Chapter 1: A Reincarnated Sorcerer
Chapter Text
Kyoka Jirou takes a deep breath as she approaches the gates towards UA, finding herself nervous just being there.
This was it. This was what months of training had led to, it was do or die…really, it’s do or fail, but the point still stands. She was either going to pass or she was going to fail, it was time to find out which.
All around her people were looking similar to her. Some were nervous as hell, some were confident as hell, and some were having a breakdown. She can’t blame them, this was the greatest hero school in the whole country of course you would be nervous it’s only reasonable.
But could they be more quiet about it? Take the green-haired guy in front of her for example, he was standing still for the past few minutes, muttering his head off talking so softly normal people wouldn’t be able to hear. Except for her,
“I know, I know, just…I can’t help it, everyone’s just so much more prepared than I am…Imagine them in their underwear, why?!” he mutters to himself almost crazily, “Just…just let me think, okay?”
“Hey, you alright there?” she taps him on the shoulder, surprising him, and getting him to turn back in surprise and fall backwards at the same time. She winces thinking he’s in for a rough landing when suddenly he starts hovering mid-fall.
“Oh, that was close.” he sighs in relief before getting back to his feet, “Sorry, I…I…uh…oh god I’m talking to a girl”
The boy whispers the last part under his breath, once he looks at her face and begins blushing nervously. Great it was one of those guys, hopefully, he doesn’t think she’s coming onto him or anything.
“Look, I just wanna check since you’ve been standing there talking to yourself. Seems a little too early for a mental breakdown, right?”
“Myself?” he snaps out of whatever state he was in, “I- Right, of course! M-must’ve been the nerves! Can’t afford to lose it now, can I? Ha ha ha.”
He says laughing fakely as Jirou looks at him weirded out,
“...Right.” she points towards UA’s entrance, “I’m just gonna go.”
“...That's fair.” he mutters to himself as he starts walking towards the entrance as well before suddenly looking over his shoulder and whispering, “What?! I can’t just talk to her, she thinks I’m weird!”
“Well yeah, you’re talking to yourself.” she says snapping him out of his thoughts, “Jeez are you really that nervous?”
“Y-you heard that?” he blushes embarrassed, “Sorry, force of habit.”
“You have a habit of talking to yourself?” Jirou raises a brow as the boy stutters for a response, “Never mind, we all have our quirks. The non-biological ones I mean.”
“Ha ha, right. All of us have Quirks, funny.” he says with the fake awkward laugh again before going silent, “...Sorry. I must look so stupid.”
He says looking downcast and guilty like a kicked puppy.
“I’ve seen worse.” she says with a sigh after a pause, “Look, don’t sweat it. And relax, you’re not going to get through this by being crazy.”
“...Right. You’re right.” he slaps himself in the face, “I need to focus.”
They continued walking through the hall of UA to find their own halls, and before long the boy nervously spoke again,
“So…those lobes on your ears. Are they related to your Quirk?“ he asks after a pause,
“Yeah, why?” Jirou asks, reflexively tense, ready for another round of teasing about how they look weird like she was used to.
“W-well, I think they look cool.” he says, surprising her, “Do they work like normal headphone jacks? Are they universal or only for certain models? What material are they made of? How well can you control them?”
He asks suddenly whipping out a notebook from nowhere that surprises her. Seeing this he looks down awkwardly, “Sorry, another habit. I’m just really curious about Quirks, and write them all down.”
“You must really like them a lot.” Jirou says looking at the notebook’s burnt cover that said ‘Hero Analysis for the Future #13’, “Thirteen whole notebooks?”
“Yeah, it’s a hobby of mine. It’s probably weird to you?” the boy says and Jirou shrugs.
“Not really, there’s definitely weirder hobbies.” she says as she plays with her earlobes, “And well I can stretch them up to six meters and detect sound as far as twelve meters. They’re pretty strong I guess, if you consider being able to punch holes in concrete strong.”
“That’s really cool! That’s a pretty versatile Quirk you have there!” the boy says as he excitedly jots it down in his book, “You can do a lot with that, like rescuing and combat! It’s a good Quirk to have as a Pro Hero!”
Jirou blushes at that, looking away. It wasn’t often she heard someone complimenting her Quirk like that except for her parents.
“Thanks…what about your Quirk then? Some kind of levitation?” she asks, remembering what she saw at the entrance.
“Er, well, it’s better to just show.” he says nervously, holding out an open hand, “Touch my hand.”
“...Is this going to be one of those ‘pull my finger’ jokes?” she asks and Izuku shakes his head,
“No! No, just…do it please, it’s easier to show. Quickly please.” he says looking flustered and embarrassed.
Curiosity overtaking her, she does as he asks and presses her hand against his. Or at least tries to.
“What the-?” she mutters as she tries pushing only to find a gap between both their hands no matter how hard she pushes, it feels like a wall, “What is this? Some kind of invisible barrier?”
“No, it’s more complicated than that.” the boy says as he withdraws his hand and exhales a breath, “I was infinitely dividing the space between us.”
“...What?” Jirou looks at him confused,
“Well you see, if you divide something in half no matter how much you do you’ll never reach zero.” the boy explains, “So if I keep dividing the space between your hand and mine they can never touch each other. It’ll just slow before we touch until it looks like it stopped. That’s my Quirk, Limitless.”
“...That sounds so broken.” Jirou says bluntly, “So you can’t be touched by anyone you don’t want? That’s like making you invincible!”
The boy winces as he rubs his forehead, “It is, but not in practice for me. I get exhausted quickly the more I use it, so I can only keep it up for a few seconds to deflect attacks. Keeping it up any longer burns me out quickly and hurts my head.”
“Huh, so not so limitless after all.” She laughs at her own pun and gets a chuckle out of the boy as they arrive at a doorway leading to an assembly hall, “So I guess we’re in the same hall then. What’s your seat?”
The two of them gave out their seat numbers realising they were in different rows and far from each other.
“Oh, I’ll see you later I guess.” he says looking at his notes before hesitating, “I…didn’t get your name, did I? I’m Izuku. Izuku Midoriya.”
“Kyoka Jirou.” she says before entering the hall with a smirk, “Break a leg out there, Midoriya.”
Izuku awkwardly waves as she leaves, and once he is sure she is out of range he barely muffles a squeal with his hands, “I just talked to a girl! Why did you make me do that?! She probably thinks I’m a weirdo!”
A voice laughs in his head, “Hey, I’m stuck here for the rest of my life. I can only rewatch so many Game of Thrones re-runs to pass the time. You need more variety up here, what say we do another marathon after this! Besides, I think I saw a smirk back there. You know what that means? You’ve got a chance!”
Satoru Gojo points finger guns at him from his mindspace, as he continues laughing at Izuku’s embarrassment.
*Ten Months Ago*
Izuku struggles against the hold of the Slime Villain who continues pouring his slime down his throat forcefully. His body was full of the stolen goods and cash he had just gotten from all those stores.
“Gee kid, thanks for the save.” he gloats, “Just the meat bag I need to sneak past that guy. You’re my hero.”
But as the boy was struggling and he was pouring his goo inside, he kept looking over his shoulder to make sure that damned hero wasn’t here yet and in his distracted state, he loses track of one of the stolen items in his possession, stolen from an antique store across the convenience store along with whatever bundle of cash it had in its register.
A small ceremonially engraved hexagonal box that looked to have some gold on it, likely some kind of jewel box. Thinking it would fetch a high price he took it with him, and while he was looking over his shoulder, the struggling Izuku Midoriya accidentally smacked the old and loose lock open in his desperate struggle.
For whatever reason, the contents of the box were released and pulled by the stream of slime into Izuku’s mouth. A pair of dried eyeballs were accidentally swallowed with the rest of the slime and then his struggling stopped.
The Slime Villain thinks the boy has finally given up and glances back only to be confused at the sight of green eyes replaced by strange and calm blue eyes. But before he could question it, in a flash he exploded, scattering his slime everywhere in the tunnel.
The boy then retches the slime in his stomach, violently vomiting before coughing.
“Bleh, bleh, bleh!” he groans, sounding completely different as he wipes his tongue with his bare hands, “Oh that was so disgusting, it’s like that time I tried cooking ramen on a space heater! Ugh, where am I? The last thing I remembered was- Ah!”
All at once memories came flashing into his mind. Shibuya. The Prison Realm. Geto, or rather Kenjaku. December 24th. Sukuna. It all came rushing back as well as new memories that weren’t his.
Deku. Quirks. Pro Heroes. All Might. These words and their meanings came rushing into his head, and he was sure if he didn’t possess his Six Eyes he would be overloaded with all this information. Then the most recent memories came rushing in as he looked at the ceremonial box on the floor and groaned,
“Don’t tell me…They pulled a Sukuna with my eyes?!”
***
“WELCOME TO TODAY’S LIVE PERFORMANCE! EVERYONE SAY ‘HEY’!”
“HEY!” Gojo shouts from inside Izuku’s head to the latter’s frustration in response to Present Mic.
“TOUGH CROWD, HUH? WELL, THAT’S COOL, MY EXAMINEE LISTENERS!” he shouts undaunted by the silence he received, “NAME’S PRESENT MIC AND I’M HERE TO PRESENT THE GUIDELINES TO YOUR PRACTICAL EXAM! ARE YOU READY?!!”
“YEAH!” Gojo shouts again and Izuku groans, slamming his head to the desk at the migraine he was receiving.
“Gojo sensei, he can’t even hear you. Please stop.” he pleads in a whisper,
“Hey, this guy just gets being a teacher.” Gojo chuckles, “Come on, give him a ‘yeah’ for me!”
“Y-y-yeah…!” Izuku gave out the most reluctant yeah ever heard but Present Mic took it.
“GREAT! GLAD TO HEAR THE ENTHUSIASM KIDDOS! NOW ONTO WHAT YOU ALL CAME HERE FOR, THE EXAM!” he says, pressing a button and displaying a projection on the wall consisting of information, “GET READY FOR THE MOST INTENSE TWO-HOUR EXAM EVER! IT’S YOUR JOB TO GET OUT THERE AND BREAK AS MANY ROBOTS WITH YOUR QUIRKS, BODY AND WHATEVER GEAR YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON! THAT’S RIGHT, YOU’RE ALLOWED TO BRING WHATEVER YOU WANT, JUST BE AT YOUR ASSIGNED LOCATION WHEN IT STARTS, ‘KAY?”
“Huh, reminds me of the Exchange Event back in the old days,” Gojo notes as Izuku jots this down,
“EACH SITE’S FILLED TO THE BRIM WITH THREE TYPES OF FAUX VILLAINS! THE ONLY RULE OUT THERE, LISTENERS? PLAYING THE ANTI-HERO AND FIGHTING OTHER EXAMINEES FOR POINTS! OTHER THAN THAT GO NUTS!” Present Mic continues, “THEY’RE ALL RANKED BY DIFFICULTY, WITH 1 THE WEAKEST AND 3 TOUGHER THAN THAN 1 AND 2!”
“Huh, maybe they should let examinees try targeting others. It would certainly spice things up a bit.” Gojo ponders out loud,
“That won’t be very heroic Gojo sensei,” he whispers to himself,
“Kid, you gotta remember I’m literally in your head. Just think your response, otherwise, people like that girl are gonna think you’re crazy.” Gojo reminds,
Before Izuku could answer, someone raised their hands,
“May I ask a question?” a tall, bespectacled boy with blue hair standing up and raising his hand, “There appear to be no fewer than four varieties of faux villains on this handout! Such a blatant error is highly unbecoming of Japan’s top hero institution! And you, with the curly hair!”
Izuku looks surprised as he gestures at himself as Gojo says “Told you.”
“You’ve been muttering this whole time, and distracting all of us! Is this some sort of game to you? Then if so please leave immediately.” the bespectacled boy says looking annoyed at him,
“ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, EXAMINEE 7111, NICE CATCH.” Present Mic interrupts to prevent an argument from breaking out, clicking the remote again displaying the outline of a robot that looks like a brick, “THIS LITTLE GUY’S CALLED THE ZERO-POINTER. AND AS YOU CAN GUESS THERE ARE ZERO POINTS AWARDED FOR ITS DESTRUCTION. THERE’S ONLY ONE ON EACH SITE, ITS WHOLE DEAL IS TO CAUSE TROUBLE AND SLOW YOU DOWN. THINK OF IT LIKE A WHOMP FROM SUPER MARIO! I RECOMMEND MY LISTENERS TO JUST CARRY ON AND IGNORE IT IF YOU CAN.”
“So he knows his games as well. This guy’s a teacher after my own heart. Oh, that reminds me, you should play some Super Mario, there’s not enough video game memories up here for me to play with.” Gojo says as Izuku groans, “Some classic Megaman and Sonic if you can as well, those were bangers in the old days as you kids would say.”
“ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT I WON’T KEEP YOU HERE ANYMORE. THAT’S ALL FROM ME, FOLKS.” Present Mic declares, “WITH THAT SAID, LET’S END IT WITH A FAVOURITE QUOTE OF MINE, FROM GOOD OL’ NAPOLEON BONAPARTE; ‘TRUE HEROISM IS BEING SUPERIOR TO THE ILLS OF LIFE’. PLUS ULTRA EVERYONE, BREAK A LEG.”
***
“...You know, I don’t actually know how to feel about this,” Gojo mutters as he crouches and stares at the graves in front of him, in some forgotten cemetery in Tokyo. All the names in front of him were familiar ones.
Yuji Itadori, Megumi Fushiguro, Nobara Kugisaki, Maki Zen'in, Toge Inumaki, Yuta Okkotsu. There was no gravestone for Panda, he wondered if it was because he was buried elsewhere or if there were complications with burying a life-sized stuffed panda or something.
“I stopped by Tokyo Jujutsu High, you’d never guess what they did with it.” he lets out a hollow chuckle, “Turned it into a real school, modernised and all. Buried every last trace of anything that had to do with Jujutsu, got rid of the Cursed Tools in the warehouse, the morgue, isolation chamber and even sealed up the Tomb of the Star Corridor. I don’t see Tengen anywhere here so I guess he’s gone as well…I’m not sure if you guys know, but the moment I stepped here there were near zero traces of Cursed Energy, the kid and I think it has probably something to do with Quirks whatever the hell they are.”
It made some sort of sense. He had sensed a different kind of energy in these Quirks, something unlike Cursed Energy or Positive Energy. If somehow Quirks replaced Cursed Energy in humans it led to both a decrease in Cursed Spirits and Cursed Techniques meaning the slow extinction of Cursed Users and Sorcerers. It meant only the Quirkless, a slowly dying breed, were capable of having Cursed Energy potential, and they were too far spread out to cause anything on the scale of say Special Grade Cursed spirits or something. Too weak to try anything. It looked like Geto got half of what he wanted.
“Ah, right. You probably don’t know who I’m talking about.” he laughs, “Get this, I’m in a Sukuna position. Apparently, some idiot back then after I died took my eyes and turned them into Cursed Objects…Hopefully, it wasn’t Kenjaku, and you guys killed him. But back to the kid, his name’s Izuku Midoriya. Nice boy, kinda reminds me of you Yuta. Back when we first met. Crippling self-doubt and self-depreciation, it would’ve been like looking in a mirror.”
He then pauses, lost and not sure what else to say before gathering his thoughts and continuing,
“I…I’m not sure how most of you died. We’re Jujutsu Sorcerers, we don’t die in our beds, but I’d hope it was how you’d all wanted to go out at the very least.” Gojo says sombre before standing back up, “Anyways I gotta go now, promised the kid I only need a few minutes to say goodbye. It’s been a blast.”
Suddenly the eyes turn from blue to green as Izuku Midoriya returns to possession of his body,
“H-have you said all you wanted, Gojo?” Izuku asks awkwardly, “You can take as long as you need, I don’t mind.”
“It’s fine.” Gojo says in his head, “I’ve said what I needed.”
Izuku nods as he looks at the gravestones, “...These were your students then? I can’t believe there were powers before Quirks.”
“Curse Techniques.” Gojo corrects, “It was to avoid mass panic in the masses, imagine if they knew that all their negative thoughts and emotions were leading to the creation of Cursed Spirits and roughly ten thousand deaths annually.”
Izuku winces, “Yeah, something like that happened when Quirks first showed. The Dark Age of Quirks, society collapsed, international trade was near zero, stock market and the Internet crashed leading to mass violence and destruction.”
“...Must’ve seen a lot of Curse activity during then. Before Jujutsu High was closed down I mean.” Gojo says with a sigh, “Damn it.”
Izuku remains silent, not knowing what to say to a man who woke up days ago realising that everything he knew and loved was gone.
“So…what now?” he asks unsure, “You’re just going to live here forever?”
“Well, until you die actually. Then we’re both dead.” Gojo shrugs before thinking, “But that would be boring. And boring isn’t how Satoru Gojo goes out.”
“Huh?” Izuku says confused before in his mindscape, a vast and swirling black void with white stars in the background, he sees Gojo standing in front of him.
“I only know you for a few days, Midoriya. But just like you, our memories got shared the moment you chowed down on my eyes.” Gojo explains as he paces around Izuku, “So you want to be a superhero, but you don’t have a superpower to be one because without one you’d turn into another late-night obituary.”
Izuku winces at that but doesn't speak up knowing that he was right.
“But call it fate, call it luck, call it karma, whatever reason you swallowed my eyes and lived which means you’ve hit the jackpot.” Gojo says pointing finger guns at him, “It might take some time but eventually my inherited technique will be ingrained into your body.”
“W-what are you saying?” Izuku says not daring to hope.
“I’m saying that eventually, you’ll be able to use my Limitless.” Gojo says as he flashes a small Lapse Blue in his palm before dissipating it, “As I said, you hit the jackpot kid, because back in the old days I was the strongest for a reason. But even without that, you still have a top-grade sorcerer’s worth of Cursed Energy. I’m talking strong enough to lift cars, jump over whole stories, and tank bullets at minimum.”
“...You’re saying…I can have a Quirk…I can be a hero?” Izuku asks, his legs shaking trying to keep tears out of his eyes. All his life he heard it from everyone, even his own mother, his idol, that he couldn’t become a hero because of his lack of Quirk but now here a ghost from a time before Quirks was offering his powers and telling Izuku what he had always wanted to hear from anyone.
“You got balls, kid. The day we met I saw you charge towards a pile of slime blowing up an entire city block while holding the worst asshole of a kid I’ve ever seen hostage. All while you weren't even thinking that I would be able to save you with my technique.” Gojo smiles at him, “You went there certain that you were going to die but at least you were going to save someone who was a colossal prick to you for your entire life. You’re possibly one of the craziest kids I’ve met. I mean there has to be something wrong up there if you want to die to save someone who was, in all honesty, borderline torturing you your whole life and not even a day ago told you to take a swan dive off a roof. You’re beyond all doubt insane and that’s exactly what you need to be a Sorcerer!”
Gojo kneels down to his eye level and offers a hand, “So what do you say, kid? Let’s make a pact, I’ll offer up my power and guide you to becoming a superhero. And you make sure I don’t die of boredom while I’m with you. Deal?”
