Izuku was tired. It's been a very long fight. Swords clashed, shields buckled, blood spilled, but the two fighters were still going strong.

"Shit!" Izuku cursed towards the knight before him as he barely dodged a leaping strike. The sword landed on the ground, flinging stone and dust away from the impact. If that wasn't enough, the knight used his limp hand to throw some kind of black ooze towards Izuku.

"Gah!" Izuku got hit and was forced back. He quickly got his bearings before dodging another strike towards him. "Please stop! You can still overcome it!"

The knight paid no heed to Izuku's words as black aura manifested around him. In an exploding manner, the aura burst and the knight went on full throttle. Izuku blocked, dodged, and countered while getting a few hits on him as well.

Drinking from his Estus Flask after getting a good distance away from him. Izuku again shouted his name.

"KNIGHT ARTORIAS!" Izuku screamed from the top of his lungs. He was hoping for his words to get through. Izuku however, readied himself instead when he saw Knight Artorias getting ready for a charging attack.

He dodged the thrust and took a step back, in fear of getting that black ooze attack again. But suddenly, Izuku heard something that would forever cement his mind on what to do to end Abyss-corrupted entities.

"Pl..ease… E…nd… M…e…" Knight Artorias said in broken speech as he lunged again against Izuku, who in turn blocked with his Grass Crest Shield. "Be…for…e… I… Ha…rm… An…yon…e… El…se…"

Hearing that, Izuku steeled himself and gave everything on his last attack. In a single thrust, the sword penetrated Knight Artorias' armor and through his body. The Knight fell to his knees, and uttered one last thing towards Izuku.

"Th…ank… Y…ou… Kin…d… Und…ead…" The Knight fell on top of his blood puddling on the ground, his last words barely a whisper. Izuku could do nothing as he stared at the corpse grimly as the soul of the Knight once hailed as a hero entered his body. Tears began pooling at his eyes, one sentence going over his mind once again.

'Can I not save anyone…?'

[][][][][][][][][][][][][][]

(BGM: Dark Souls 3 - Abyss Watchers OST)

Izuku stared at the unknown knight before him… That is, until something in his body connected with the being before him.

"… Knight Artorias…?" Izuku muttered under his breath in shock as he stared at the unknown knight. The soul, even if different, felt the same as the soul of Knight Artorias that once inhabited his body.

The unknown knight however, perked their head up when they heard the name of their idol. They also felt the connection with the child, prompting the knight to speak up.

"…You… Have the soul… Of the original… Wolf Knight…" the knight assumed as they readied their weapon. "Wonderful… This may be… our last chance…"

"We… are the Abyss Watchers… Fighters against the dark… Shields against the Abyss…" the knight broke into a run and rolled, delivering an overhead slash towards Izuku, who dodged at the last minute. "Please… Free our souls… Before we corrupt… Everything else…"

History repeats itself… This was a saying that was lauded in the history books as a reminder of why history should be studied to prevent the same from happening in the future…

Apparently, even if you studied it… No matter what… the same result happens…

History ALWAYS repeats itself.

'If it is always destined for heroes to fall from grace… THEN WHY AM I SUPPOSED TO BE THE ONE TO END THEM!?' Izumu screamed mentally as his brain processes grinded to a halt. Reliving the past was very painful for Izuku. Reminded time and time again, that he was powerless to save anyone. "WHY!? WHY CAN'T I SAVE ANY OF YOU!?"

"Save… You are already… Saving us… Tiny Wolf Knight…" the Abyss Watcher began as they did their signature pose, the Legion Etiquette. "We wish to die… By your hands… If you kill us… Then you save us…"

"Because the Abyss… Cannot spread any further…" the Abyss Watcher lunged in again, Izuku dodged by a hair's breadth. "We live to fight… against the Abyss… But we are corrupted… Locked into… An eternity of battle… Amongst ourselves…"

"Only you… Holder of the… Original Wolf Knight's soul… Can spare us from our… Doomed fate…" swinging the dagger this time, it landed a solid hit on Izuku's arm, causing blood to drip on the floor. Without stopping, the Abyss Watcher made another swing with their greatsword, but Izuku blocked it on time with the Cleansing Greatshield. "Please… You are our… Only hope…"

Izuku gathered himself once the pain of being slashed registered in his brain, and when Izuku learned what it meant to be alive for the Abyss Watchers, Izuku could only nod solemnly as he leapt a few meters back.

'Is this what it feels like… To feel that you could not do anything to save them but kill them…?' Izuku thought as he swung the Artorias Greatsword, leaving a large gash across the body of the Abyss Watcher before him.

