Chapter 106: Hosu City and The Hero Killer

While the kids mingled to form their own teams, Gray kept watching the students from his seat. Watching Izuku get swarmed by people wanting to join his team was hilarious; the kid clearly wasn’t used to that kind of attention.

His gaze wandered across the field until it stopped at Iida. Seeing the kid running around suddenly made Gray remember a crucial piece of the timeline.

"Shit!" he stood up abruptly.

"What’s wrong?" Mirko asked from the side, looking up at him.

"Sorry..." Gray apologized as he finally remembered something important he had completely forgotten: Iida’s brother was about to be almost killed by the Hero Killer, Stain. Turning back, he spoke to Mirko, "Can you look after Eri for a few minutes?"

Seeing the genuine urgency on Gray’s face, Mirko nodded seriously and moved to the next seat beside Eri. "Thanks," Gray said. Without another word, he jumped straight from his seat down into the stadium arena where all the students were gathered.

A few gasps rang out from the audience as onlookers pointed at him, but he didn’t pay them any mind as he jogged straight to where Iida was standing.

"Iida!" Gray yelled toward the kid. "Come here for a second."

"Yes!" Iida said, adjusting his position with his usual rigid demeanor. "What happened, Gray-sensei?"

"Can you tell me your older brother’s full name?" Gray asked quickly. "He’s Ingenium, right?"

"Yes, his name is Tensei Iida," Iida said, pushing up his glasses, looking a bit confused by the sudden question.

"Thanks!" Gray said. He immediately opened his system shop and purchased a magical tracking compass locked onto Iida’s brother’s location for a mere 10,000 gold. "Step back for me," Gray said to the surrounding students.

Seeing the kids quickly move out of the way, Gray didn’t waste another second. He launched himself into the sky at incredible, blistering speed, breaking the sound barrier a few times almost instantly. High up in the air, Gray kept his eyes glued to the magical compass in his hand. ’Hopefully, I’m not too late!’ he thought to himself as he tore through the clouds, rocketing at maximum speed toward Hosu City.

Some of the onlookers had their eyes almost pop out of their sockets at the sheer speed Gray had flown out of the stadium. Aizawa, seeing Gray leave, instantly felt a massive headache hammering his head. As he sighed and started massaging his eyes, someone approached him from behind.

"Do you know what that was?" a skinny All Might asked Aizawa, his voice low. "He looked a bit panicked."

"I’m as confused as you are," Aizawa replied dryly, opening his eyes. "But knowing him, he will probably make a mess of things."

"Yeah, well..." Skinny Might was completely at a loss for words as he just stared up at the massive hole in the clouds Gray had left behind when he made his explosive exit.

"Mirko will probably know something," Aizawa noted, glancing up toward the stands. "I saw them sitting together up at the VIP section."

"I think the questions can wait for now; the second event is about to start," Skinny Might said, turning around as he went back to his seat to avoid drawing any more attention.

Meanwhile, it took Gray less than a single minute to arrive at Hosu City.

Gray slowed down his incredible momentum almost immediately as he noticed the magical arrow on his compass spinning and shifting. ’Moving means he’s still alive, so that’s good,’ he thought, relieved. He began descending slowly through the cityscape, keeping his eyes locked onto the tracking device as he approached the coordinates of Iida’s brother.

Gray saw the compass pointing down towards a narrow alleyway. Floating lower, he managed to pick up a voice echoing between the brick walls.

"I’ve found him! The Hero Killer!" a hero dressed in a sleek, white knight-like costume shouted into his intercom piece.

’Ingenium,’ Gray thought, watching the pro hero dash forward blindly toward the killer. Sighing, Gray felt a wave of relief that he had made it just in time.

The Hero Killer instantly drew his jagged katana and braced for battle. Ingenium had already radioed his sidekicks to crash toward his location, assuming he only needed to stall for a few minutes before backup arrived. Up high, Gray simply shook his head. ’Naive,’ he thought. ’They barely have any information on Stain, and yet he rushes straight into battle before waiting for his team... No wonder a lot of these heroes end up dying or getting permanently disabled before they even hit their thirties.’

The clash below initially looked to be a temporary stalemate, but Gray’s eyes could tell that Stain was intentionally holding back. The villain mostly defended himself, calculating his movements and not launching a full offensive just yet.

The stalemate lasted for less than a minute before Stain finally shifted gears and went on the attack. Gray scanned the perimeter, noticing that Ingenium’s sidekicks were still nowhere to be seen. ’For a hero who’s famously known for his speed... his team is remarkably slow,’ Gray mused.