Izuku choked on his tears before collapsing on his arms and knees, crying his throat out as Gojo stood there awkwardly with his hand out.
“Er…I’ll take that as a yes then?”
***
“A One Pointer!” Izuku exclaims as he sees the robot come speeding out of an alley targeting him. Taking a breath he steadies himself as he begins channelling cursed energy throughout his body like Gojo had thought him.
A spark of negative emotions was what he needed, something he was not lacking in. Carefully it was coursed through his body to avoid letting it run wild and wastefully. He had refined this through movie marathons with the blindfolded man, who would punish him when he wasn’t channelling it correctly.
The robot charges at him but Izuku leaps over the robot despite its high speed, flipping over it and while in the middle of doing so, he swings his foot downwards infused with Cursed Energy, smashing into the robot’s head and decapitating it as Izuku landed on his feet.
“One point…” he smiles at the sight in disbelief, “I can’t believe I- Ow!”
Izuku winces as he feels Gojo take over his own hand to give himself an uppercut, a result of one of the pacts he made during their training.
“Oi, oi, did I see your Cursed Energy fluctuating there?” Gojo warns as he returns control to Izuku, “That’s just one point but take a look around you.”
Izuku does so and pales, realising that many of the students are already taking down plenty of robots. If he doesn't want to fall behind he has to keep up.
He dashes through the streets looking for more points but to his slowly growing dread he finds almost none to be seen. Five minutes in and all he came across were robots already engaged with examinees.
“This is bad.” he mutters to himself, “At this rate, all that training will be a waste if I can’t find robots!”
“What are you talking about? There’s plenty of them around.” Gojo points out the robots currently engaged as Izuku gets his meaning.
“But I’ll be stealing their points!” Izuku protests, “That’s not right.”
He hears Gojo sigh, “Jeez, I never had a troublesome student like you before. Listen up, Midoriya. Do you think everyone here is going to end up in UA?”
“What?” Izuku asks confused as Gojo continues,
“There are only 40 spots, 20 for each class of the Hero Curriculum.” Gojo says, “That means more than three-quarters of these kids aren’t getting in. There’s not going to be enough robots for all of them, there’s gonna be a limited amount to weed out the best 40 of these examinees.”
“...They all deserve a chance to be heroes, I don’t want to be the one to take it away from them,” Izuku says weakly clenching his fist, knowing how painful it is to have your dreams crushed by someone.
“Think of it this way, that One Pointer you beat just now? That could’ve made the difference between someone passing and failing, you already took that from someone.” Gojo rationalises, “It’s up to you to decide, whose dreams are more important. Yours or theirs?”
Izuku’s fist relaxes as he stands there, sighing in defeat. Gojo was right, most of them will fail whether he likes it or not. He can only decide whether he is one of those that fail or the ones that pass.
In the corner of his eye, he spots someone getting knocked back by a Three Pointer and is about to get back into the fight before he suddenly comes from behind it, leaping into the air before delivering an axe kick right into its head, crushing it.
“Hey!” the student shouts, “That was my Three Points!”
“I’m sorry.” Izuku apologises before running towards the next robot, “But only a few of us can succeed, and I aim to be one of them.”
***
“We never told them how many villains there are, or where they are placed. Such a wide battlefield and a limited amount of time.” Nedzu muses out loud as he takes another sip, “A little preview into life of Professional Heroism. There will be competition and you have to decide what to do about it.”
“An admittedly harsh lesson to learn this early.” Toshinori acknowledges as he observes the screens of children fighting robots,
“It’s a harsh world, the life of a Pro Hero.” Nedzu says as he gestures to a number of examinees across the screens, “But it also brings out the best in them You can already see them developing their specialities. There are those who can assess information in an instant, intelligence gatherers. Those who’ll never be late for a party, are mobility experts. Those who can cope with any situation, are decision-makers. Then there are the natural-born warriors. And the opportunists, those that will do everything to win.”
The teachers watch as a boy with green hair uses a red-haired boy with a hardening Quirk as a jumping pad to deliver a flying kick to the Two-pointer he was engaging with.
“It’s expected.” Snipe shrugs, “There are only a limited number of robots per area. Not enough for everyone. It’s survival of the fittest down there, first come first serve.”
“Wait…” Toshinori mutters as he glances at the face of the green-haired boy, “That boy, the one with green hair and the enhancer Quirk. Who is he?”
“Let’s bring up the records, let’s see the boy’s name is Izuku Midoriya. Quirk is listed as ‘Limitless’, an ability that allows him to warp space to an extent.”
“Hm?” Thirteen perks up upon hearing this, finding it similar to her Quirk, “Manipulating space? It doesn’t look like it, to me it looks like it's a standard physical enhancement type.”
“Perhaps he’s using the spatial manipulation to enhance his movement? Make him move faster and therefore hit harder?” Kan theorises.
“...But that’s impossible.” Toshinori mutters, “I met this boy before, about ten months ago! He told me that he was Quirkless then.”
The teachers raise their brows at this, confused as Nedzu continues reading his file.
“It looks like he’s a late bloomer then,” Nedzu mutters neutrally.
“But that’s impossible, no one’s that late of a bloomer.” Snipe argues, “I’ve never met anyone who got their Quirk any older than five years old.”
“And yet here we are.” Nedzu says, “A boy who apparently only gained his Quirk…ten months ago.”
He brings up the boy’s Quirk profile and Toshinori’s eyes widen. The date of creation was in fact a week after he had met the boy. A week after the Slime Villain Incident. It can’t be possible, it can’t be a coincidence! But…this was impossible. Could it be possible that-
A timer beep interrupts him, snapping him out of his thoughts,
“Ah, it appears it is time for that.” Nedzu hums as he presses a button, “Let’s see how they all react in the face of overwhelming odds.”
***
“Forty-five!” Izuku shouts as he delivers a spinning kick that decapitates a One Pointer before using it as a platform to launch himself towards a Two Pointer, enhancing his durability with Cursed Energy allowing him to smash through it unharmed, “Forty Seven!”
Hours of battling robots and that’s all he can muster, yet he only felt a little out of breath. How much physical energy must he have exerted in the time it took between the start of the practical exam and now? Cursed Energy was truly amazing if it allowed him this level of power. It felt exhilarating.
“Not bad, not bad. But I don’t see you using Limitless yet.” Gojo notes as he observes Izuku's dismantling of robots with his bare hands,
“Because…there’s so many people around…and I don’t have much practice.” Izuku pants as he deflects a punch from another One Pointer before kicking right through its torso like its steel was made of butter, “I don’t want to accidentally hurt anyone, or burn up too quickly. There’s nothing worth using it on yet.”
As he says this the ground suddenly shakes as all eyes turn to the centre of the test site where a few dozen metres away from Izuku, a building-sized robot looking like it had a brick for a head emerged, crushing entire city blocks around it as well as skyscrapers as it pushes itself up.
“...Quick! Wish for a new IMAX sound system!” Gojo insists as Izuku pales at the sight before him. Even with a full-powered Lapse Blue, could he take it down?
“Leg it!” a random examinee shouts as he runs the other way, “Every man for themselves!”
This starts a chain reaction as examinees begin fleeing the scene away from the giant robot and Izuku is about to follow them. It was worth zero points anyway, there was no point burning himself up just to take it down when he could find other robots with points.
But then he hears it. A familiar voice.
“God f*cking damn it!” He hears as he turns to see Kyoka Jirou pinned down with her leg stuck under a large piece of rubble from a fallen building, cursing in pain and rage, “Piece of sh*t! f*ck!”
In that moment everything else fades away, the noise of the fleeing students, the sound of the mechanical monstrosity before him, and the voice of Gojo telling him something. He ignores it all and dashes towards Jirou, but then he sees how close the robot is and knows he can’t make it.
He has to use that.
Izuku skids to a stop and puts his hands into a sign, preparing himself for the backlash as he begins chanting.
“Phase.” he chants as Curse Energy is poured into the Limitless technique, amplifying and extending it beyond its neutral state, “Twilight. Eye of Wisdom…”
He thrusts both hands in front of him, a swirling orb of blue energy manifesting as it sucked in dust, air, and pebbles. The incantations combined with hand signs pushed it far beyond his usual 100%.
“Cursed Technique Lapse.” he chants as blood begins leaking out of his nose, but pushes through the pain as he reels his hand with the orb of Blue back, “Maximum Output: Blue!”
Izuku slings it right as far as he can towards the head of the Zero Pointer, and its effect is immediate. The magnetic force exerted by Blue pulls the head apart, contorting its upper torso and twisting it as the head was pulled right off towards a swirl of gravitation force before being crushed like a grape.
Below, Jirou could feel the updraft caused by the Blue’s attraction, looking up in shock at the sight of the crushed head floating for a moment before falling back down on the rest of the Zero Pointer, crushing it.
This was from that boy she saw freaking out and talking to himself this morning? Talk about completing and going against all expectations,
“Hey, Green, did you just do that?” Jirou shouts from where she was, stunned at what she just saw, “What the hell was that?! You just pulled its head off like it was…”
She trails off as she notices something wrong with Izuku, still stuck in his stance after throwing Blue towards the Zero Pointer, blood dripping from not only his nose but from the corner of both his eyes which were unresponsive, his mouth agape and looking like he stopped breathing.
Chapter 2: Curse Attack
Chapter Text
“Uugh, what happened?” Izuku groans as he slowly opens his eyes, finding himself in a familiar black void lit up with stars in the background, “Did I go overboard again?”
“Yep. Almost completely melted your brains out of your nose.” Gojo says suddenly appearing before him and startling Izuku, “You gotta be careful there, you’re carrying both of us up here and I don’t want to kick it because you went all self-sacrificial.”
Izuku winces, “I’m sorry Gojo-sensei, but when I saw Jirou almost get crushed I had to act. I wasn’t thinking about how bad I’d be hurt. I knew there was going to be backlash but that was a whole other level.”
“Yeah, that’s what you get for using a maximised technique while completing all the hand signs and incantations. You pushed Curse Technique Lapse: Blue to almost twice its maximum output, I’m not surprised your brain couldn’t handle the blowback.” Gojo explains, “And if you’d listen, you’d know that there’s no way she was gonna die. This is an exam for crying out loud.”
“...You’re right. I’m sorry Gojo-sensei.” Izuku says apologetically as he bows his head. That made so much sense, and he nearly risked killing both Gojo and him for no reason.
Gojo sighs, “Jeez you’re reminding me of one of my students. He was throwing his life away every chance he got before I talked sense into him. What is with me and that type?”
“I don’t know…When I see someone in danger I just have to act. Just like All Might does.” Izuku says, “And I figured you could heal me like you did when that Slime Villain blew me up with Kacchan’s Quirk.”
He shudders at the memory, his arm reaching for his side where he remembered feeling an empty gap.
“Nothing wrong with being reckless. Reckless insanity is a cornerstone of jujutsu. Plus, self-sacrifice and all that for the greater good is noble.” Gojo sighs, “But at this rate, willing to throw your life away for no reason, you won’t grow strong enough to be Top 10 let alone Number 1.”
“...So how do I get stronger, Gojo-sensei?” Izuku asks, looking up at the white-haired man.
He smirks, “We have a lot to work with, but I think the first problem to solve is you relying on my Reverse Curse Technique. You think it’s fine, that you can risk yourself just because you have something akin to a reset button but let me tell you even Reverse Curse Technique has its limits. Besides, do you really want me to hold your hand this whole time towards Number 1?”
“...No.” Izuku says determinedly, “You’re right. I can’t just depend on you to save me. I need to save myself, and save others with my own power.”
“That’s the spirit!” Gojo cheers before whipping out a scroll of parchment from nowhere, “Which brings me to this! Satoru Gojo’s Six Eyes Challenge!”
“Huh?” Izuku stares blankly and confused as Gojo unfurls it and shows it to him, “What is this?”
Written on the parchment he finds the words a list;
- Every additional ten seconds Izuku Midoriya lasts against Satoru Gojo equals ten seconds
- Land a Black Flash for the first time equals thirty seconds
- Use Simple Domain and/or Reverse Curse Technique for the first time equals one minute
- Learn to use Domain Expansion equals thirty minutes
- Beating Satoru Gojo equals unlimited access
“Yep! Every milestone you reach, you’ll get time with my Six Eyes as mentioned.” Gojo says proudly, “Right now, Midoriya, you’re strong. I’d say about Semi-Second Grade, and if you keep going you’ll make it First Grade no doubt. But the thing about Limitless is that it’s a very hungry Technique, you need either an insane amount of Curse Energy or a Technique that lowers the cost of Curse Energy to practically zero. In comes my Six Eyes.”
“So you’re saying I won’t have to burn my brain each time I use Blue to its max output?” Izuku asks,
“Essentially. But I’m not just gonna hand it over for free, you already have my Limitless technique. No, if you want to get stronger, you have to earn it.” Gojo says with a devilish smirk, “So keep levelling up, get more skills and techniques, and as you do that you’ll get more and more access to my Six Eyes. Then when you beat the final boss, yours truly, you will become the strongest in the world.”
Izuku gulps, knowing just how strong Satoru Gojo is when he plays around and their training exercises. But fighting him at full power with all his might? That sounded impossible…But if it was needed to become the strongest…
“Then…then I hope you’re ready, Gojo-sensei!” Izuku says, trying to sound courageous and determined, “Because one day it’ll be your face on the floor instead of mine!”
Gojo laughs and slaps him on the back, “That’s the spirit! Now, it’s time for you to get back out there. Hope you like being kissed by old ladies.”
“Wait, wha-?” Izuku asks but Gojo jabs both his index fingers on his chest like they were defibrillators,
“Clear!”
***
“AAH!” Izuku jolts up from a hospital bed in shock, startling Recovery Girl who was administering her Quirk on his cheek,
“My, my, you almost gave me a heart attack there young man.” she says as she calms the shocked boy, “Breathe, everything’s fine. You’re in my office in UA, we picked you up after you nearly blew up your head back in the Entrance Exam.”
“Huh? Ah, right…” Izuku pants feeling dizzy at the mention of that, “That happened.”
Then he remembers something and turns to her quick, “Is she alright? That girl, Kyoka Jirou! I saw her leg get crushed.”
“You should be worrying about yourself more, young man.” Recovery Girl scolds, “When I saw you standing there bleeding from every hole in your head, I was sure there was brain damage. I was ready to send you off to the hospital after patching you as best I can with my Quirk, but now that appears unnecessary.”
Izuku shudders at the image, “That bad, huh?”
“Yes. Very bad.” Recovery Girl nods before sighing, “Anyways the girl’s standing outside, waiting for you. You gave everyone quite a fright, you know? Here, take these on your way out.”
She hands him a handful of gummies to Gojo’s joy,
“Aw yeah! Man, Shoko could learn some bedside manners from this one, she never gave anyone candy! She only ever had booze and cheap cigarettes under her desk.” Gojo complains as Izuku eats them quickly to replenish his energy before heading out, bowing and thanking Recovery Girl as he does so.
He opens the door and finds Jirou standing there, tapping her foot before glancing at the source of the noise and widening her eyes at the sight of him,
“Holy sh*t.” she mutters, “You’re alright?”
“Yeah.” Izuku says, giving a small wave, “I’m glad to see you’re alright, Jirou.”
“I’m alright? What about you?!” she asks angrily, giving a slight shove, “I freaking saw you bleeding from your eyes, man! What the hell was that? Are you brain damaged or something?!”
Izuku falters, “Er, well, I saw you in danger and I had to help…”
“Danger? It was an exam they weren’t going to kill me or anything! Can you imagine the lawsuits?!” Jirou shouts as she jabs a finger, “Can you imagine what it would be like watching someone blow their brains out in front of me to save me from no danger at all?”
Izuku winces, “Y-yeah, but your leg was broken. I panicked and thought you were going to be crushed.”
Jirou sighs, “Next time just kick the rock off or something. If you can twist a giant robot’s head off, you can handle a couple rocks. You can do that without blowing your brains up, right?”
Izuku nods, “...I guess I should’ve thought about that. Sorry for worrying you, Jirou.”
“You better be. I don’t need someone’s death weighing on my conscience.” she mutters as she lightly punches his chest, “And I certainly don’t need a front-row seat of someone’s head pulling a Scanners.”
“...Scanners?” Izuku asks as both Gojo guffaw at him,
“Come on, Scanners! That film from the ‘80s, with that guy’s head blowing up.” Gojo says incredulously, “New plan, we’re gonna rent out all the ‘80s films we can get our hands on, you don’t know what you’re missing out. I’m talking Terminator 1 and 2, screw the sequels they don’t exist, Star Wars, Speed, Die Hard, Golden Gun, Never Say Die, Indiana Jones, Wrath of Khan, Blade Runner, Friday the 13th-!”
As Gojo goes on about ancient films that were older than his grandparents, Jirou blushes,
“Y-yeah, it’s an old movie. My dad’s a fan of the classics. We’d go on a few movie marathons every now and then.” she explains, “He has a whole shelf of old CDs with them.”
“Oh that’s perfect.” Izuku says before getting a confused look and it was his turn to look embarrassed, “I mean, I was recommended by a friend to check out those old films. Like something called Blade Runner.”
“You’ve never seen Blade Runner?” her jaw drops before huffing, “Well that settles it. Got your notebook with you?”
“Huh? Of course.” Izuku says as he whips it out of nowhere and hands it to her with a pen.
Jirou takes it and flips to a page at the back, scribbling something and handing it back,
“My address and number.” she explains to a confused Izuku, “You nearly blew your brain up because of me, so technically I owe you one. You’re free to drop by and borrow a couple if you want, just make sure to give me a call ahead of time.”
Izuku stares at the page in shock and freezes up while Gojo wolf whistles from inside his head,
“Her address and number at the same time? Damn, Midoriya, you got game.” he laughs his head off as Izuku’s mind struggles to process this as Jirou walks off,
“My bus is almost here so I gotta run.” she waves goodbye, “Be seeing you, Green.”
***
“Quite a selection we have here today.” Nedzu says as they overlook the results of today’s practical exam, “A lot of them performed well but there are certainly those that stand above the rest. This boy, for example, seventy Villain Points and zero Rescue Points.”
“He was luring them out with his explosives and eliminating them. Combined with the fact none of the other students dared to get close to him because of his explosions, it meant he could freely grind as many Villain Points as he wished.” Snipes notes, “And there’s this other kid as well, Izuku Midoriya.”
“Forty-seven Villain Points and forty Rescue Points.” Midnight observes with a smirk, “Excellent combat sense, he’s definitely well-trained in martial arts. Most with enhanced physical abilities tend to overwhelm with pure brute force, so he knows how to use what he’s got.”
“But apparently it’s not a physical enhancement Quirk, but spatial manipulation.” Nedzu notes as he plays back the footage of him ripping off the head of a Zero Pointer with an orb of blue energy, “It appears similar to your Quirk, Thirteen.”
“It does. That explains why he was hesitant to use it.” Thirteen nods, “If it’s that strong he risks harming his fellow examinees by catching them in the area of effect.”