"Alright… Abyss Watchers… My name is Midoriya Izuku, savior of the Abysswalker, Knight Artorias, and I hereby swear…" Izuku swore as he copied the gesture the Abyss Watcher did before fighting him. "I will put an end to your suffering."

"You have… Our thanks… Tiny Wolf Knight," the Abyss Watcher smiled under their helmet and mask, before all semblance of intelligence vanished from their eyes. With a guttural howl, the Abyss Watcher lunged towards Izuku once again.

Izuku dodged the swing and proceeded to backstab the Abyss Watcher. The blade lodged perfectly onto their body, and Izuku twisted the blade, and pulled it out. The Abyss Watcher collapsed on the ground, but got back up and ferociously swung the sword and dagger towards Izuku, who in turn blocked and dodged the incoming attacks.

Suddenly, Izuku felt a searing pain on his shoulder from behind. When he looked back, he saw another Abyss Watcher ganging up on him. Izuku gritted his teeth, but made a mistake looking away for a moment.

The familiar sensation of being stabbed through the body took the strength out of Izuku's legs as he collapsed on his kneed, blood pooling on the ground.

As all this happened, everything that happened there was visible from the top of the stairs, where horrified classmates had their mouth hung open in terror and dread.

"DEKU!" Ochako cried out in worry and tried to jump in, only to be stopped by Iida who was lying on the ground, injured beyond hell, grabbed her foot.

"Uraraka! Don't! You'll just risk… yourself more!" Iida said between pained coughs. Around them laid the bloodied corpses of the villains. Some of the students as well were hanging between life and death. Shoji had 5 out of 6 of his tentacles cut off. Sato had a lot of stab wounds, and was bleeding, and Ashido had one of her horns broken off, with multiple lacerations.

Thirteen however, was a lost cause. She was no longer breathing, a huge sword stabbed through her body.

Iida on the other hand, probably had it easy, but he was still worse for wear. His engines were decimated, but it could still be healed, Shoji's tentacles as well. Sato and Ashido though were teetering on the border, and they needed a healer ASAP.

"Besides! We need all… the help we can… get for the injured!" Iida exclaimed while Ochako was having a mental breakdown.

"What the hell happened here!?" a terrified Mineta screamed in shock as he laid his eyes on the precarious situation that he and his classmates landed in. "Wait… No nonono! WHY IS THIRTEEN DEAD!?"

Mineta was now hyperventilating. Of course, he would, countless dead bodies of villains, blood everywhere, almost dead classmates, and now, a dead teacher.

"This is bad… Very bad…" Tsuyu anxiously croaked as she laid the unconscious Aizawa on the floor next to her classmates. "Midoriya and the others are still fighting… Where are our reinforcements?"

"We can't get a signal, nor can we contact them. The fog's in the way," Iida weakly stated, but kept his grip firm on Ochako's leg.

"DEKU!" Ochako screamed in pure terror as she saw Izuku get stabbed once again. Now, two swords were going through his body, and she knew, it was too late for him.

It would for an ordinary human.

"A fight in numbers… Shit… This is bad…" Izuku weakly mumbled as he brought out his Pyromancy. "But… I WILL STILL SAVE YOU! AND MY CLASSMATES! EVEN IF I HAVE TO DIE AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN!"

Izuku brought his hand down on the ground, and channeled deep within his soul. The result was giant flame pillars jumping from below the ground, incinerating every Abyss Watcher on the field near them.

A flame pillar even exploded from beneath their feet, burning Izuku as well. A few seconds later, the flames subsided, and all around the area, charred corpses of the Abyss Watchers could be seen lying on the ground. Izuku's burnt corpse as well.

"DEKU!" Ochako screamed and ran, forcefully breaking Iida's grip. She ignored the shouting coming from behind her and ran. Ran towards one of her close friends. A friend who saved her from death.

It was only right to save them as well, right?

Back to Izuku, he stirred, and stood straight back up, his skin burnt and dried. And once again, the familiar look of being hollow graced him as he saw his reflection on the blade of his sword.

"… I don't need a bonfire to revive…?" Izuku asked himself as he brought out a humanity sprite, and crushed it in his hands. "Some things to study later, but for now…"

Izuku was brought out of his musings when he saw blood coagulating on the body of the strongest Abyss Watcher. A few moments later, their blade embered, and flame spouted. Their eyes no longer normal, but red eyes, reminiscing of the Abyss corrupted beings.

Izuku knew this was far from over.