Stepping off the edge of the building, Gray started floating downward just as Stain managed to slice a small gash into Ingenium’s armor, drawing blood. The moment Gray’s boots touched the pavement, Stain licked the fresh blood off his blade. Instantly, Ingenium froze, his body locked up entirely as he collapsed onto the concrete, completely unable to move.

"You fake heroes disgust me!" Stain hissed, his voice venomous as he slowly started approaching the immobile hero. "This society is warped, overrun by self-righteous pretenders who hunt for fame and fat paychecks rather than true justice! You call yourself a guardian, yet you rely on a network of weaklings to do your bidding. True heroism cannot be bought, nor can it be manufactured by a corrupt system! All Might is the only true hero who matters, the only one worthy of this world! The rest of you are nothing but a vile stain on the profession, and it is my solemn duty to purge you from it!"

"You know," Gray interjected, finally making himself known as he stepped out from the shadows of the alleyway, "I would love to sit here and listen to you yap all day, but I’m kinda busy. And well... it wouldn’t be very nice of me if I just stood by and let the older brother of one of my students die, you know?"

Stain felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up instantly. He possessed incredibly sharp, predator-like instincts, but this man had somehow appeared directly behind him, and he hadn’t felt a trace of a presence until the guy actually spoke.

"Who the hell are you?" Stain demanded, his crimson eyes narrowing as he gripped his hilt tightly.

"Me? Just a concerned citizen," Gray said with a relaxed smile, calmly walking toward the two of them.

Stain finally had a good look at Gray. He looked different without the signature outfit he had worn during the two occasions he had appeared on television, but now that he had a better look, Stain clicked his tongue in recognition.

"Oh?" Gray smirked, his eyes glinting with amusement. "It seems you recognized me."

"Yeah, I know exactly who you are," Stain spat, his eyes darting behind him as he took them off Gray for a split second to assess his escape routes.

Gray took the opportunity to close the space instantly. By the time Stain snapped his head back around, Gray stood a mere two inches from his face. Stain’s face drained of color, and he instinctively vaulted backward a few feet to put some distance between them. ’Dangerous!’ his mind roared as his survival instincts screamed at him to turn around and run away as fast as possible.

Gray simply smiled, enjoying that frantic reaction. "I’m not exactly the kind of opponent you can just take it easy with, you know?"

Turning his attention away from the villain, Gray calmly took a few steps forward to check on the downed hero. The man had only a few minor cuts, but otherwise he was okay.

"Once you can move again, go ahead and radio your team for some help. I’ll keep him occupied," Gray said casually.

Before Tensei could even process what was happening, Gray grabbed the paralyzed hero by the collar and launched him out of the alleyway, sliding him safely into the open street.

"Well then," Gray said, popping his knuckles as he finally turned his full attention back toward the Hero Killer. "Shall we begin?"

"Don’t look down on me!" Stain roared as he dashed forward, swinging his blade wildly in an attempt to draw even a single drop of blood from Gray. He knew from the media that this man was absurdly strong, perhaps even stronger than All Might, but Stain was convinced that if he could manage just one successful cut, his Quirk would secure the win.

Gray dodged every single katana strike effortlessly. Thanks to endless hours of extreme-gravity conditioning inside the Training Dimension, moving out here in the open air made him feel completely weightless. His enhanced reaction time slowed the world so much that Stain seemed to move in slow motion, practically standing still. If he wanted to, Gray could have put the villain down instantly. However, he decided to stall just long enough for Ingenium’s sidekicks to finally arrive.

To pass the time, he replicated a famous flex he remembered Goku using against Future Trunks in the Dragon Ball Z anime. Focusing his Ki into the tip of his index finger, he reinforced his skin and casually began blocking Stain’s razor-sharp katana strikes.

Stain grew increasingly restless and erratic the harder he tried to cut the man in front of him. Having survived countless life-or-death battles over the years, the Hero Killer had never felt this helpless. He had faced powerhouse heroes before, but they always eventually left an opening; once he tasted their blood, they all ended up exactly the same, dead at his feet. But Gray was a completely different breed of anomaly. He didn’t waste a single movement, dodging every frantic slash effortlessly, and now he was systematically humiliating him by parrying a lethal blade with a finger.

Desperate, Stain vaulted backward to check the edge of his katana, praying he had at least grazed the man. To his utter despair, the polished metal was completely clean; not a single drop of blood was on it. Looking up, he saw Gray casually inspecting his own index finger, nodding to himself in mild satisfaction.

"I guess it’s my turn to attack?" Gray said.

In a literal blink, he closed the distance between them and threw a deliberately slow punch. Stain barely managed to cross his arms to block the impact, but the sheer kinetic force still sent him skidding violently backward until he crashed hard into the brick wall, knocking the wind out of his lungs.