“Strong, skilled and willing to do what it takes to win.” Kan says as he watches the playback of Izuku Midoriya occasionally leaping into fights to steal points from other examinees, “But also willing to risk himself to save others when push comes to shove. That’s Pro material if I ever saw one. Looks like you got your work cut out for you, Aizawa.”
The black-clad teacher grunts as he flips through the files on the top-scoring students,
“It’s not just skill and power that’s needed to be a Pro.” Aizawa says, “I’ll have to wait and see if they really do have potential.”
“You’re gonna do that ‘rational deception’ thing aren’t ya?” Yamada asks, looking tired as Aizawa remains suspiciously silent.
“Speaking of which, what’s the list of Recommended Students like?” he asks changing the subject as Nedzu nods,
“Ah yes, these are equally as impressive although we have one that did withdraw for some reason,” Nedzu says as he brings up a list of recommended students and their results, handing them around.
Toshinori takes this and reads through them, surprised to see Endeavour’s son there. If he was anything like his father, then it was likely this kid was gonna go far. He skimmed through the rest of the Recommended Student list, wondering if one of them would be suitable to inherit his Quirk when he almost gets a heart attack at the last profile, coughing out blood.
“WHAAAAAAAAAT?!”
***
“Glad your exam’s finally over. Now we can kick things up a notch.” Gojo says as he casually steps away to dodge Izuku’s flurry of kicks and strikes, “ Just because you got into UA doesn’t mean I’m going to go easy.”
“Hah…hah…Yes, sensei!” Izuku says as he continues exhausting himself trying to land a hit on Gojo who continues effortlessly avoiding his strikes. In his training with Gojo, they were eventually able to find styles of martial arts that would fit Izuku’s style of fighting. While it was initially based on All Might’s boxing-based punches he eventually began favouring a style of mixed martial arts based on a combination of Muay Thai, Jeet Kune Do, and various styles of karate such as Shorin-Ryu.
While his waking days were full of physical body training, in his sleep he was in their shared mindscape, combat training. Meaning every day he woke up sore and exhausted to his mother’s confusion, but it meant he was able to squeeze in plenty of training especially since time moves slower in one’s head.
“First thing’s to get rid of that bad habit.” Gojo says suddenly stopping to block a Cursed Energy-infused strike to his guts with his Limitless, “See that just now?”
“Huh?” Izuku asks confusedly before being pushed to the ground by Gojo with a blast of Blue pulling him down, “Ow!”
“Tell me, how exactly are you using Cursed Energy in your attacks?” Gojo asks.
“Uhm, by channelling and directing them into my fist?” Izuku says sounding unsure as Gojo nods,
“Right, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s how everyone initially does it, well everyone except me of course.” He chuckles to himself before continuing, “But despite how quick that is, you can feel a bit of lag before the energy reaches your limbs, right?”
Izuku widens his eyes as he experiments doing so, finding Gojo was right. A small, barely noticeable lag just before his fist was engulfed in cursed energy.
“So you’re saying I need to make it go faster?” Izuku mutters to himself, “How?”
“Think, where do you feel your Cursed Energy comes from?”
Izuku pats his guts, “Well, I feel it from my stomach. Building up before I send it coursing to my arms and legs.”
“And why must it go from your stomach to your limbs?” Gojo presses as Izuku racks his mind.
“It’s where I feel my negativity building up, so isn’t that where…” Izuku trails off in realisation, “Unless...it’s only lagging because I think that! Because I think my stomach and arms are different sections for Curse Energy to travel through when in reality it’s all one big section! My entire body.”
“Bingo!” Gojo raises a thumb as Izuku begins focusing, breathing in a pattern as Gojo senses his Cursed Energy flow distributing itself evenly across his entire body instead of just focusing on building up in his limbs, “There you go. Now you’re one step closer to getting towards a Black Flash.”
“Black Flash…you mentioned that before.” Izuku realises, “What is it? Some application of Limitless.”
“Far from it.” Gojo shakes his finger, “When your physical strikes make an impact, and Cursed Energy is applied one-millionth of a second after the impact, you distort space itself causing your Cursed Energy to flash black and increase the power of that hit by the power of 2.5. It’s luck-based unfortunately, no Sorcerer can bring out Black Flash willingly, not even me. The closest was one of my students, Yugi Itadori. That kid had a talent for Black Flash, got the world record of four in a row the day he learnt it.”
Izuku looks at his hands in awe, “So it’s just like a video game critical hit!”
“That’s an apt description.” Gojo laughs at the analogy before wagging his finger at Izuku, “Now, you wanna see if you can match that record?”
“...You said if I land a Black Flash I can get thirty seconds of your Six Eyes?” Izuku grins as he gets into a stance, “I hope you keep your promise, Gojo-sensei because I-!”
But before he could start he faintly hears something in the real world.
“Wait, I think that’s my mom calling me.” he looks to his side distracted, “Must be time for-”
“Sneak attack!” Gojo shouts before slamming him with a Limitless-boosted palm strike.
***
Izuku wakes up, coughing and out of breath, rolling out of his bed and grabbing his stomach as he groans. His mother opened up to investigate the strange noise and was immediately concerned,
“Izuku? Are you alright, did you hurt yourself?” she asked worriedly as Izuku pushed himself up.
“Yeah…I just fell.” Izuku groans as he pushes himself up, smiling at his mother, “So what’s for dinner, mum?”
Soon they were in the dining room eating a dinner of rice, fish and vegetables.
“So, how was the exam, Izuku?” his mother asked, “Did you do well?”
“I think I did.” Izuku says, not mentioning how he nearly burst his brain, “...I made a friend.”
“Really?” his mother asks, sounding excited, “What were they like?”
“She’s nice.” Izuku says taking a bite out of a piece of fish, “I think she likes old movies.”
“She?!” his mother asks, sounding even more excited before bursting into tears, “My baby’s made a friend! And with a girl?!”
“Don’t forget she asked you on a date.” Gojo teases and Izuku blushes even further,
“It’s not a date.” he accidentally says out loud causing his mother to freak out more,
“And you’re going on a date?!”
“Mom, no, we literally just met today!” Izuku insists, his entire face red.
“Whatever you say, casanova.”
As soon as Izuku calmed his mother down, their dinner continued in relative peace.
“It’s just…I’m glad things have been looking up for you.” Inko says with a relieved smile, “I notice ever since your Quirk awoke, you’re more confident, smiling more often. It’s like you’re happier. And now you’re going to the best hero school in the country and making friends already. I’m so so happy for you, Izuku.”
Izuku smiles, “Thank mum…And yeah, I am happier with all that’s happened.”
Gojo sniffs and wipes an imaginary tear from his blindfold, “Aww, you say the nicest things to me.”
Inko smiles at her son, glad to hear that, as she continues eating. But midway through eating dinner, something catches both of their attention in the living room where the television was left on, broadcasting tonight’s news.
“-further news, the nephew of a renowned Pro Hero and leader of the talented hero group Wild, Wild puss*cats known as Mandalay, real name Shino Sosaki, was reported missing today just hours ago when the Pro Hero arrived late at her nephew’s elementary school nearing sunset to pick him up after a long rescue mission only to find he had disappeared without a trace before her arrival. CCTV footage reveals footage short-circuiting the moment of his disappearance, and furthermore, a teacher has been also found missing, leading to a suspected kidnapping. An investigation is being launched-”
“My goodness, a boy that young being kidnapped?” Inko says, concerned as she sees a picture of the missing boy, Kota Izumi, on the screen, “She must be so worried.”
“Yeah, I hope they find him fast,” Izuku says sympathetically as Gojo remains silent,
“...Hey, Midoriya? Remember that other part of the pact we made?” Gojo asks, grabbing his attention, “I think it’s time we check it out.”
Izuku pales, almost dropping his chopsticks, “Y-you don’t mean-?”
“For sure. Maybe? Definitely. I think?” Gojo shrugs, “Whatever, it’s worth a look anyway.”
“Izuku, are you alright?” his mother asks and Izuku shakes his head, clearing his thoughts.
“Couldn’t be better, mum.” he puts on a smile for her sake.
***
Another part of the pact between Izuku Midoriya and Satoru Gojo was the possibility of Curse Spirits. Though the amount of raw Curse Energy leaked into the world was drastically dulled to near non-noticeable levels, there were likely still the rare Curse Spirits.
Every day for the past ten months they would make note of any suspicious and mysterious case on the news and investigate by night. None of them had ever been Curse Spirits due to a lack of residual Curse Energy traces.
On the rooftops of a neighbouring building, facing towards the closed elementary school, a boy in a black hoodie with its hood up, a black face mask covering his face only exposing blue eyes, materialises out of nowhere.
“We’re here,” Gojo says before returning control to Izuku, who had to take a breath from the sudden transportation.
“So that’s what instantaneous travel’s like.” Izuku mutters as he flexes his gloved fingers, “Amazing…”
“Eyes up, Midoriya.” Gojo says as they look down at the school which was taped off by police, with only a pair of cops stationed outside, “Looks like they finished up for tonight. Good. I can feel Cursed Energy through your senses, so it’s definitely a Spirit. We just need to set up a barrier to make sure they don’t notice our ruckus. Now just like I taught you.”
“Yes, Gojo-sensei.” Izuku nods and breathes before beginning his chant, "Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure."
As he says this, inky black spots appear in the sky above the school before expanding like a dome over the entire building. As he does this he notices the cops perk up, as if noticing something before shrugging it off.
“Hmm, it looks like Quirked humans can sense something off, but not exactly see.” Gojo notes sounding curious, “Weird, but it’s still good to go it looks like. Get right in there, kiddo.”
“Right,” he whispers before stepping backwards and then running to gather momentum, throwing himself off the roof. But before gravity could exert itself over him, he pointed towards the dome, “Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue!”
Exerting his Technique over himself, he pulls his body towards the dome, moving through without difficulty and crashing on the roof. He groans as he gets up, but is glad that the Curtain will make sure nothing that happens inside is heard.
“We’re in, Gojo-sensei,” he says,
“Yeah, I know, I can see through your eyes. Now, let’s set up some ground rules. I for one, have complete confidence in your ability to exorcise any curse in this building.” Gojo says suddenly turning serious, “But the moment you discover it’s beyond your ability, swap with me alright?”
“...How dangerous exactly is this Gojo-sensei?” Izuku asked nervous as he took the stairs down into the elementary school.
“Well let’s put it this way, if it was a Special-grade Curse Spirit then everyone that steps in this building should have died the most horrific and gruesome deaths ever seen.” Gojo says in such a casual manner that shocks Izuku, “But seeing as we aren’t standing on pools of blood or finding their skeletons turned into artwork, it’s likely not that. Odds are it’s a low grade, if so then in the best case, we find them injured but alive, it hasn’t been that long. Worst case scenario? Then we hope the bodies are intact enough for burial.”
Izuku stops in his tracks and freezes, “...”
Gojo sighs, “It’s the reality of the sorcerer biz, Midoriya. Not everyone gets happy endings.”
“But they might be alive?” Izuku asks and Gojo nods, causing him to run through the halls, “Then we need to hurry up!”
“Hey, kid, slow down!” Gojo warns, “You’re gonna draw attention-!”
Before he could finish, a presence was felt behind them moving to strike. Izuku’s honed reflexes from Gojo’s training kick in as he immediately drops, avoiding a blow before pushing himself off the floor with his feet aligned for a kick.
His kick missed as whoever struck dodged, but then his eyes widened once his eyes adjusted to the lack of light. It was a middle-aged woman in a sweater and skirt and short hair with bangs. He immediately recognised her, the Pro Hero Mandalay.
In his distracted state, the woman tackles him, pinning him against the walls with her arm against his neck and rage in her eyes.
“Where is he…” she growls, “Where’s Kota?! What did you do to my nephew?!”
She screams in his face as Izuku’s eyes widen. This was bad, he didn’t know there was anyone still inside he had assumed they had all gone home. But then she realises that she wasn’t in her hero costume, she wasn’t here officially then. She must have snuck in as well, to find clues to her nephew’s disappearance!
“And now she’s mistaking you for her nephew’s kidnapper. Tough luck.” Gojo mutters as she chokes Izuku. He can easily break free but doing so would escalate and might lead to fighting both her and the Cursed Spirit at the same time,
“Please, wait.” he pleads, “I-I’m not a villain! I came here because I saw the news! I want to help!”
Shino Sosaki, also known as Mandalay, hesitates upon hearing the genuineness and youth in his voice. Whoever this was sounded like a scared teenager but she had to keep her guard up.
“Who are you?” she demands, “Why the mask?”
She reaches to pull it off and Izuku panics. If she finds out then his chances of getting into UA are over! But before she could reach it, the two of them heard a loud buzzing come from the end of the dark hallway and turned.
Izuku feels a chill as he senses something, a build-up of Cursed Energy, and immediately shoves Mandalay out of the way as he extends a Limitless barrier in front of both of them.
His eyes widened as monstrous-looking mosquitoes the size of his fingers slammed into his barrier, and Mandalay looked surprised at the sudden attack. The small swarm of mosquitoes with their wings buzzing was almost deafening as they tried pushing against his barrier.
Emerging from the shadows, a grotesque figure slithered forth, its form shrouded in a filthy, tattered blanket that clung to its twisted frame like a robe. Barely lit by dim moonlight, they could see sickly thin arm-like appendages writhing from its torso, pulsating with a sickening rhythm as it held onto the blanket encompassing it.
Its face is just as horrific. From the centre of its face, a monstrous proboscis protruded, elongated and dripping something red. Its jaw split into four nightmarish mouth appendages, each lined with countless rows of human teeth, ready to rend and tear with an insatiable hunger. As it moved, the appendages clattered together, producing bone-chilling sounds that echoed through the hall.
This…this was the Cursed Spirit that Gojo spoke of. Just the sight made Izuku’s body shake in fear and even the veteran Pro Hero, Mandalay, was horrified at the sight before them.
“What…what the hell is that? Is it even human?” she mutters out loud in horror as Izuku grunts,
“That thing…I think it’s what took your nephew.” Izuku explains as he struggles to keep the barrier up, his mind racing as he thinks about what to do.
In an instant rage overtook Mandalay’s fear, “You…what did you do to Kota?”
The Curse Spirit made more clattering sounds with its jaw, unnaturally swaying its head as the two realised it was laughing at them. Then they noticed the substance dripping from its proboscis was dark red.
“You…you bastard!” she roars before straining her Quirk. While it had limited use in combat applications, there were still some uses such as bombarding their head with useless info to confuse and distract them.
The Cursed Spirit suddenly frowns as one of its many arms whacks its own head lightly confused as Izuku hears another voice in his head,
“You said you came to help?!” Mandalay’s voice flooded his thoughts, “I’ll keep it off balance, but only for a moment, just do something against it!”
“So Quirks can even affect Cursed Spirits, good to know.” Gojo hums as Izuku nods his head and amplifies the barrier from a neutral form to its amplified form,
“Curse Technique Lapse: Blue!” Izuku shouts as he converts the barrier to an orb of swirling blue energy that sucks in and crushes the finger-sized mosquitoes and pulls in the Curse Spirit taking it by surprise once it reaches punching range.
Reeling a fist back, enhanced with Cursed Energy, Izuku slams it directly into its chest, sending it flying backwards and smashing it into a wall.
“I…I did it?” Izuku whispers quietly to himself before Gojo rebukes him,
“Not yet, get ready!” he warns as the Curse Spirit gets up with a fist-sized crack in its carapace before it releases an ear-piercing screech that takes them by surprise before vomiting black liquid that causes more mosquito creatures to grow from it quickly, “Looks like it’s the type to summon Shikigami, think of them as it's mini-mes. I’d rank them below Grade Four but from your punch I feel the big guy may be a Semi-Grade Two just like you.”
Izuku winces, not ready for another Blue so soon and instead engages with his fist, punching and intercepting the mosquitoes sent their way as Mandalay tries joining in with her own strikes, punching the Shikigami with precision but due to lacking Curse Energy.
“What the hell are these things?” Mandalay asks as she punches one away, “Why can’t I hurt them but you can?”
Izuku crushes one with his hands before helping Mandalay by kicking one away from her, “I can take care of them! Go find your nephew, he’s somewhere here!”
Mandalay looks at him confused, “But the building’s already been searched, how-?”
“Just do it!” Izuku pleads as he crushes two more before feeling a presence and turning, to see the Curse Spirit lunging at him with its spindly appendages stretched out and grabbing him while he was distracted.
It took all of Izuku’s enhanced strength to keep its jaws from biting down his throat, using its proboscis as leverage and pushing its head away from him as best as possible but in a test of strength he could feel himself losing, his grip weakening as the Spirits appendages were holding him in a tightening bear hug, crushing his ribs.
His hands were too full to perform hand signs for any Technique. As the jaws grew closer it was suddenly interrupted by a wooden chair breaking against the back of its head.
“Wha- Mandalay?!” Izuku gasps in surprise at the Pro Hero holding a broken chair in her hands as the Cursed Spirit turns, confused at the sudden breeze he just felt, unaffected by the blow at all. But it took attention away from Izuku long enough to point at the floor with a hand,
“Cursed Technique Lapse! Maximum Energy Output: Blue!” he shouts as the floor beneath them is pulled apart by the gravity anomaly created by his Cursed Technique.
***
Izuku coughs as his eyes open, vision blurring as he finds himself in a dark room. Where was he? Where was the Cursed Spirit? As he pushes himself up he feels something wet through his gloved hands and looks around, shocked at the sight.
It appeared to be some kind of basem*nt but with some kind of organic material covering the room and two figures strapped to the walls, held by the same material. One of them was a young boy not even half his age, another was the body of a woman but the colour of her face was drained. The vacant look in her eyes told him everything immediately.
“...Sorry Midoriya, but not everyone comes out with a happy ending,” Gojo says neutrally as Izuku stumbles up despite his brain’s protest, feeling blood come from his nose but ignoring it.
“There…there has to be something…” Izuku mutters in shock, “You healed me! Heal her, Gojo-sensei! Do something!”
“Reverse Curse Technique can only go so far. You want to do something, then save them both.” Gojo says snapping Izuku out of his state, “While you’re focused on the ones you can’t save, you ignore the ones you can.”
“Kota…”
Izuku looks down and eyes widen at the barely conscious Mandalay lying there with a pale look on her face,
“Gojo-sensei, what’s going on?” he kneels down trying to think of how to help her, his breath accelerating.
“Curse Energy exposure. Sorcerers have a resistance to it. Others don’t. Prolonged exposure is deadly if not treated immediately” he explains, sounding serious unlike his usual happy-go-lucky self, “This place must’ve been its home for a while, from how much it reeks. It’s where it was born, and apparently where it’ll die.”
Before Izuku could ask, he saw the Curse Spirit land on the edge of the hole he made with Blue, peering at him with a chittering chuckle. It was laughing, finding joy in this. And something in Izuku snaps.
“You…you did this…” Izuku growls, his initial fear overcomes with anger as he raises his hands into a stance, gritting his teeth in rage. Someone died…two were dying, and one of them was a child! And this thing was laughing like it was a sick joke?
