that war cry gave him, Izuku moved far faster than the eye could perceive. With the runes strengthening him, as well as the Great Rune he had carved off the corpse of that low-life Godrick, he was no ordinary man.

He swung his zweihander and the pressure from the swing caused ripples in the air. Sheathed it may be, nobody would want to get hit by something at this speed. Redhead and his silver twin, who now looked like a man made of metal. His sword met them and their bodies cracked from the impact. He could hear their groans of pain amidst the cacophony of rushing wind before they were sent flying to a nearby building.

Izuku didn’t stop to admire his feats, however, as he rushed the one creating ice out of thin air. He was the next most annoying other than the one who could turn concrete into quicksand. To his credit, the half-colored teen was able to react to his swing, but his body was too slow to even muster a block.

Izuku made sure that it didn’t hit as hard as it did with the redhead and his twin, but it was still strong enough to send him flying to a lamp post.

And at that point, everything went downhill for the students as Izuku systematically downed them without breaking a sweat, face morphed into an expressionless mask. A few minutes later, all of the students were on the ground, groaning like the dead.

“Hm, not bad, but this just won’t cut it in the field.” Izuku commented as he propped his zweihander on his shoulder. “At least I got a rough outline of your strengths, well, some of you.”

The students didn’t respond.

“Oh well, nothing a bit of work can’t do. Break for half an hour, we still have a whole afternoon for your training.”

Izuku noticed their glares, but he didn’t let it show. They’ll be thanking him by the time they graduate, after all, getting beaten up is a better alternative to dying horribly.