"You know, you’re probably one of the main reasons I can’t stand the heroes of this world," Gray said, his tone dropping as he approached the slumped villain. "See, you’ve brutally murdered quite a few heroes and permanently disabled dozens more. If I hadn’t shown up just now, you would have gladly added another body to your little list. And yet..." Gray squatted down directly in front of him, casually smacking Stain’s face a few times to keep him awake. "And yet, the heroes and the government are too scared to actually put monsters like you down permanently. They’d rather lock you away in a cozy cell, fully aware that you’ll eventually just break out and continue your little crusade."

Stain gasped for air, struggling to force his trembling body back up. "So what... you’re saying you’re any different? You’re actually willing to kill?"

"Oh, buddy, it wouldn’t exactly be the first time I’ve done it," Gray replied, his casual demeanor vanishing as his eyes grew serious. "But to give you a more direct answer: yes. Just like I did to Overhaul, I would happily do the same to every unredeemable killer roaming the streets. You see, I wouldn’t even care if you actually targeted the genuinely corrupt, money-hungry fake heroes you constantly preach about. Hell, if that were the case, I probably would’ve encouraged it. But I’ve seen the actual list of heroes you’ve butchered, and let’s just say you don’t target the ’fakes.’ You just blindly slaughter anyone who doesn’t align with your own hypocritical, delusional ideals."

Gray delivered a heavy kick that sent Stain rolling to the side of the alleyway. "I was originally planning on just knocking you out and letting the sidekicks have the credit... but I just changed my mind."

Gray charged a small, glowing Ki ball in his right hand as he approached the downed Hero Killer. He originally didn’t want to alter the canon timeline too drastically, but after seeing the reality of the situation, he simply wasn’t willing to risk anyone else getting hurt. With the timeline already shifting because of his presence, there was a very real chance the Hero Killer could end up targeting and murdering one of his students down the line, and that was a gamble he wouldn’t take. It was true that thanks to his improved passive gold, he could theoretically afford to buy the means to bring anyone back to life; however, after seeing how drastically people’s perceptions of him changed once he did that back in The Walking Dead universe, he had chosen to never resurrect anyone else unless it was someone he personally cared about, like Eri.

Before Gray could step any closer to Stain, he saw sudden ripples distorting the spatial space directly in front of him. He halted his advance as a massive, swirling purple warp gate manifested to block his path.

"You’ll have to forgive me, but I cannot allow you to take his life," the deep, formal voice of Kurogiri reverberated through the narrow alleyway.

Gray clicked his tongue in annoyance. He instantly flew straight up to bypass the portal’s perimeter, preparing to launch the Ki blast straight down at Stain’s body on the pavement. But the moment he secured a clear line of sight from above, he noticed the cement floor was empty; Kurogiri had already taken the villain into the warp gate and taken him away.

"FUCK!" Gray yelled from the sky, his voice echoing off the buildings.

As the warp gate vanished into thin air, he finally saw Ingenium’s sidekicks burst around the corner to help. Landing back on the concrete, the sidekicks immediately tried to crowd around and question Gray, but Ingenium held up a trembling hand to stop them.

"He saved my life," the hero wheezed. "Leave him alone."

"How are you feeling?" Gray asked, walking over as he noticed the pro hero was finally regaining control of his paralyzed limbs.

"Better..."

"That’s good," Gray said, stepping forward before suddenly smacking the back of the hero’s helmet. "Maybe next time you’ll actually wait for your damn team or proper backup before you charge into an alleyway like a moron."

Reaching into his inventory, Gray pulled out a single green Senzu bean and handed it over to the battered hero. "Here, eat this. It’ll fix you right up."

The surrounding sidekicks stood motionless to the side, maintaining a respectful distance because none of them wanted to get smacked next.

The moment Ingenium swallowed the bean, his exhaustion vanished, and his cuts healed instantly. Moving his arms and legs around in astonishment, the hero nodded to himself. "Thanks."

"Yeah, yeah. Can I leave the rest of this mess to you guys?" Gray asked, shaking his head.

"I don’t even fully know what just happened here, but yes," Ingenium replied.

"Just tell the cops and the Hero Public Safety Commission that the League of Villains stepped in and took Stain away. Tell them to keep an eye out," Gray instructed as his boots left the pavement. Floating upward, he glanced down at the clock on his system interface and immediately groaned. "Great. I missed the entire damn Cavalry Battle for this!"

Without wasting another second, Gray broke the sound barrier once more and rocketed back toward the UA stadium.