…So this was the nature of his enemies, Curse Spirits. He understands now, they aren’t like villains that need to be beaten. They needed to be put down, like wild rabid animals. No…you feel pity for animals being put down, this was nothing like that. It was a monster plain and simple.
A flash of dark green Cursed Energy surrounds his fists as he growls, “I’ll… exorcise you!”
The Spirit stops laughing, feeling a shift in the air. In this boy, it now feels an overwhelming presence from him. Something powerful, something ancient, something that warns it of danger. Then he suddenly leaps at it with a single jump, having just barely enough time to react and leap back to avoid a kick that shatters the floor.
It spits out the goo again, this time in a concentrated spray as it continues leaping back to avoid close quarters. Izuku realises this and charges faster towards it. If that was how it was going to be then he needs to abandon all defence, a battle of endurance will leave him the loser, so he has to put it all into offence!
Ignoring the worsening stream of blood, he pours his Technique into his fists before reeling it back. The goop that grew mosquitoes from it was once again pulled in and crushed by the influx of gravity of his right fist, he reels back his left fist before slamming it directly into the face of the Cursed Spirit, cracking its face and sending it flying back but Izuku wasn’t done.
Pulling back with his left fist, he channels Blue again to pull it back into his right fist, another blow that sends it flying before pulling back with Blue. A chain attack that it was unable to break free from, and if it tried summoning to help it escape, they would be drawn in by the Blue in his fists and crushed allowing no form of offence.
On the fourth blow, he punches right through its torso as Izuku roars, “Curse Technique Lapse: Blue!”
The weakened Spirit was then crushed, pulled and twisted towards the Blue coating his arms until it exploded into a puff of black smoke and Izuku fell to his knees in exhaustion.
“You didn’t even have to swap with me, huh?” Gojo smiles proudly as Izuku feels something on his shoulder even if physically there was nothing there. His eyes struggled to keep open as they felt wet, red clouding his vision, “You did good, Izuku. Now let sensei take care of the rest.”
Chapter 3: Of Curses and Tools
Chapter Text
“They’re stable so you can relax.” Gojo explains as Izuku sat there in the lobby of the hospital, “Fortunately for that Mandalay woman she’s only been exposed for a short while so she’s up and running. Her nephew might need a few days in a hospital bed but he’s fine as well. The Curse’s also been exorcised, so why so glum?”
“...A person died, Gojo-sensei.” Izuku whispers under his breath, “How long ago was it?”
“...From body decomposition, I’d say just hours ago. She was already dead by the time the news report hit.” Gojo says, “It’s how it goes, you can’t predict when a Curse Spirit will manifest, all you can do is react.”
“That’s not good enough!” Izuku says slightly louder than intended, gathering some strange looks. He quiets down and waits for it to blow over before continuing.
“Maybe not, but it's all we get.” Gojo shrugs, “You can’t save everyone, Midoriya. Think of it this way, around the world right now there’s who knows how many people dying and suffering. Can you save them all right this second?”
“I-?” Izuku was about to speak when Gojo interrupts,
“Yes or no.”
“...no,” Izuku answers quietly, looking downcast.
“Do you think that All Might guy can do that? Yes or no.”
“...no.” Izuku once again answers weakly.
“That’s the truth of the world, Midoriya. You can do your absolute best but short of stopping time, there’s no way to save everyone. All you can do is save as many as you can, and you did.” Gojo reminds us, “Learn to take the victories you get. Accept your losses and learn what you can from them. You crush yourself before you can even become a Pro Hero if you don’t do that.”
Izuku weakly nodded and was about to get up, ready to return home when suddenly he heard another voice in his head.
“Sit down, please. And don’t react. Pull out your phone and act like you’re speaking to someone.” Mandalay’s voice floods his head as Izuku slightly glances up to find Mandalay had sat in front of him while he was too focused on his own thoughts.
“Huh, I wonder if she can hear me?” Gojo mutters before loudly yelling, “Heyo! Can you hear me? Testing testing 1, 2, 3!”
She doesn’t react to this and slowly Izuku does as she says, taking out his phone and putting it to his ear like he was on call,
“My Quirk lets me transmit thoughts but not hear them. We can talk this way.”
“...How did you find me?” Izuku asks carefully, as Mandalay gives a small gesture at him with her shoulders,
“You have the same eyes, same shoes and wear the same hoodie. I took an educated guess.” Mandalay says with a neutral look on her face and Izuku winces in realisation.
“That makes sense…” Izuku sighs before pausing, “Is your nephew alright? Are you alright?”
“The doctors say he just needs lots of rest. Physically he’s fine, but mentally…” she pauses and shudders, “He saw his teacher die in front of him, drained of blood. I never saw anything like that even in my job as a Pro Hero…”
Izuku pales, and Gojo nods his head, “Yeah, that’s another thing about Curse Spirits survivors. You see things that normal people don’t and they stick with you. At least he’ll have the rest of his life to get over it.”
Izuku remains silent as he quietly mutters, “...I’m sorry…Are you here to take me in?”
He asks looking back at her, where she remained silent for a while. For a moment he expects police and other Pro Heroes to surround and arrest him before she shakes her head.
“No.” she says, surprising him, “I wasn’t supposed to be there myself anyways. I refrained from aiding in the investigation because of my personal involvement. I just came for two things. That thing we fought…what was it? The police searched the whole building, and they said they never found traces of it and its captives in the basem*nt when they searched. Why did it take Kota? Will it come after him again?”
She asked, her voice almost trembling in fear. Izuku glances towards his mentor who shakes his head, “No, you’ve exorcised it already so it won’t be any problem. As for why? Pure bad luck. Plain and simple.”
“...It was just bad luck that he was taken.” Izuku says as his grip tightens, “And it won’t bother you ever again. It’s gone, I promise.”
Mandalay notices he doesn’t answer what exactly the thing was, but relents. The most important thing was knowing the last part, and the answer brought her some comfort at the very least.
“Thank goodness for that.” she lets out a relieved sigh, “The second reason I’m here…I want to thank you for what you did.”
Izuku’s head snaps up in surprise at hearing this. Across him, Mandalay’s shoulders were shuddering slightly as she struggled to hold back tears of relief,
“If you had been late just by a bit, if you never showed up at all, my nephew might have been gone forever and I wouldn’t have known.” she says, her voice sounding choked up through the telepathic link, “I would have to bury my last family member, the only piece I have left of my brother…Thanks to you I don’t have to do that. Whoever you are, I thank you from the bottom of my heart…thank you.”
Izuku was speechless at that. Hearing someone genuinely thank him was…unusual. All this time he has only ever heard those words come from his mother and no one else. No one in school thanked him, his classmates never would despite how much he helped in their projects, and his teachers never would when he accomplished any task they gave him.
Thank you.
Two simple words and suddenly the weight on his shoulders felt a bit more manageable. Like the world just got a tiny bit brighter.
He stands up slowly, “I…have to go. It’s late, or getting early. I hope your nephew gets better soon.”
Mandalay nods before adding, “Goodbye…And don’t take this the wrong way but I hope you stay away from things like this. You’re just a kid as well, you shouldn’t be out here doing…whatever you do.”
Izuku was silent before ending the conversation, “...I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you for your kind words.”
***
“So save two people and exorcise your first Curse. I’ll take that as a win.” Gojo says once Izuku returns to his home, collapsing on his bed, “Not bad for your first outing. Sure you can polish your skills a bit, but not bad at all.”
“...Gojo-sensei.” Izuku asks after a pause to think, “There’ll be more of them, won’t there?”
It wasn’t a question exactly. Izuku already knew the answer as Gojo nodded.
“A lot more. It was inevitable, the moment my Cursed Object was exposed and consumed you tipped the balance to the side of humanity.” Gojo explains, “More powerful and hostile Curses will pop up.”
“So it’s my fault then?” Izuku asks, gripping his pillow tight, “Because I ate your eyes, people are now dying because of me?”
“...Put it plainly, yes.” Gojo says bluntly, “But there’s a silver lining. You of all people ate my eyes, and that counts as a win.”
“Huh?” Izuku looks confused at Gojo’s words as he elaborates,
“The moment my eyes were sealed it was inevitable someone was going to consume them.” Gojo says, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. But in this case, it went right because the most suitable person was the one to eat them. I’m glad you were the one to inherit my Technique, Izuku Midoriya. Outside of my old students, I can’t think of anyone more suited for them.”
Izuku choked up in tears upon hearing this, “...Thank you, Gojo-sensei. But if the choice is between remaining powerless, and increasing Curse activity, I think I’d go with the former.”
“But it’s too late for that.” Gojo says, “So what are you going to do about that? Curl up and cry, giving up?”
Izuku clenched his fist, determined, “No. I want to save people. To make sure people won’t get hurt by Curses. But if I can’t then I want to make sure I exorcise as many as possible so no one else will suffer. I want to be a hero without limits! Whether it be villains or curses I want to stop as many as I can, I want to save everyone! Put a smile on their faces just like All Might do! Even if I can’t, I’ll at least save as many as I can while trying! I’ll keep fighting so at the very least, some will smile, even if not all!”
Gojo smiles at his declaration and vows, “That’s the spirit. Fortunately for you, I think I know a way we can help with Curses at least. So you won’t have to share the burden alone.”
“Tell me.” Izuku pleads as Gojo chuckles,
“You and I? We’re going to rebuild Jujutsu Society from the ground up.”
***
“Number H-27 please head to Booth 3.” an announcer speaks over the intercom as someone with that ticket number does as instructed. Meanwhile, Izuku was sitting, tapping his feet nervously with sunglasses on.
“You know, I honestly can’t believe it.” Gojo laughs amused, “This bank’s still standing around after the economy crashed twice? I guess the Big Three clans picked it for a good reason, it’s honestly amazing.”
“Won’t your bank account be frozen or something?” Izuku asks worriedly, “It’s been centuries.”
“Eh relax, the big clans have some regulations in place to make sure their accounts never get frozen just in case.” Gojo waves off his concerns, “They practically build this place, after all, they’re allowed a few special accommodations. With luck they’ll still remain to this day, and the employees will have no idea they even exist. Even if we do lose our money I remember the Gojo clan had a few reserves placed elsewhere for rainy days. This is just to cover all our bases.”
“Number B-56 please head to Booth 7.” the announcer says and Izuku stands up,
“That’s our cue. Remember, if they ask you’re a very, very distant relative who finally got his ancestor’s will after centuries of bureaucratic mess which included the numbers to their bank account.” Gojo says, “We need capital to get New Jujutsu High up and running. The first thing we need is a very, very good therapist and mandatory counselling. Next is a swimming pool with heaters. Oh! And a break room with a pool table, mini-fridges and the latest gaming set. What PlayStation are we at now, by the way? Have we reached PSX yet?”
“Are we opening a school or a clubhouse?” Izuku asks genuinely unsure as Gojo continues listing things he wanted for his New Jujutsu High.
He walks up to the booth nervously, “H-hello, I’d like to check a- my bank account balance please.”
“Of course, do you have your account number and PIN?” the bank teller asks as she types into a computer from behind a transparent plane of glass.
“Y-yeah.” Izuku nods and lists out the numbers given to him by Gojo as well as the security passcode. As he waits tensely for the bank teller to register the information, she pauses in confusion,
“Weird, it looks like there hasn’t been any activity in…centuries?” she asks, squinting her eyes.
“Y-yeah, I just found the will to my great-great-great grandfather with his bank account details. Apparently, they were lost way back when Quirks showed up. Bureaucracy, am I right?” he lets out an awkward laugh. The bank teller raises a brow before shrugging, evidently thinking she wasn't being paid enough to deal with this,
“Well as for your balance it is…” she pauses again to read the numbers before telling him just how much money there was left, accounting for interest rate and inflation over the past centuries causing his jaw to drop.
“WHAAAAAAT?!”
***
“And that’ll be a total of…1,500,000 Yen.” the owner of the antique shop informs as Izuku drops the amount of cash on the counter, “You must really like swords, young man.”
Izuku shrugs as he hoists three different blades slung across his shoulder, each of them antiques emanating Curse Energy that only he could sense, “You can say that. Can I get something to wrap them up, please?”
He then leaves the shop with the swords wrapped up, not wanting to cause a scene by publicly carrying weapons. Throughout the whole afternoon, he travelled through the city with Gojo looking for antique shops containing ancient weapons hoping to get lucky and come across surviving Cursed Tools. Fortunately for them, they got lucky with this one bringing their total up to five Cursed Tools.
“I still can’t believe I’m a billionaire now… How am I going to hide the money?” Izuku mutters as he enters the storage unit he rented under a fake name and pays with cash, storing the Cursed Tools he bought with the rest, “You didn’t tell me you were rich.”
“Hey, you make a lot of dough exorcising top-tier Curses.” Gojo shrugs, “Next we’ll have to invest this capital to make sure we don't run out of funds eventually. But we’ll worry about that later.”
Izuku sighs as he looks at the five swords and daggers they found the whole day, “There’s not much is there? Do I even need these?”
“You don’t have to use them if you don’t want to.” Gojo shrugs, “They’re for others if we do find more Jujutsu Sorcerers to recruit. Not everyone has an Innate Technique so they’ll be useful, especially for beginner Sorcerers you have to train.”
“I have to train them?” Izuku looks nervous, “I’m not sure, I barely managed to take down a single Curse.”
“Relax, you took down one more than anyone else has as far as we know.” Gojo says, “That makes you a veteran by comparison. Congratulations on your promotion, Sensei Izuku Midoriya! And that must make me Grandmaster Satoru Gojo!”
“Yay…” Izuku mutters imagining himself trying to train others and failing. Wincing at the image he changes the subject, “But how do we find other Sorcerers anyway?”
“Good question.” Gojo admits, “Jujutsu High was how they all stayed connected but now it’s gone so communication with other Sorcerers is no dice. And even then who knows how many actually know they’re Sorcerers? We can try the old-fashioned way but it’ll be inefficient and time-consuming. I have one plan but it’s a long shot.”
“What is it?” Izuku asks.
“Once a year this UA place has this Sports Festival, right?” Gojo asks, “A national event broadcasted through the whole nation and beyond. With millions attending it. How many of the audience do you think would be potential Sorcerers, someone who unlocked their technique but passed it off as a Quirk since they don’t know any better?”
“Wait, are you saying you want me to publicly recruit Sorcerers by asking them through a live broadcast of the Sports Festival?” Izuku asks and Gojo shakes his head,
“No, just use all the flashy moves you can use. Even if they don’t know they’ll feel a resonance of Curse Energy. Something that’ll get them curious and push them to ask the right questions.” Gojo explains, “Instead of wasting our time looking, we’ll make them come to us instead. Hook, line and sinker.”
“...That seems like a big stretch, Gojo-sensei.”
He shrugs, “Well we can’t exactly put an advert and ask for applications. It’s the best shot we got.”
“You’re right.” Izuku nods as he closes the shutter towards his personal storage, “I think that’s all the Cursed Tools we can find in Mustafu. Do you have any ideas where else to look?”
Gojo pauses in thought before answering, “There is one place we can check. No, one place we absolutely need to check.”
“Gojo-sensei?” Izuku asks, wondering why he sounded nervous.
“Limitless isn’t infallible, there’s a few things in the world that can counter it as I’ve learnt a long time ago when I was around your age.” he explains, “I sealed it away for a long time, brought back many bad memories just looking at the damn thing. Nobody knows where it is, save for me, and now you. I want to make sure it’s still exactly where I left it.”
“What kind of Tool are you talking about?” Izuku asks, finding himself nervous if his master is this serious, “It sounds dangerous.”
“It was wielded by the world’s strongest human back in my days, and used to kill plenty of Jujutsu Sorcerers almost including me on the list. It can completely nullify Curse Energy, tearing through our Limitless barrier like butter.” Gojo continues, “The Inverted Spear of Heaven.”
“It sounds powerful. Where did you hide it?” Izuku asks, worried. If such a powerful weapon existed then it’ll be worrying if it got into the wrong hands somehow.
“Somewhere deep underground overseas. We’re going to need a plane ticket, one helluva excuse for your mom, a shovel and a cow.” Gojo extends a finger for every requirement but before Izuku can even ask, he is interrupted by his phone ringing.
“Hello? Who’s this?” he picks up the call without looking at the number, his hands busy with locking up the personal storage.
“Good evening, Izuku Midoriya. My name is Principal Nedzu of UA.” Izuku freezes upon hearing this, “I would like for you to drop by my office, tomorrow afternoon preferably. I would like to discuss your performance in our Entrance Exam.”
***
“That brat…that damned brat!” Chisaki growls, slamming his fists against the desk in frustration.
“Boss, you need to calm down.” his right-hand man Chronostasis pleads, “We have enough reserve to use for research-”
“But our supply is now limited! She used the permanent version on herself, that damn foolish brat!” Chisaki roars in a moment of uncharacteristic rage, but after what had happened, rage is the reasonable thing to experience, “Every drop of blood is a precious commodity! That stupid brat!”
He takes a breath, “Where is that fool? The one that allowed this to happen?”
“Brought to you as requested, boss.” one of the Eight Precepts, Yu Hojo, enters through the door with a beaten and bruised man in his crystal fist. Chisaki immediately storms up to him, pulling out his glove.
“Boss…” the broken man pleads, “I’m sorry! I looked away for just a second! Her restraints were loose, I wasn’t the one who tied them! Blame the one who had to strap her down! Boss pl-!”
His begging was interrupted when he was disassembled in the most painful way possible, as slow as Chisaki could allow, splattering blood all over Yu and the floor. His rage satiated he takes a breath to calm himself,
“...Clean this mess up.” he growls, “Have all R&D focus on the Quirk-Destroying Drug’s cure! No development is to be made on the drug itself, just the cure.”
“But boss, we’ve made deals with villain gangs to supply them with products for testing.” Mimic points out and Chisaki sighs,
“Then deal with them. We have reserved bullets, use them instead. If it’s not enough, make excuses. We need to get Eri fixed or my plan goes down the drain.” Chisaki growls.
Just as they were about to do as ordered, a nervous knock was heard from the open door to his office,
“Um, boss? I don’t mean to disturb…” the caretaker he hired for Eri glances down at the bloodstain on the carpet nervously, “But something’s up with the kid.”
He grits his teeth behind his mask, “What now?”
“I don’t know, she woke up in her room and suddenly started freaking out over ghosts. But there’s nothing as far as I can see.” the caretaker explains, “You think it might be those drugs doing something to her?”
He pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration and annoyance, “My Quirk-Destroying Drug is not anything recreational. Whatever it is, it’s unrelated. Let her get it out of her system.”
***
“Please…someone help me…”
She pants as she curls up in the corner of her dark room. Toys and books thrown everywhere by here in a vain attempt to stop them. They were everywhere, and they were after her.
Earlier today she had seen one of those things that the doctors were building in the room where Chisaki did his ‘surgeries’, right next to where she would be strapped down. Something made from her curse that she heard the doctors talk about. They would make people normal, Chisaki said. Maybe they could make her normal as well…
So she reached out to use one. Maybe if she wasn’t cursed anymore she wouldn’t be hurt anymore. Maybe Chisaki won’t do his surgeries on her anymore. But no, when he found out he touched her again, killing her.
Again. Again. Again. And again.
She lost count after the tenth time, but the moment she awoke something terrible was in her room. Monsters, ghosts, all manner of them crawling around her room, staring at her with glassy eyes. She screamed and cried for help, but no one saw them.
“Please…leave me alone…please…” she begs unable to look at any of them, some of them crawling on her skin sends shivers up her spine,
“Someone…please help me…”
Chapter 4: A Cursed Child
Chapter Text
“Why do you think they called us here?” Izuku asks nervously, gulping as he walks through towards the gate of UA dressed in a black hoodie, “Is it because of my score?”
“Yeah, they called you here just to tell you that you failed.”Gojo says sarcastically,“If they wanted, they’d done that over the phone or something. This is something else.”
“I hope so.” Izuku says nervously, “I don’t want to get kicked out before I even start studying here.”
As he approaches he realises someone is already there waiting for him, who he recognises as the R-Rated Hero: Midnight in her signature skintight costume, scrolling through her phone as she waits.
“R-Rated Hero, huh? Hey Midoriya, just so you know I can see whatever you’re thinking.”Gojo teases as Izuku gives himself a quick whack on the head before approaching her, clearing his throat to get her attention.
“Ahem, hello Miss Midnight?” He says nervously, “I'm here because the principal wanted to speak with me.”
She looks away from her phone and smiles at him, “Ah yes, that boy that’s caught his interest. You’re right on time.”
She whips out a Guest ID and hands it to him, “Here, keep this close otherwise you’ll trigger the security systems. We don’t want to cause any unnecessary ruckus, do we?”
“No ma’am,” he says as he takes it from her, flustered just by being this close. Midnight seems to notice this and snickers,
“Don’t worry, I don’t bite…unless you want me to.” she whispers the last part and Izuku’s face turns red with Gojo busting a gut in his head, “Alright enough fooling around, follow me and I’ll bring you to his office. Come on then.”
“She’s into some freaky stuff isn’t she?”Gojo laughs as Izuku trails behind her.
“Shutupshutup!” Izuku whispers to himself as he smacks his head with a palm. Midnight notices this and just smiles, thinking he’s just trying not to think of anything risque with her.
Clearing his throat he speaks to her, “Uhm, do you happen to know why he’s called me here, Miss Midnight?”
“Who knows?” she shrugs, “Honestly, the principal always does the weirdest things for the weirdest reasons. At some point under his employ, you just learn to nod your head and go along with it. If I had to guess, it has something to do with your Quirk.”
“My…my Quirk?” Izuku gulps, trying to remain calm.
“Yeah, it’s crazy to hear how someone got their Quirk in their teenage years nowadays.” Midnight says, “Must’ve been hard starting Quirkless.”
Something stabs Izuku in his heart as she says this. Instantly she notices him shifting from a ball of nervous energy to an almost depressed state, looking downcast and gloomy.
Memories of beatings from Bakugou, isolated by his classmates and any kids his age, and the treatment he had to endure in school, came flooding through his mind.
“Just a weak! Useless! Deku!”a familiar voice echoes in his head despite his best efforts to banish it before Gojo slaps it away.
“...Yeah,” he mutters as she hastily corrects herself,
“I mean, that makes it very impressive you were able to learn how to use your Quirk so well in a short period.” she says quickly hoping to cheer him up, “Were you self-taught?”
“...No, I had a good teacher. Maybe the best.” Izuku says, the ghost of a smile on his face as Gojo sniffs.
“You say the kindest things, Midoriya.”Gojo wipes imaginary tears from his blindfold.
“Makes sense, you were fighting like an action hero out of a martial arts film.” Midnight compliments, “You remind me of another Pro…In more ways than one actually, you both apparently like black and even have the same eyebags.”
“Huh?” Izuku taps the corner of his eyes, “Are they that obvious?”
He hadn’t been getting that much sleep honestly, after the Curse Spirit at the elementary school he was lucky if he could get some shut-eye at 5am in the morning. Despite Gojo’s insistence, he found himself patrolling the more downtrodden areas of Musutafu with abandoned buildings and the like, on the lookout for Curse Spirits.
He only found less than a dozen Spirits total the past three days, all below Fourth Grade with the highest being a single Third Grade killed by a single punch. The worst of them were just being nuisances but he wiped them out all the same just in case. No one would get hurt by a Curse Spirit under his watch ever again.
“A little bit. Kids like you need all the rest you can.” Midnight says before they stop at a door, “We’re here. Don’t be intimidated, the principal’s a nice guy.”
“Alright. Thank you, Miss Midnight.” he bows to her and she laughs,
“Please, it’s Miss Kayam in these halls. I’m a teacher here as well, remember?” she says as Izuku knocks on the door before entering the room, and closing the door behind him. As that happens, she notices Aizawa dragging himself past her, grumbling about a broken coffee machine dressed in his usual black costume with dark bags under his eyes.
She snickers as she imagines both Aizawa and Izuku standing side by side, catching his attention,
“Something amusing, Nemuri?” he grumbles annoyed.
“It’s…hehe…It’s nothing.” she barely restrains a chuckle at the image, “Q-quick question…you don’t happen to have a secret lovechild do you?”
He turns to look at her incredulously before sighing and turning back, “...Nemuri, it’s way too early to be drinking. It’s not even Friday yet.”
***
“You’re sure about this, Nedzu?” Toshinori asks as he sits on the couch in the principal’s office and pours a cup of tea for himself.
“Why not? It’s better to get to the bottom of the issue, don’t you think?” Nedzu asks, “Once is circ*mstantial, twice is coincidental. While some may wait for a third to believe otherwise, I do not believe in coincidences. Don’t you agree?”
“...It’s impossible for him to be alive. I killed him, Nedzu.” All Might mutters under his breath before sighing, “But I agree. We need to know for sure, if he’s somehow risen from the dead we need to know.”
Just as he finished, a knock on the door was heard before it opened. In that instant, the two veteran Pro Heroes felt a shift in the air. All Might in particular was taken by surprise at the sight of the boy, clad in a black hoodie and jeans, dark bags under his eyes indicating a lack of sleep, appearing to carry a weight on his shoulders from how they were slightly slumped.
It was the complete opposite of both times he had seen the boy. First, before the Slime Villain incident, where he met a young, Quirkless boy shaking with nervousness at meeting his idol. Second was when he saw the boy’s performance in the Entrance Exam, where he was brimming with growing confidence as he dismantled robot after robot, even if there was still a hint of nervousness.
Now he almost mistook the boy for someone else entirely.
“Hello, Principal Nedzu? You called me here the other- ?!” he asks, eyes widening in surprise just like how they first met as they landed on him, “A-All Might? W-what are you doing here?”
All Might gets up and offers a hand to shake, “Hahaha, Young Midoriya, it’s good to see you again. Glad that you remember me.”
“Of- of course, you’re the Number One Hero!” Izuku stutters, shaking his hand before looking between the two, “Is…there something wrong? Did I mess up or something in the Exam?”
He asks concerned as Nedzu chuckles, “No, Midoriya, far from it. In fact, I was quite impressed by your performance in our Entrance Exam, especially for someone who only recently awoken their Quirk. Ten months ago was it?”
Izuku tenses at this, something the two veteran Pros noticed, as Nedzu gestures to a seat in front of him,
“Please, sit down. Would you like some tea?” Nedzu offers but Izuku shakes his head as he sits down across.
“No sir, I’m fine,” he says gulping, eyes moving left to right, looking everywhere as he was nervous before stopping. Taking a breath to calm down he then spoke to Nedzu, “Is…is that why you ask for me to come by?”
“Yes, you’re an interesting case. I’ve never heard of someone awakening their Quirk this late. Especially a Quirk so powerful, Limitless as you’ve called it.” he says bringing up a tablet displaying him tearing off the Zero Pointer’s head with Blue.
Izuku looks away from the video, “It’s not that impressive, I almost killed myself trying that.”
“Yes, but it was still quite powerful. Did you know that you were the only one who decided to face the Zero Pointer, let alone destroy it?” Nedzu asks as Izuku scratches the back of his head,
“Y-yeah, I guess everyone was smarter than me.” he laughs nervously, “It’s an exam, you wouldn’t kill them obviously. I didn’t know what I was thinking, I just acted.”
“True but that is what I believe to be the true essence of heroism.” All Might speaks up, “Rising to the challenge, even if there’s nothing to be gained. It was a spectacle to watch, Young Midoriya.”
Izuku slightly smiled at that, although there was a sense of slight bitterness behind it, “...Thank you, All Might.”
“It is an impressive and powerful Quirk you received, Midoriya.” Nedzu says using careful wording, “Tell me, there’s something I find curious. Your Quirk is listed as a spatial manipulation type, and yet I saw the damage you did with our robots to be caused by pure, brute force. Care to explain that detail?”
Izuku nods and holds out his hand, “Yes sir, it has to do with different phases of my Quirk. I think it’s easier to imagine the Limitless application of my Quirk to be an electric utensil that requires power. I need to generate power first to fuel Limitless, power which I can also use to enhance my body which I find less straining than Limitless.”
“It’s an impressive and variable ability, Young Midoriya…Almost like you have multiple Quirks.” All Might says, crossing his arms.
Izuku shook his head, showing no reaction to the accusation, “No sir, it’s not. Just different phases of using my Quirk.”
Nedzu nods, “Then care to explain how this occurred? Receiving your Quirk I mean.”
Izuku opens his mouth to answer before shutting it, looking to his side confused and concerned before opening his mouth again,
“Sorry, sir? Receive?” Izuku says, sounding confused, “What do you mean?”
“Forgive me, I misspoke.” Nedzu apologises, “I’m simply wondering if you perhaps did anything to trigger this sudden growth?”
“...Are you asking if I took drugs for my Quirk?” Izuku asks, confused and unsure, “Because if so I didn’t, nothing works like that. There are records of Quirkless people taking Trigger with no effects other than sickness.”
“Of course, forgive the insinuation.” Nedzu nods, “I just want to hear your own thoughts, how do you think you awoke this powerful Quirk this late in your life?”
Izuku pauses to think for a while before answering, his hand slightly shaking, “All honesty, sir? I think it was just a random series of events. When it all comes down to it, I was just plain, stupidly, lucky that when the Slime Villain attacked me, I just so happened to unlock it.”
“...So you believe that a traumatic situation awakened your powers?” Nedzu asks, “Nothing else?”
“...Yes, sir,” Izuku says with a nod. Nedzu stares into his eyes before nodding as well,
“I suppose stressful and traumatic scenarios must have sent a shock through your body to unlock a latent Quirk factor to save yourself.” Nedzu says, stroking his chin, “One last thing, Midoriya. Do you recognise this girl in this picture?”
He brings up a file of another student's transcript, showing Izuku an image of a pretty blonde girl around his age with round spectacles and blue eyes.
"No, I don’t, am I supposed to?” Izuku asks confused at the meaning of this as Nedzu takes back the file,
“Oh, it’s nothing to worry about Midoriya.” Nedzu says with a smile, “It appears we have called you here for little reason. You may return now, and be sure to catch up on your sleep. You’ll need a lot of energy in the Hero Course.”
“Sir?” Izuku almost leaps out of his seat in surprise, “Are you saying-?”
“Ah, I wasn’t supposed to tell you yet.” Nedzu smiles, “But I suppose it will serve as an apology for wasting your time. Congratulations on your acceptance, Izuku Midoriya. I hope to see you in class the following week.”
“This is…” Izuku stumbles over his words in joy, “This is amazing! I- I can’t believe this! Being a hero…it’s always been my dream.”
“I can see that, Young Midoriya.” All Might chuckles before asking, “If you don’t mind me asking, what made you want to become a Pro Hero? This is out of curiosity.”
Izuku pauses mid-celebration upon hearing this question. A look passed over his eyes as his joy dimmed, but before either of them could ask, he spoke,
“I want to be a hero…I used to because I thought it was the coolest thing ever.” he shrugs slightly, turning to All Might, “Seeing you on-screen charging through fire carrying eight people at a time on your back in your debut…I thought it was the most awe-inspiring thing ever. And that when I grow up I want to be like that.”
He smiles slightly at this for a brief moment before frowning slightly, a haunted look in his eyes, “But recently I figured that isn’t reason enough. People die every day, everyone knows that fact, but it’s only recently that I truly realise what that means.”
Izuku’s fist clenches, “I want to be a hero because the world’s unfair. Bad things are happening to good people even right this second. Maybe an innocent just got mugged by a villain and no one’s there to save them. Or maybe a dear family member of someone went missing, never to be found again. If I become a hero then I can add a bit more fairness in an unfair world, so people can smile. Even if it’s only one.”
His tone, his eyes…The two heroes realise that this boy is speaking with pure conviction. It wasn’t conviction born from idealism though, there was a hint of cynicism, this boy was speaking from experience! What did such a boy go through to have that sort of look in his eyes?
“...Thank you for your time, Midoriya.” Nedzu smiles, “I look forward to seeing you in class when it starts. Your results will still be mailed to you at the end of this week.”
Izuku nods and says his goodbyes before leaving the room. Once the door closed, All Might deflated into his skeletal form and turned to Nedzu,
“Did you see that?” he asks Nedzu, “The look on the boy's eyes…You’d think he’d stared death in the face dozens of times.”
“Yes. Fascinating isn’t it?” Nedzu asks as he takes a sip from his tea, “If I didn’t know, I wouldn’t think he was a middle school student, but perhaps a Pro’s sidekick.”
“So what do we do?” Toshinori asks, “Like you said it’s too much of a coincidence that these two got their abilities at roughly the same time.”
“Yes, and yet we came out of this with more questions than answers.” Nedzu strokes his chin, “Did you notice his eye movement? They kept avoiding mine, looking to his side like he was hearing something. Or someone.”
“You think he has someone talking to him?” Toshinori asks, “A telepathic Quirk perhaps? An earpiece?”
“We would have detected the latter.” Nedzu shakes his head, “But the former would’ve been harder too.”
“...So what do we do?” Toshinori asks with dread, “Something feels off about that boy. But I can’t explain why.”
“...” Nedzu pauses to take another sip of his cup and thinks to himself, “We let these two students in. If this is a trap, a Trojan Horse, you know how the saying goes. Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer.”
***
“Nice speech back there, Midoriya.”Gojo chuckles as Izuku leaves the building,“Was reminding me of an old student when you started speaking like that.”
“I’m glad to be compared with them, Gojo-sensei. They sound like good people.” Izuku says, smiling softly before frowning again. Sensing what he was thinking about, Gojo frowns as well,
“You’re still thinking about that are you?”he sighs,“I don’t get what’s got you so hung up on it.”
“I don’t know. I thought I was over this.” Izuku admits. The moment Midnight had made a comment on his Quirklessness he felt bombarded by everything that he had experienced. He wasn’t powerless anymore and yet here he was, “...Maybe deep down, I didn’t grow as much as I think I did. Maybe I’m still the same useless Deku I’ve always been.”
Suddenly Gojo took control of his arm and slapped himself across the face.
“That’s for being stupid. I’d like to see anyone who said that try fighting a Curse Spirit without pissing their pants and winning on their first try.”Gojo says,“Don’t get me wrong, you’re still weak compared to me, but you’re leagues stronger than when we first met.”
Izuku remains silent, evidently still having doubts. Sighing Gojo instead changes the subject,
“Come on, there’s a ramen store nearby. Let’s get you something to eat, my treat.”
This gets a snicker out of Izuku, “Your treat? You’re a ghost in my head.”
“Hey, it’s my money you’re spending, remember?”Gojo jokes back before the two of them tense up,“...Hey, did you feel that?”
“Yeah, Cursed Energy,” Izuku mutters confused. Most Curses remain hidden in broad daylight, only ever coming out at night or in darkness. Something out in public and broad daylight just felt strange, and it wasn’t exactly a strong Curse either.
They start approaching the town nearby UA searching for the presence felt, and they find it in the form of someone amongst a crowd of civilians making their way through their daily routines. One man in a suit, with tattoos on his neck, was on the phone yelling something in frustration with a centipede-like Cursed Spirit wrapped around his neck.
“I know, I know! Jeez, it’s my damn day off, damn it.” he curses as he reaches for his neck, hand passing through the Curse Spirit, Grade Four by his guess, “Fine, I’ll head there as soon as possible. God, it’s just been suffocating lately. The boss is working us to the bone after what that screw-up did.”
Walking up to the man, Izuku reaches out and crushes the head of the centipede. The man sees his hand approaching and swats it away but not before he exorcises the Curse Spirit,
“What the f*ck, kid? Buzz off, can’t you see I…” the man trails off as he reaches for his neck confused, “What the hell?”
“Sorry sir,” Izuku apologises, “I thought you looked stressed, so I used my Quirk to help you. I hope it's not a bother.”
The man looks surprised and happy as he rubs his neck, “No…not it’s not. sh*t, I’ve been feeling suffocated the past weeks and now it’s like I’m finally breathing fresh air for the first time. I was gonna head to get some acupuncture and maybe a massage, but now I feel way better. You saved me some yen, kid.”
He says with a smile, whipping out a yen note, “Ah what the hell? Take this for your trouble. That feeling’s been bothering me a lot.”
“It’s fine.” Izuku insists before asking, “What was that? Toxic workplace?”
“Ah you heard that?” the man looks embarrassed, “Eh, forget what you heard. Just the boss working us to the bone. Everyone’s been complaining about how tired and suffocated they feel lately. Thanks a lot, I should get going now.”
He waves goodbye as Izuku gets a closer look at the tattoo on his neck. The symbol of a yakuza gang he realises. He hesitates, should he really get involved in exorcising curses for what are essentially villain gangs?
But then he remembers the scene where he found a corpse killed by a Spirit. No one deserves that kind of fate…
“That’s the thing about Sorcerers, Midoriya.”Gojo chimes in with his two cents,“You exorcise Curses no matter who is cursed. That’s our job. It’s your choice at the end of the day though. So what do you want to do?”
“...You’re right, Gojo-sensei.” Izuku says with a sigh, “A curse is a curse…and I’ll exorcise them all.”
“Now you’re thinking like a Sorcerer.”Gojo smirks as Izuku begins tailing the man,“Operation: Save Yakuza from Curses begin!”
***
“I’m starting to think this is a bad idea,” Izuku asks as he spies on the yakuza compound from the top of a nearby building. It looked to be a large office building with walls surrounding it on all sides. Nothing unscalable though so not even a hindrance.
He cringes as he senses the Curses in the compound, crawling on walls and on the Yakuza thugs that guard it. One in particular, a giant of a man with arms thicker than Izuku was, standing behind the gate that led to the compound at all times.
“How am I supposed to exorcise them all?” Izuku mutters to himself as he scans the area, “I don’t think they’ll let anybody enter.”
“Good question. I usually leave these details to Kiyotaka…”Gojo says as his spectral form lies down on the railing of the building, pondering as well,“Hmm…Ah! A brilliant idea just came to mind!”
“Huh?” Izuku turns to Gojo who explains,
“We pretend to be a thug sent by a rival gang! We break in, knock everyone unconscious, then exorcise every Curse Spirit we see!”Gojo suggests excitedly and Izuku bulks at the plan,
“You want to start a fight with an entire yakuza gang?” Izuku asks conflicted, “We can’t just randomly assault people! Even if it’s to save them from curses.”
“Oh fine, we’ll call it a Plan B then. But hey, I’m sure anyone would prefer a few bruises compared to being haunted for the rest of their life.”Gojo waves off. Before Izuku could debate that with Gojo, they hear a ruckus in the compound,“Huh, what’s going on down there?”
Izuku squints his eyes before they widen at the sight of the doors into the main building being pushed open. In that instant he suddenly freezes, feeling a shift in the air itself from a sudden rise in Curse Energy. The Curse Spirits even slithered away from the door as if afraid. Even Gojo sits up in surprise.
“Well, well…What do we have here?”He asks leaning forward curiously,“That’s a lot of Curse Energy isn’t it?”
Izuku was too frozen to respond, finding it difficult to breathe, almost choking just trying to before he saw the large man guarding the gate suddenly lunging at the person who jumped out of the door with thugs chasing her.
His eyes widened at the sight of a young child, possibly the same age as the boy he rescued the other day. And to his horror the giant man grabbed her with one hand, hoisting her up as she struggled against his grip.
“What the hell is going on?” the large man asks, annoyed. Their conversation is barely audible thanks to Izuku’s Curse Energy-enhanced senses.
“Sorry, the kid tried making another run for it. What’s her problem? It's like every day now.” one of the thugs asked.
“Please…” she pleads as Izuku feels a growing build-up of Curse Energy coming from her, a wild and untamed orange aura growing like flames visible to only him and Gojo, “Don’t make me go back! Don’t make me-!”
She screams before the large man smashes her head into the ground, and Izuku feels Gojo took over his body, holding himself down before he could even leap over the railing.
“Gojo-sensei?!”he screams only to find he had swapped places with Gojo,“Let me go! We need to save her!”
“Calm down.” Gojo says although he sounded disgusted at the sight before him, “She’s not dead.”
As Izuku watches through his Six Eyes, he sees the giant man throw the unconscious girl back to the thug,
“Get her back in, and maybe I won’t tell Overhaul she made it this far,” he growls before returning to his guard duty.
“...Why did you stop me?”he asks almost accusingly,“We could have saved her!”
“Save her? Absolutely in the short term.” Gojo points out, “We don’t have a disguise with us, they’ll see your face. That’s all they need to ruin your life. Send people to go after your mom, maybe your dad overseas. Sue you with the most corrupt money-grubbing lawyers that ever exist. Get you arrested for assault with a Quirk, and from what you told me about this place’s laws, that would ruin the life of your entire family. Do you want that?”
“...She’s in danger.”Izuku says not refuting Gojo’s claims, taking a breath to calm down,“We need to help. We need to call the police! Call the Pro Heroes!”
“Any other case and I’d agree, but this just got more complicated than I thought possible.” Gojo says softly, “What we’re looking at is a potential Special Grade.”
“Special Grade? Like you?”Izuku’s eyes widened at the thought of such a little girl possessing that much power.
“Who knows?” Gojo shrugs as he leans against the railing with Izuku’s body, “But what’s possible is that the girl has a lot of Curse Energy. That much untamed and uncontrolled and eventually strong, high-grade Spirits will manifest. The police and heroes won’t know how to deal with that. We do.”
He then returns the body to Izuku once he recognizes he has calmed down enough to think rationally and not off emotions and anger.
“But that’s your call, Midoriya. How do you want to play this?”
Izuku only needed a second to think, glaring at the compound in front of him.
“I say we go with Plan B…” he says, Cursed Energy barely contained in his body, “Beat the hell out of every thug we see. Exorcise every curse we see.”
Gojo grins and chuckles, cracking his nonexistent knuckles,“Now we’re talking.”
Chapter 5: A Lesson on Curses
Chapter Text
“Hoodie?”
“Check.” Izuku nods as he covers his head with a black hood to help conceal his identity.
“Mask?”
“Check.” Izuku slides on a mask brought from a party store with physical Yen notes that won’t be traced back to him. It was cheap and made from plastic, displaying a white demonic face with small horns and holes cut in the eye to allow him to see.
“Curtain?”
Izuku raises his fingers and chants,
"Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure."
Black ink drips from the sky above, encompassing the entire compound in a sheet of absolute black preventing anyone or anything from going in or out save for him. That includes anything from Curses, villains and cell phone signals.
No one was getting away.
***
Anyone who ever met Rikiya Katsukame could tell that he was not a smart man, but even he could tell things had gone wrong the moment monstrous-looking insects and creatures began appearing all over the courtyard. The guards that were there on the night shift noticed them as well and immediately began panicking, using their Quirks on them just being able to fend them off.
He was about to join in to defend the compound before the gate was suddenly smashed open. Turning back he barely reacts in time to block a knee to the face, grunting as the blow sends him stumbling backwards.
“You…are you the one responsible for this?!” he demands as he gets into a stance. The masked figure in front of him was short, probably just a kid, and yet he was able to have such force behind his blows. This must be some kind of enhancer Quirk, but then how does that explain the sudden appearance of monsters? Was there a partner or something?
He launches himself at the masked intruder hoping to use his Quirk to drain his stamina but then he slides under his grapple attempt, between his legs and performs a sweeping kick, knocking him off his feet before leaping into the air.
“You did the same to the girl earlier today, didn’t you?” the boy asks and Rikiya was confused for a moment before the kid brought his foot down in an axe kick and smashed his head into the ground.
“So…fast…” he mutters before falling unconscious. Later when taken in by a hospital, the doctors would find him with a concussion, fractured skull and multiple shattered teeth.
Izuku stands there, staring at the unconscious body of the villain, almost surprised at how easy that was. Almost no different than the robots in the entrance exam.
“Not bad, not bad. That guy wasn’t exactly weak…Well, he was compared to you, but by normal standards I mean.”Gojo says impressed, watching his student’s performance,“Those late-night Curse hunts at least gave you the experience you need to learn how to regulate your Cursed Energy better. I’d say you’re Semi-Grade 1 now.”
Izuku turns his attention to the Yakuza trying to fight off the Curses, and doing surprisingly well considering they weren’t Sorcerers. Although not able to do any damage, their Quirks could fend off Curses lower than Grade Four.
They wouldn’t do anything against him. He charges at them faster than the normal eye could keep up, blitzing through both Yakuza and Curses alike with little difficulty before kicking down the front door and storming inside.
A quick sense of the surrounding Cursed Energy tells him everything he needs to know.
“She’s underground,” Izuku mutters as he looks around the empty building with a traditional Japanese interior.
“Ooh, secret underground bunker?”Gojo rubs his hands excitedly,“Not your usual Yakuza hideout then?”
“Probably not.” Izuku says before searching every room trying to find a way down like a staircase or hidden elevator, “How do they get down and up, then?”
“The girl got out didn’t she?”Gojo says as his ghostly form sleeps on a couch that Izuku was lifting to find some kind of trap door,“She’s a Special Grade remember, that leaves lots of tracks in more ways than one.”
Izuku thinks for a moment before narrowing his eyes and focusing on his breathing. The world dims even more but then he spots a set of footprints containing residual Cursed Energy and follows them to a vase which has several weak Cursed Spirits latching on to them.
He wipes them out with a single kick and reveals a mechanism under the vase, triggering it to reveal a hidden staircase, lined with Cursed Spirits that flee upon noticing him. He walks past them, easily overtaking them, wiping them out just by stepping and swatting them.
The underground appears larger than he had anticipated, a long tunnel greeting him as he nervously walks through it while Gojo is singing a weird song in his head about a secret tunnel before they are interrupted by a voice echoing through the hall.
“You! I take it you’re responsible for these monsters appearing all over our base, huh?!” a voice shouts, “Well it ain’t gonna be enough to take us down!”
Izuku jumped at the voice, searching his surroundings for a source before suddenly the walls came to life, warping and bending around him.
“Taking control of the entire building? That’s a high-grade power for sure.”Gojo comments as Izuku begins running down the bending hallway before the path in front of him closes off. But before he can break through, the floor beneath opens up and he finds himself sliding through a tunnel before falling into a well-lit room.
This was bad, if whoever this villain was was truly controlling the whole building then it would be difficult to fight without using Blue. But doing so carries the risk as it was an easily identifiable ability, compared to say another enhancer Quirk among millions.
He falls to the ground after exiting the tunnel, getting back on his feet before he feels a presence behind him, turning and raising his arms coated with a thin layer of Limitless.
A fist made of large crystals smashed against his neutral barrier, slowing to a stop as he came face to face with a bald man with a mask that covered the lower half of his face.
“Who thef*ckare you?” he growls before Izuku kicks him away, his foot being blocked by a layer of crystals. He turns and realises he is now surrounded by three men.
“Doesn’t seem to be a Pro.” a man with blonde hair and a plague doctor mask approaches with a katana, “Hey, boy! Tell us who sent ya and we won’t feed you to Tabe here.”
A man with a bag over his head begins to salivate so much it leaks onto the floor, cackling as he taunts him, “Please don’t tell us. I haven’t eaten in a while, I need my midnight snack.”
He responds by remaining quiet, getting into a fighting stance.
“Hehe, guess we have our answer boys.” the man with crystals grows a blade made of the material on his arm, “Leave him alive, Nemoto would want a chat with him.”
The man with crystals leaps at him and Izuku prepares to engage before he feels a shift, barely reacting in time and covering his face with his arms as his mask comes flying off, quick enough that the villains aren’t able to get a good look on his face.
“Got something to hide kid?” Izuku hears the blonde man ask as he focuses a Limitless barrier in front of him at the expected blow only to receive nothing before he hears a noise behind him. He spins and kicks wildly but he obviously misses, gritting his teeth as he feels something stab his leg from the side, likely the blonde with the katana. Fortunately, even without Limitless, his Cursed Energy enhanced his body enough that it was just a scratch.
“How the hell do you expect to win with your eyes closed, dumbass?” one of them laughs as Izuku tries kicking where he thinks the man with the katana was only to hit nothing and feel a punch from behind that sends him smashing into a wall.
“Come on, come on, let me take a bite off him.” the bag man’s voice pleads,
“Please, we know you won’t control yourself once you take a bite. You can ask the boss for his corpse later…whatever’s left of it of course.”
“Having a little trouble there, aren't you Midoriya?”Gojo asks as Izuku gets back on his feet, both arms still wrapped around his face.
“What do you think?” Izuku pants, “I can’t let them see my face, but I can’t fight without my eyes.”
“But you don’t need your eyes, do you?”Gojo hints.
“You mean my ears?” Izuku asks,
“No, you’re not that good yet.”Gojo laughs before explaining,“Quirks aren’t Curses but they have their own energy, don’t they?”
“Who the hell are you talking to?” the voice of the crystal man was heard as Izuku understood his mentor’s words, taking a breath to focus. In that moment, through his arms he sees a human-shaped blob of energy charging at him.
He swings an arm coated in crystals but Izuku flips and kicks him upwards, under his chin knocking him backwards. Not unconscious sadly, as he created crystals to protect himself but Izuku didn’t stop there, spinning and delivering a straight kick to his torso boosted by Limitless, expanding space between them and sending the crystal man smashing into the wall.
“Yu!” the blonde charges at him with the bag man whose jaws opened wide to swallow him whole.
He leaps backwards to avoid a chomp from the bagman as the blonde swings at him wildly with a katana, obviously not well-versed in swordsmanship. Izuku delivers a powerful strike with his foot, breaking through the katana and smashing into his face, crumpling the hidden knife he was apparently hiding in his mask.
“You bastard!” the bag man roars and bites on his leg which he protects with a Limitless barrier. Using him as leverage, Izuku swings his knee directly into his face, knocking him off his foot and sending him smashing into a wall before losing consciousness.
He pants from that before sensing the crystal man attempting to quietly sneak up from behind to ambush him, which he punishes by flipping over and kicking his head into the floor before stepping on it. Then another. And another. And another until he was sure he was unconscious.
But before he could rest, pillars of stone sprung from below, launching him and pinning him to the ceiling as the stone wrapped around him attempting to crush him if Izuku didn’t apply Limitless throughout his body. But using it in such huge amounts was quickly burning up his brain.
“You’re strong, I'll give you that!” the voice came from around him as the stone attempts to crush him, “I thought at least those three disposable idiots would be able to take down one boy! But I guess I gotta get my hands dirty! Screw interrogation, I’ll kill you then we’ll find any family you have and kill them as well!”
“Ooh, now you just messed up,”Gojo smirks knowingly as he hears that. His words trigger something in Izuku who starts sensing his presence as fast as possible, finding him swimming through the concrete keeping out of reach.
Removing one of his hands from wrapping around his head, placing them against the walls. Using Blue in high quantities would create a large swirling blue orb, but if it’s just weak and focused enough…
Using two techniques at the same time amplifies the agony in his head but he pushes through, blood beginning to stain his sleeves as the man controlling the building yells in surprise at the sudden pull before his head and neck pop out of the concrete allowing Izuku to use his free hand to strangle him and prevent him from escaping.
“Gak…astard…ill…you…!” The villain grunts as he tries pushing more force while Izuku continues choking him out. It would be a battle of attrition, the two of them desperately keeping conscious long enough for the other to lose.
***
“Overhaul, we have a problem,” Chronostasis informs Overhaul in his office who sighs in annoyance as he puts on his hands, puffs of black smoke dissipating around the room.
“Yes, I can tell.” Overhaul slips back on his surgical gloves. Whatever these creatures were at least they were susceptible to his Quirk, bursting into puffs of smoke when he used it on them.
“I’m not getting any responses from four of our Eight Bullets, or Mimic.” Chronostasis says concerned, “...He last mentioned taking care of an intruder. I think whoever it is, they got him. What should we do?”
Overhaul grits his teeth before using his Quirk again on another creature that reformed from the black smoke, “We can’t permanently deal with these. It must be the intruder’s Quirk. Get Rappa and Tengai to deal with him, send all the Bullets we have left just in case. While the intruder is distracted I’ll get all the research we have, you go get Eri.”
“...What about the boss?” Chronostasus asks worried as Overhaul sighs,
“It pains me, but we’re overrun right now. We need to leave him behind. I’ve made sure to hide him well with my Quirk. We’ll come back for him once the whole mess is settled.” Overhaul growls as he storms off.
***
Izuku leaned against the walls as he trudged on, his mind a haze as he had trouble standing upright properly.
“Say what you want about these Yakuza, but you can’t deny that guy was determined,”Gojo says, remembering how it took a full minute for Izuku to choke him out which meant a full minute of having to keep up his Limitless barrier. And then he still had to find his way through the labyrinth, punching through the occasional dead end,“You don’t want to take a breather?”
“That girl…who knows what they’re doing to her now…I need to save her,” he grunts as he pushes himself towards the source of Cursed Energy he was detecting. He could feel it, the girl was close, and he turned around the corner at the sight of a man in a white cloak and hood pulling at the girl’s arm as she tried to run.
“Hold still!” The cloaked man scold before an arrow made of hair protruded from under his hood, aimed at the girl, “You damned brat!”
He shoots it out and the girl winces, preparing to be struck but it never comes. She nervously opens her eyes to see a figure in a black hoodie and terrifying white mask grabbing the hair-arrow just before it strikes her.
“What the-?!” he shouts before Izuku smashes a fist across his face, shattering his mask and jaw, and flying backwards before landing unconscious.
Seeing him not move, Izuku exhales and falls to a knee from the strain before turning to the terrified girl, “Are you…okay…?”
The girl however backs up to the wall in fear, shaking as her already pale skin pales even further at the sight of him.
“You…you’re one of those monsters!” she says terrified, “Get away!”
“No offence Midoriya, but a hooded guy with a demon mask isn’t exactly what a terrified kid needs to see.”Gojo reminds and Izuku takes it off to show his face, which is just barely better. Bloodshot eyes with dark bags underneath them, and blood running down his nose.
“It’s fine…See?” he tries smiling like All Might does to reassure civilians, “I’m human, just like you… I’m Izuku…What’s your name?
“...Eri.” the girl says quietly, looking less terrified.
“Eri, that’s a nice name.” Izuku says, keeping a smile on his face despite the headaches, “I’m going to get you out of here now, alright? Can you trust me?”
Eri looks at his offered hand unsurely, “There…there are monsters…”
“I know. It must be terrifying for you.” he nods understandingly, “But I won’t let them hurt you, understand? If they come…I’ll exorcise them all…”
“They won’t let me leave…” Eri says, sinking deeper into despair, “They’ll hurt you…”
“They already tried. I beat them all, just like that man who tried to hurt you.” Izuku says determinedly, “No one is going to hurt you or me, Eri…Because I’m stronger than them.”
“That a fact?” a confident voice from the end of a hall asks and Eri immediately freezes, Izuku gets in front of her protectively, sliding back on his mask as he realises he is being surrounded. Two villains at each end of the hall they were in.
“Eri…everything’s going to be fine…” he promises as he gets on shaking legs, “I’ll protect you…”
“Can you? Look at you, you can barely stand.” a villain in another plague doctor mask and a black bowler hat steps up, “Now Eri, you don’t want to get hurt do you? Do you want this boy to die so you can try running again? You know how that ends.”
Hearing this, Eri shakes in fear but gets up and is about to approach them when Izuku stops her.
“She’s not going anywhere with you…” Izuku growls as he raises his arms ready to fight.
“Hah! Look at him go!” the muscular man laughs impressed, “Let me at him, I wanna see his blood up close! Come on kid, show me what you got!”
“Don’t underestimate him, Rappa.” a man in monk robes from behind the muscular one rebukes, “He has defeated five of our members so far, including Mimic while boosted with Trigger. He’s no ordinary foe. We cannot allow him to meddle with the Shie Hassaikai any longer!”
Izuku starts planning how to get out of his, would he have to use Blue? How much can he use before his brain bursts? Can he wipe them out in one strike? Can he keep Eri safe while doing so?
But as he thinks he suddenly starts feeling dizzy and nauseous, falling to his knees despite his mind’s protest.
“Bwa ha ha! Feeling drunk, are ya?!” one of the villains takes a swig from a bottle of sake as he hiccups, “Like... you... can't... stand up... can't stand up... straight?”
Unable to stand, unable to use Limitless, unable to fight…Was this how he died? Before even getting into UA? Without seeing his mother one last time? He finds himself flashing through his life, everything up to this point, the day he first saw All Might’s debut video, the day he was declared Quirkless, the day Kacchan turned his back on him, the day his mother cried and apologised over something she had no control over.
The ten years of loneliness, bullying, tormenting. Then the day the Slime Villain attacked. The day he was given a chance to be a hero, to make a difference in this world. And now he was going to die…that was just unfair.
“You’re on death’s doors.” the villain with the bowler hat scoffs at him, “Do you really think you can beat four of us while protecting that girl? No matter how badly we injure her, Overhaul can put her back, so you can’t even use her as a shield or leverage. Are you willing to die for her?”
“...Yes,” Izuku says resolutely, standing up to their surprise and raising shaking arms as he got into a stance. What was that he told All Might? The world was unfair and he wanted to add a bit of fairness back into the world, even if to save one person. And now he will stand by his own words, a green aura of Cursed Energy flaring around him.
“Eri, when I distract them, run. Find your way out.” he whispers to her, “Run. And don’t look back.”
As he readies himself for death, he then feels a familiar comforting presence on his shoulder. Suddenly he was no longer in the dark hallway with Eri, but in the mindscape he shared with Satoru Gojo.
“Really, what is it with the self-sacrificial types?”Gojo chuckles to himself,“Honestly, taking them down in your state I’d like to think you’ll win even if you die trying. But how about you let Gojo-sensei take the reins for a moment? It’s been a while since I got to stretch my legs. Besides, I want to show off to my precious student.”
Gojo asks from inside his mind as he takes off his blindfold, blue eyes gleaming.
Izuku smiles at that, feeling relief before falling backwards in the mind space and letting his mentor take over, “…Thank you, sensei.”
“You’re brave, I can admit that.” the bowler hat villain says before using his Quirk, “So why don’t you tell me your name? I’ll make sure to bury any family you have beside you.”
The boy stands there silent for a while before answering, and they can almost hear a grin from his suddenly jovial tone,
“My name? It’s Satoru Gojo.” he smiles behind the mask, blue eyes shimmering through the eyeholes of the mask as suddenly everyone feels a shift in the air, “So that’s your ability, forcing people to answer your questions truthfully. Well…”
Suddenly in the blink of an eye, he appears in front of the villain, his eyes widening before his head is slammed into the wall,
“Let me keep a few secrets, okay? I won’t spill everything on the first date.” he taunts before grabbing the villain with the bottle by the throat, “And lay off, alright? I’m not a heavy drinker.”
He flings at the remaining two villains with barely a flick of his hand before it is stopped by a yellow barrier projected by the monk-robed villain.
“How is this possible?” he asked, looking shocked, “You were a dead man walking!”
“Yeah, I’ll need to have a long talk with him about learning to take a break.” Gojo chuckles before wagging a finger, “So that’s your power then? A piss-coloured bubble? What happens if I pop it?”
“As if you can!” the monk-looking villain shouts defiantly, “Nothing can pierce my impenetrable barrier! I-?!”
Before he can finish whatever he is going to say, the muscular man punches him from the back, slamming his head to the ground to Gojo’s surprise.
“...Well that’s a plot twist.” Gojo mutters surprised, “I suppose you want me to let you go in exchange for that?”
“Hell no!” the muscular villain punches his fist against a palm, “I just got a sudden premonition that I ain’t gonna be anywhere else but a jail cell after this. If I’m gonna spend the rest of my life in the slammer, I want a damn good fight before I leave! One on one between men!”
Gojo smirks amused, “You remind me of another musclehead…Alright then.”
In a blink he appears in front of the muscular villain, “I’ll let you take the first hit then.”
He roars as he throws a flurry of punches that bounce off his Limitless barrier and after letting it go on for a few seconds, Gojo interrupts with a strike to the gut causing him to stumble backwards, spitting blood that leaks out of his mask,
“Come on, that was just a love tap.” Gojo taunts, “Remember, you asked for this.”
The villain pulls out his mask, spitting out some blood with a wide blood lusted smile on his lips, “Hell yeah I did! The name’s Kendo Rappa by the way!”
“Didn’t ask.” Gojo shrugs as Rappa tries another barrage of punches at him but he deflects them all as he strikes him repeatedly in the torso, before delivering a final blow to his face bringing him to his knees,
“Heh…not bad,” Rappa mutters before Gojo kicks him in the face and knocks the lights out of him.
“Whatever you say.” Gojo walks back to a shocked Eri, “Hey there, it was Eri right? Nice to meet you!”
“...You’re not Izuku,” she realises confused.
“Smart kid, aren’t ya?” Gojo asks as he squats down to her eye level, taking off his mask to reveal a smile with now blue eyes, “I’m Satoru Gojo, his sensei. It’s a really long story, but how about we save it until we get you out of here.”
“Can we really leave?” she asks in disbelief as he offers his hand to her,
“We can if you want to.” he smirks, “Nobody will stop us, why you ask? Because I’m the strongest.”
Hope in her eyes, she takes his hand as Gojo lifts her up into his arms, surprising her with how kind his hands felt.
“Alright, you safe and comfy?” he asks making sure before snapping his fingers, “Oh right, is this all of them? Don’t want to leave any stragglers.”
“Th-there’s Overhaul…” Eri mutters terrified just saying the name, “But he’s strong…the strongest. Stronger than all of them.”
“Oh? Good?” Gojo smiles at her before they teleport, “He might be a good example then.”
***
“...What is this?” Overhaul mutters to himself as he presses a hand against a black barrier. He found this thing surrounding all underground exits and thus he tried getting above ground to investigate and find a way out.
Just who were the people attacking him? Monsters? Barriers? It has to be some kind of small but powerful group with Quirks like these. He doesn’t know why but he has to get out somehow, he can’t let his research or Eri fall into their hands.
“Oi!” a voice came from behind as he turned, finding a boy in a black hoodie and a mask with Eri in his arms, “So this is the Overhaul guy I’ve been hearing about? Really, what’s with the plague doctor masks? Is that what you’re into? Or are you germaphobic?”
“...I take it you’re the intruder then?” Overhaul growls, “Did you kill my Eight Bullets? Why are you attacking us?”
“Is that what they’re called?” the boy shrugs, “Nah they’re just out cold. You’re all that’s left. As for why, well the first reason was to rescue this little angel of course.”
The boy says as he playfully pokes her cheeks. Overhaul glares at the wretched girl who withers from it, before the boy speaks up,
“Careful where you’re glaring.” he says warningly, “You want to keep your eyes, don't you.”
“Is this barrier your doing?” Overhaul gestures behind him as he pulls off his gloves, “If I kill you then it’ll break?”
“Yep,” he confirms as Overhaul touches the ground, sending spikes at him not caring if they’ll hit Eri as well. But then his eyes widened as the spikes stopped just before hitting him, “Come on, is that all you got? I thought you were the strongest here.”
“...Fine. It looks like this is inevitable. I suppose I shouldn’t underestimate you after you took down all my men.” Overhaul growls before kneeling and touching the unconscious Rikiya Katsukame and himself. In the blink of an eye, the two were dismantled and joined together, growing in size with monstrous limbs that were brought down on both the boy and Eri. However once again it stopped before touching them,
“What is this?!” OVerhaul roars before a burst of red energy tear his hand to bits,
“I should thank you.” the boy says as Overhaul repairs the severed limb, “I’ve been looking for a chance to demonstrate this move for a while, I can’t do it on the kid after all since I might accidentally take myself out since we share the same brain. But here we are, a perfectly acceptable target in front of me to show him how it’s done.”
“What the hell are you blabbering about?”
The boy sighed as he took off the mask he was wearing, revealing a calm smile and blue eyes as he raised his free arm,
“It’s better if I just show all of you.” he smirks as he crosses his fingers, “The pinnacle of Jujutsu…Domain Expansion: Infinite Void.”
Chapter 6: The Cursed Apprentice
Chapter Text
Inko Midoriya yawns as she gets out of bed for the morning, getting out of her pyjamas and changing into a set of clothes before heading downstairs to cook some breakfast. As she does so she notices the door to her son’s room slightly ajar and opens it to check finding him asleep.
This was unusual as he always left early for his jog at dawn. He must be tired, which wasn’t hard to guess from the dark bags under his eyes from the past few days. Deciding to let him sleep in, she quietly closes the door shut.
Once Izuku was sure she was gone, he stopped pretending to be awake and threw off the blanket covering Eri who was wrapped around his chest like a koala.
“Gojo-sensei…we have a problem.” He realises with growing anxiety,
“Aw, you call this little angel a problem?”Gojo’s spiritual form pokes at her cheeks while hovering above them,
“What are we going to do with her?” Izuku asks, “We can’t keep her, my mom will find out! And once she finds out she’ll have to report this to the police! And once the police find a girl they’re probably looking for, they’ll figure out I was the vigilante beating up the yakuza!”
The noise causes Eri to stir awake which he feels guilty for as she slowly opens her eyes, widening in shock and springing up, looking around her surroundings with tears in her eyes.
“It…it wasn’t a dream?” she asks quietly and instantly all the reservations Izuku had melted away as he embraced her.
“It wasn’t Eri. They’re gone now, and they won’t hurt you again.” Izuku promises as Eri starts crying softly in relief. But then they were interrupted by a knock on the door and the two froze,
“Izuku, are you awake?” the door knob began to twist before he shouts,
“Don’t come in, I’m changing!” he quickly says as he gestures to Eri to quiet down. Seeing this she immediately claps both hands over her mouth.
“Alright, alright, no need to yell.” Inko laughs, “I’ve changed your diapers, remember?”
“Mom!” Izuku says, embarrassed as Gojo chuckles under his breath.
“Alright, alright, I just wanted to know what you want for breakfast,” Inko says as the doorknob returns to position to his relief,
“I’ll just have something simple, make myself a sandwich.” Izuku insists.
“Alright then, I’ll leave it to you.” his mother says before leaving. Once they were in the clear Izuku nodded at Eri who took her hands out of her mouth,
“Who was that?” she asks frightened, “Was she a bad person…like the doctors?”
“What? No, of course not.” Izuku says shocked that she would think that before wondering what she meant by doctors. His eyes then turn to the bandages wrapped around her arms and legs, a spark of anger and disgust growing at the implications.
“Do you mind if I take a look?” Izuku asks and Eri flinches, “I want to make sure they’re not infected.”
Reluctantly she holds out her arm as Izuku unwraps them, horrified at the scars all over her arms. Then he looks at the other bandages and his stomach sinks. Even Gojo was uncharacteristically quiet on this.
“Overhaul did all this to you?” he asks quietly as Eri shakily nods. Whatever feelings Izuku had regarding what Gojo did to the villain vanished at that moment.
He still remembered how the Domain felt, at least through his body’s senses while Gojo was in control. That expulsions and refining of Cursed Energy into a barrier to trap someone in an Innate Domain…could he do something like that one day? Would he want to? Except for Curses who would he use the Infinite Void on? Who was he to make that decision?
“I’m sure we could spend all day discussing that.”Gojo interrupts his thoughts,“But we should find a place for this kid to stay while we think things through, right? Since we can’t have her stay here. Know anyone who we can leave her at?”
“Well there’s the Bakugous-”
“Absolutely not.”Gojo says with zero hesitation upon hearing that name,“No. 100% no with zero room for argument. The day Sukuna turns into a pacifist vegetarian is the day I trust our little angel with the family that raised Katsuki Bakugou into the man he is today. Besides Mitsuki’s friends with your mom, right? They’ll talk and talk, and eventually, she’ll find out.”
Izuku was slightly taken aback but relented, “Alright, I can see that but who else? It’s not like we can hire a babysitter, we need someone we know and trust.”
“Hmm…”Gojo rubs his chin,“Not sure about trust, but we have someone else we know.”
“We do?” Izuku asks before realising who Gojo had in mind, “Wait, you can’t be serious! We barely know her!”
“But she’s the only person you know that isn’t the Bakugous, is nice, and also not associated with your mother in any way.”Gojo reminds before sounding teasing,“Besides, you still owe her a date don’t you?”
“It’s not a date!” Izuku shouts as Eri looks at him slightly confused and frightened. Then he takes a breath and turns to her, “Sorry Eri, I was talking to Gojo-sensei…You remember him right when I had blue eyes?”
“Mister Gojo?” Eri asks as Gojo squeals at being called that by the adorable little girl, “Is he here?”
“Yeah, he lives in my head.” Izuku chuckles as he gives his skull a rap with his knuckles, “He comes out sometimes.”
“...Do people live in other people’s brains?” Eri asks genuinely curious.
“Well, no this is a special case. He lives in me because I…ate his eyes…” Izuku explains before realising that probably wasn’t something he should tell a young child, “It’s a very long story.”
“...So if I eat your eyes you’ll live in my brain?” Eri asks.
“No, no…I don’t think so?” Izuku looks to Gojo unsure.
“Yeah, it’s a special process, don't worry.”Gojo laughs,“The one who could do that is long gone…I think? Hopefully. Certainly! …Maybe? Definitely.”
“No, that won’t happen.” Izuku ignores Gojo’s rambling as he answers Eri’s question and thinks, “Now, how am I going to get you out of here?”
***
“Izuku, where are we going?” Eri asks as they walk through the streets of the city, holding his hand.
“First step, we’re going to get you some change of clothes and then a meal,” Izuku explains gesturing to the filthy clothes that she was wearing, it’ll be harder to explain if she shows up looking homeless.
He stops by a thrift shop, fewer questions would be asked there with fewer customers. Sure enough, the cashier doesn’t spare them a glance, focused on reading some magazines instead. He stops at a random assortment of clothes for children and looks unsure,
“Alright, which do you want then, Eri?” he gestures at the clothes as she looks up at him confused.
“You mean I can choose?” she asks, surprised at the concept. While she looked adorable when asking, his heart breaks further at the implications.
“Of course you can, Eri.” he smiles at her gently, “Anything you want.”
Eri glances through the selection only taking a moment before pointing at a black jacket with a red hood that looks one size bigger than her,
“You sure, don’t you want something that fits you?” Izuku asks and she looks down embarrassed,
“...It looks the most like yours,” she says tugging at his black hoodie as Gojo squeals,
“My heart…the adorableness…it’s too much!”He pretends to have a heart attack as Izuku feels the same but remains composed. After selecting a few more sets of clothes for her, mostly consisting of varieties of black-coloured clothing, he pays it with a credit card connected to Gojo’s bank account and leaves with a bag full of clothes and Eri wearing her new jacket with nervous excitement.
“It looks good on you, Eri.” Izuku compliments, “Now how about we get something for you to eat, you must be starving.”
As if on cue, her stomach starts growling and she looks embarrassed. Stopping at a ramen shop he books a table with two seats before ordering two bowls for the both of them. Once they sat down, Izuku gave a quick glance to make sure the other customers were out of earshot before speaking to Eri,
“So…Eri. How are you feeling?” he asks awkwardly hoping to break the ice a bit before breaking the news.
Eri looks unsure at what he means and he sighs. Small talk wasn’t just his thing so he braced himself,
“Do you remember the monsters from yesterday?” he asks as she flinches at the memory, “When did you start seeing them?”
“...I was trying to get rid of my curse.” Eri whispers, causing Izuku’s eyes to widen, “My Quirk…everyone called it a curse. And because of that, he had to do those things…”
Eri’s hands go to the bandages on her arms as she shakes, “He was making something that could take away Quirks, so I thought if I used it and took it away he wouldn’t hurt me anymore…but he didn’t. Then the monsters start showing up.”
“...So this Overhaul had a process to remove Quirks and she used it on herself?”Gojo deduces,“Sounds like a Heavenly Restriction. In exchange for losing whatever her Quirk was, she gets Special Grade levels of Cursed Energy. Must’ve been one helluva Quirk.”
“Removing Quirks…that sounds impossible,” Izuku mutters. Then again a while ago he thought things such as the supernatural were impossible without Quirks. Shaking his head he turns back to Eri with a frown, “Eri, whatever your Quirk was it wasn’t a curse…But real curses exist and those monsters, those were curses.”
“What?” Eri mutters as Izuku flashes some Cursed Energy in his balm, a bright green aura surrounding it.
“In this world, there is something called Cursed Energy, and Curses born from them. But only the Quirkless can emit Cursed Energy like me. And when you removed your Quirk you became Quirkless, meaning it was replaced with this instead.” Izuku explains as calmly as he can as Eri’s face looks horrified.
“That means…I really am cursed?” Eri says shaking, a haunted look on her face, her Cursed Energy flaring from all her negative emotions and creating a dense orange aura around her strong enough that Izuku felt like suffocating and the customers began feeling oddly uncomfortable, “I really am a monster…?”
“No!” Izuku exclaims hurriedly, “I have Cursed Energy as well. Do you think I’m a monster, Eri?”
“No…” Eri shakes her head, her Cursed Energy calming down a bit as Izuku continues.
“Then neither are you.” he says, wrapping his arm around her comfortingly as the Cursed Energy plummets, “You’re not a monster Eri, and you’re not cursed. You just can see and use Cursed Energy.”
“...Can you take it away?” Eri asks, “I don’t want anything. I just don’t want to be hurt anymore. I don’t want to see the monsters anymore.”
“No dice. That’s not how it works.”Gojo says before Izuku could ask. He sighed and held Eri closer as she cried softly,
“I’m sorry, Eri. There’s no taking it away.” Izuku apologises, “But I can help you control it. Then if those Curses try messing with you again, you can defend yourself. It’ll also make sure you don’t hurt anyone unintentionally. If you want to, of course.”
“You teach me?” she asks and he nods, “Then I want to learn.”
“Well, well. Looks like we got our first student, Midoriya-sensei.”Gojo jokes from inside his head.
***
“It’s smelly,” Eri notes as her hands go to cover her nose.
“I know, Eri. Just bear with it.” Izuku pleads as they walk through a labyrinth of walls made of garbage dumped on Takoba Beach. An infamous landmark in the region that was once a popular beach for tourists before it became the scrap heap it is today. Mountains of garbage were dumped and with no one bothering to clean the mess it meant they only grew until no one goes near this place anymore.
It also meant there were a handful of weak Cursed Spirits prowling and hiding. Perfect for training an inexperienced Sorcerer.
“Alright this should be good enough.” he stops at a clearing and kneels down to Eri, “Now I’m going to teach you how to contain your Cursed Energy. You see Eri, if Cursed Energy is allowed to leak to surroundings they can create Cursed Spirits, the monsters you’ve been seeing.”
“What? I’m making monsters?!” she asks terrified and guilty before Izuku calms her down,
“No, no! All Quirkless people are, including me. But because we’re Sorcerers we can control our Cursed Energy to stop them from flowing out.” he explains quickly, “Let’s start by triggering your Cursed Energy. Think of it like gasoline inside you bottled up, you need a spark to turn it into fire. Back in the restaurant, what were you feeling when you learnt about Curses?”
“...I felt scared,” Eri answers hesitantly.
“That’s normal. I get scared all the time as well.” he assures before sparking his own Cursed Energy and enveloping himself in an aura to demonstrate, “See that? Now just do the same. Feel something negative, like the fear from earlier. Then you’ll feel a rush of energy, which you need to direct and channel through your body, understand?”
She blinks at him blankly before he simplifies, “You’ll feel something leaking out of your body, but I want you to hold it in alright? I think you’ll know what I’m talking about when you try. Go ahead.”
Eri focuses and strains herself, letting herself feel terrified. At that moment she flares with orange Cursed Energy and the Cursed Spirits in hiding dug deeper to flee from her. Even Izuku took a step back from the flash of energy before it started dissipating and coating her thinly instead of something resembling a wildfire.
“Am…am I doing that?” she asks slowly opening her eyes,
“Yes, that’s good.” Izuku smiles at her proudly.
“Not bad, Midoriya-sensei.”Gojo teases,“You might be as good as I am. But she’s not bad at Cursed Energy manipulation herself.”
Just as he finishes, Eri pants and releases her Cursed Energy unable to keep it up any longer.
“I’m sorry…” she apologises.
“It’s fine Eri, that was good.” he pats her on the head, “It takes effort to keep up that much Cursed Energy. But you understand now, right?”
“Yeah…I think I do.” Eri nods looking at her hands, “It’s a bit like holding your breath.”
“Well you don’t have to hold your breath, but that’s an alright analogy.” Izuku scratches the back of his head, “Now here’s the second part of Curses. Watch closely.”
He aims a hand at a Cursed Spirit straggler before extending his Limitless technique to create a Blue to crush it.
“Cursed Energy can be used to fuel Cursed Techniques.” he explains as he dusts off the Cursed Spirits remnants off his hands, “They’re essentially the Cursed equivalent of Quirks, and our Cursed Energy fuels them. Now it’s your turn.”
“Me?” Eri looks scared, “But I don’t have my Quirk anymore.”
“You don’t need a Quirk for Techniques.” Izuku says as he repeats Gojo’s lessons of manipulating Cursed Energy into Limitless, “Just focus on trying to focus your Cursed Energy through your Technique. Think of Techniques as electric appliances, and your Cursed Energy is electricity.”
Eri looks unsure, “But…what if you get hurt?”
Izuku laughs, “Trust me, you won’t. My technique is called Limitless, meaning as long as I react on time nothing can hurt me. So go ahead.”
Eri looks at her hands hesitantly but then focuses once again, an aura of orange Cursed Energy before yellow electricity starts crackling all over her body and-
“Alright this should be good enough-?” Izuku steps into a clearing before blinking, realising something was off. Where was Eri, she was just next to him!
“Izuku?!” Eri cries out from ahead of him. Before he could react, he grasped his head as memories came flooding into his head. Training with Eri, teaching her about Cursed Energy manipulation, but that hasn’t happened yet…right?
“What…what was that?” Izuku grunts as he shakes off the dizziness. Hearing this, Eri spun around quickly before charging at him and hugging his leg,
“Izuku! I thought you were gone! I thought I made you disappear!” she cries as she squeezes his leg.
“Eri, was that your Technique?” Izuku mutters in shock.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that before…”Gojo admits surprised himself,“That girl, she rewinded time itself.”
***
“Hey, I didn’t think you were gonna take up on my offer.” Kyoka opened the doors to her home dressed in a white shirt with some band name on it that he didn’t recognise. He tries to restrain a blush, realising this was the first time he was invited to a girl’s home.
“T-thanks for inviting me.” he thanked her, “I hope you don’t mind me bringing a guest.”
Kyoka looks down at the girl clinging onto Izuku’s leg with a black and red jacket, “So this is the kid you mentioned over the phone, Eri right? Nice to meet you, my name’s Kyoka Jirou.”
Eri looked up to Izuku as if asking what to do before he gave her a nod and she introduced herself,
“Y-yes, I’m Eri. Nice to meet you.” She bows to Kyoka.
Kyoka stood back up, “You picked a good time, my folks are out now on a date so we got the house for ourselves. Come on in, make yourselves at home.”
Both of them enter the house and the first thing he realises is the large number of music-related items in the living room. Shelves full of old CDs and albums, music players, speakers, and instruments lining the walls.
“Wow, your family really likes music?” Izuku points at the instruments.
“Yeah, they’re musicians and they really love what to do.” Kyoka shrugs.
“You play as well?” Izuku asks and she blushes,
“Yeah, I dabble a bit.” she says embarrassed, before shaking her head, “Anyways we got all kinds of old flicks from the Pre-Quirk era, what’re your preferences?”
“Well, how about something kid-friendly?” Izuku says, patting Eri’s head, “What do you say?”
“What’s a ‘flick’?” Eri looks confused as Izuku’s eyes widen.
“Well, a movie, you know?” Kyoka explains, confused as Eri looks even more unsure, “You…haven’t watched a movie before?”
“Her home life was…difficult,” Izuku says with his hand on her shoulder for comfort. Kyoka’s eyes widened, seemingly understanding the implications before taking a CD off the shelf,
“Right, how about this?” she quickly asks, “Star Wars. That’s a classic.”
“I haven’t seen it.” Izuku says looking at the cover, “Why the fourth film? Shouldn’t we watch the first?”
Kyoka stares at him with her jaw slightly dropped, “...Right we definitely need to watch this then. Say Eri, do you want a snack? We got chips, cookies, fruits-”
“Fruits?” At this, the albino girl perks up immediately.
“Yeah, some apples if you want them.” Kyoka nods.
“I can?” she asks, looking surprised.
“Of course, I’ll get you some slices. Hey Midoriya, why don’t you come to help me?” she asks, suddenly dragging him by the arm to the kitchen out of Eri’s sight before whispering, “Alright, what’s going on? Who’s the kid?”
Izuku started sweating, he knew he was going to have to answer some questions and had been bracing himself, but still found himself nervous. The fact Gojo was chomping on memories of popcorn wasn't helping.
“Okay, it’s a long story.” Izuku starts, “But the gist of it is, she’s a kid who’s in a bad situation and I’m trying to help her. The ones who were taking care of her… weren’t the best.”
“I can guess.” Kyoka mutters, “Why’d you bring her here anyways?”
Izuku gulps, this was the part where he was most nervous,
“Well, one reason is that I wanted to help her have fun, and enjoy herself.” he says before pausing hesitantly, “The second is that we need a place for her to stay.”
“...What?” Kyoka asks, her brain pausing for a moment to process that, “Hold on, we literally just met a few days ago and now you’re dumping a kid on my lap? Why can’t you take her?”
“Circ*mstances.” Izuku answers vaguely, “I need you to trust me on this, please. It’ll just be for a few weeks at most until I get this sorted out. I can pay if-”
“This isn’t about money.” Kyoka cuts him off, “We’re practically acquaintances, why me?”
“...Because I believe you’re a good person.” Izuku says after a pause, “When we first met in UA, you’re the only one out of hundreds to ask if I was alright. I don’t think anybody’s ever done that for me, that wasn’t my mother.”
Kyoka looks taken aback by this news and looks into his eyes, possibly for any deception, only to find truthfulness behind them.
“...Something tells me you’re not telling me everything.” Kyoka says, and before Izuku can say anything she sighs, “But for the few minutes we’ve known each other, I think you’re a good person too. I mean, who would blow their brains out trying to save someone they barely know? So I’ll trust you on this.”
“Really?” Izuku looks elated,
“I’ll convince my mom and dad, no promises though.” she shrugs before pointing one of her earjacks at him, “But you owe me big time for this.”
“Anything, name it,” Izuku promises as Kyoka scoffs,
“Anything, huh? I’ll hold you onto that.” Kyoka then goes to open the fridge, rummaging through its insides, “You can start by helping me cut some apples for that kid of yours.”
***
“No, I am your father.”
“What the…” Izuku’s jaw dropped slightly at the revelation as both Kyoka and Gojo grinned watching his shocked reaction. But before they can comment on it, the stress ball Eri was holding suddenly explodes from a sudden rush of Cursed Energy.
“I’m sorry.” she quickly apologises looking embarrassed as Izuku pats her head.
“It’s fine Eri, it happens to me as well.” he says as he hands her another ball, “Here, how about we try again?”
“So I’ve been meaning to ask, what’s with the stress balls?” Kyoka whispers to Izuku as they continue watching the film in front of them, sitting on a couch with Eri between the two of them.
“Oh, it’s to help her practise controlling her powers.” Izuku explains, “She’s pouring her energy into the ball but it fluctuates depending on her emotions. If she pours in too much at once it blows up.”
“So that’s why the movies? To get her used to controlling her emotions?” Kyoka asks and Izuku nods, “That’s a cool way to train, watching movie marathons.”
“It’s pretty convenient.” Izuku agreed as they continued watching the film and the next. By the time the sun was setting, When the last of the three movies came to an end Izuku stepped up to stretch his back.
“Wow, I can see why those were so popular.” Izuku mutters, “What do you think, Eri?”
“...It was so cool.” she mutters in awe as she looks at the credits rolling, “Are there more?”
“Yeah, three more movies for the prequels.” Kyoka says as she turns off the television, “They’re a bit different but good in their own way.”
“Aren’t there more from seven to nine?” Izuku points at the shelves but Kyoka glares at him.
“What sequels? I don’t know what you’re talking about. You must be hallucinating.” Kyoka says deadly seriously and both Izuku and Eri decide to accept that.
“R-right.” Izuku coughs into a fist before turning to Eri, “So, did you have fun?”
“Yeah!” Eri says excitedly, “Can we come back soon?”
Kyoka looks between the two awkwardly, realising Izuku has not told her yet. Clearing his throat, Izuku kneels to Eri’s eye level.
“Eri…there’s something we have to talk about.” Izuku says cautiously, as Eri feels something is wrong, “I need you to stay here for a while okay.”
“Huh?” Eri looks confused, “How long are we staying here?”
“No, you’re staying here with Jirou for a few weeks.” Izuku exclaims as her eyes widen, “Just for a while, do you understand?”
“But-but why?” she asks looking panicked, tears flowing out of her eyes, “Did I do something wrong? Is it because I’m not learning enough?! I’ll be better! Please, don’t leave me alone! I promise I’ll be good! Just don’t leave me alone…”
“Eri!” Izuku looks saddened at her reaction, reaching out to hold her shoulders, “I’m not leaving you here. I just need you to stay here for only a few weeks, until I figure something out alright? I’ll keep visiting, I won’t leave you alone! I promise!”
“...” Eri stays silent as Izuku hugs her.
“I promise I won’t. Let’s make a vow, as long as I’m alive, I’ll keep visiting and make sure you’re never alone. Alright?” Izuku swears as Eri sniffs, wiping tears from her eyes.
“You promise…?” she asks.
“Pinky promise.” he smiles at her.
Afterwards, they had Eri move to a guest room that she would be staying in, as both Izuku and Kyoka talked outside.
“Here’s some clothes for her, as well as money to pay for necessities and for your troubles.” Izuku says as he hands her a bag, “Eighty thousand yen. I’ll pay the same for every week she spends here.”
“Holy sh*t, that’s a lot. How did you get this much money?” Kyoka mutters as she stares at the stacks of yen notes in the bag.
“Inheritance. Long story.” Izuku sighs, “I’m really sorry to bother you with this again.”
“Hey, if this is what I get for babysitting for a few weeks I’ll do it.” Kyoka shrugs before pausing, “...The kid looks like she had it rough, you sure you don’t want to take her with you.”
“I want to, really. But…” he hesitates and Kyoka sighs,
“Yeah, yeah, long story.” she sighs, “Look just make sure you keep your promise to that kid. Or I’ll kick your ass myself.”
Izuku smiles, knowing the Binding Vow he had made will punish him if he tries to break it, “Trust me, I will. If I don’t it means I’m dead. Thanks a lot, Jirou.”
“Like I said, you owe me one for this.” she says as he leaves, “Take care of yourself, Midoriya.”
“You too,” Izuku says as the door closes behind him, giving the house one last look before he leaves.
“I think Eri’s in good hands.”Gojo speaks up surprising him,“That Jirou girl’s a little spitfire. That's your type of girl, I suppose?”
“Shut up.” Izuku grumbles as he rubs his head, “What happened, you’ve been quiet this whole time.”
“Just didn’t want to disturb you. You three looked like you were having fun.”Gojo smiles,“You’ve been pent up these past few days Midoriya, you gotta learn to relax or you’ll break eventually.”
“I will once we figure out a solution for Eri.” Izuku sighed, “We don’t even know if her parents are out there somewhere looking for her.”
“If we found her captured by Yakuza I wouldn't like their odds.”Gojo says,“But you’re right. We need to at least look for them. But why don’t you let me take care of that?”
“You?” Izuku asks.
“Of course, playing detective sounds fun. It’ll be a change of pace binging Sherlock up here, by the way, you really need to rewatch it. A couple episodes are missing up here.”Gojo says,“Besides, you’re wearing yourselves thin lately. Let Grandmaster Satoru Gojo help out! Anything for my student’s student.”
“Really? How are you going to do that?” Izuku asks and Gojo smirks,
“I got some ideas. But why don’t you let me figure out those tiny details?”Gojo asks,“You got UA in a few days, better get ready for your first day. So go ahead and take a nap, you’ll need it.”
***
“So, you’re the guy who I was told to go for if I want people found.” a boy with sunglasses and white hair, which he could tell was a wig, strolls up to him after crushing his bodyguard’s hand when they tried stopping him forcefully.
Giran took a whiff out of his cigarette as he smirked at the boy, “My, my, aren’t you too young to be hanging around crowds like these, kid?”
“I’m older than you think.” the boy releases his grip on the bodyguard’s hands letting them scamper away, “Sorry about that but I didn’t come here to waste my time. It’s late and I need my beauty sleep, you should really consider opening up in the daytime..”
“Down to business, eh? I like it.” Giran smirks as he pats down on a seat next to him, “Come on, take a seat and we’ll talk. Fair warning, my fee’s five thousand yen just to listen.”
Without hesitation, the boy whips out a bundle of yen and tosses it over. Giran flips through the notes and nods in approval, “Unmarked notes, eh? Good, that means this probably isn’t your first time. So let’s start with introductions, my name’s Giran and I’m an info broker. You are?”
“Call me Satoru Gojo,” he smirks as he plops down next to Giran who pours them both a drink.
“So tell me, who is it you want to find?” Giran asks, sliding him over a glass of whiskey.
The boy, Satoru Gojo if that was his real name, slides over a picture of a young girl with white hair and red eyes.
“There’s this kid, name’s Eri, that’s all I know about her.” he explains, “Was captured by a yakuza group, the Shie Hassaikai, before being rescued.”
“Hmm, yakuza group huh?” Giran looks at the picture, “Want this girl found?”
“No, her family. Parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, anything.” he clarifies.
“And all you’re giving me is a photo and not even a last name? Tall order.” Giran admits before smirking, “But nothing I can’t handle. Give me a week and I’ll have something for you. But it’ll cost you. I assume since you sought me out you know my usual fees for things like this?”
The boy nods and hands over a paper bag full of yen notes, “Seven hundred and fifty thousand yen. I’ll pay the rest once I get the results.”
He says leaving no room for argument and Giran nods, taking the bag and opening it to find more unmarked notes, “Very nice. Here.”
He hands over a burner cell, “I’ll contact you through this once I get the info you need and we’ll arrange a drop point for the rest of my fee. Pleasure doing business with you, Gojo.”
The boy nodded and went to leave before he spoke up, “I don’t usually ask, but this got me curious. You don’t happen to be the same Satoru Gojo who I’ve heard was responsible for the very same downfall of the Shie Hassaikai just yesterday?”
“...Is that a problem?” the boy asks, turning slightly, not sounding threatened but almost amused.
Giran smirks, “A little professional courtesy. The Shie Hassaikai aren’t exactly loved but they had allies. You better watch your back, I’d hate to lose another well-paying customer.”
“Aw, that’s awfully kind of you. But don’t worry,” The boy smirks, “I’m the strongest.”
Chapter 7: A Class with Curses
Chapter Text
A small humanoid mound of infected pus glowing yellow beneath thin red membranes and glowing red eyes spits out yellow stuff at him. Izuku dodges by running behind an opened door, cringing as he watches it rot away upon contact.
He heard reports of pets disappearing in the area surrounding an abandoned hospital and went to investigate finding a pack of Grade Three Cursed Spirits prowling the area for small prey. If they were left alone any longer he was sure it would start targeting other small prey, like children, so he had to quickly deal with them. The last of them now standing in front of him desperately fighting for its life.
Kicking what's left of the door off its hinges, he turns it into a projectile that smashes into the Cursed Spirit. The spirit bursts open,making it leak pus everywhere and rot the floor beneath it, sending it falling down.
As it recovers, it looks up to see Izuku prying off another door from its hinges and leaping down with the door beneath him like a board. It scampers away, phasing through the walls as all weak Curses do, forcing Izuku to punch his way through and spies it trying to leave the building only to slam into his Curtain.
“You’re not going anywhere.” he declares and pulls it closer with a pulse of Blue, taking off his jacket as it flies towards him and wrapping it around the Cursed Spirit, turning the jacket into an improvised net. He then begins infusing it with Cursed Energy before smashing it against the wall causing the Cursed Spirit inside to burst. He steps away in time, unfortunately, his jacket isn’t so lucky as it rots away from the toxic pus while the remains disappear in puffs of black smoke.
With the Curse defeated the curtain was brought down and Izuku sighed
“That was my favourite jacket.” he grumbles as he picks off the scraps that remain once the pus clears off, “And you were the most disgusting Curse I’ve ever fought.”
“The most disgusting Curse you've fought so far.” Gojo chimes in unhelpfully, “Sorry to say but there’s gonna be more. Hospital Curses are always gross, and very icky, but trust me you don’t want to fight a Curse found in washrooms. Bleh.”
Izuku cringes in disgust before pulling out a bloody dog collar from what remained of his jacket’s pocket, having picked it up from the pile of animal skeletons he found in the hospital. He would call the police and inform them under an anonymous call he found a pile of dead animals in the abandoned hospital. But first, he had something to do.
***
“I’m sorry.” Izuku mutters as he hands the crying boy his dog’s collar, “I saw a pile of animal corpses and this was in them. I recognised it from those missing posters you’ve been putting up.”
“No…You’re lying! Shizu’s not dead!” the boy cries out in denial with tears streaming from his eyes, “Why are you being so mean!”
“Akio!” his mother tries to reach for him but the boy runs off to his room, clutching the collar as he does so. She sighs and turns to Izuku, “I’m so sorry for that, he really loved that dog…It was the last thing he had from my late husband.”
“I’m sorry ma’am.” he looks down regretfully as she sighs.
“I’d hoped she was just lost, but after she didn’t return the second day I knew something had happened.” she says as she pulls out her purse, “Here, at least thanks to you we’ll get some closure.”
“No, it’s fine.” he stops her from reaching into her purse, “I don’t need anything. Take care of yourselves.”
“If you insist.” she puts away her purse and begins closing the door to her apartment, “And I mean it. Thank you. At least we know what happened.”
Izuku leaves with a heavy sigh. At the very least they could bury and move on from this, and at least it wasn’t a dead human this time. This was a victory and yet he still felt disappointed in himself, the boy crying in his head.
“You can’t make everyone happy, Midoriya. At least thanks to you, pet owners and even kids don’t have to watch their backs for a pack of Infection Curses looking to rot them to their bones for amusem*nt.” Gojo says, trying to cheer up his student.
“I know.” Izuku sighs, “It doesn’t get easier does it?”
“Nope.” Gojo says bluntly, “Well I guess it depends on the type of person, but some never find it easier. People are going to get hurt before you even realise it’s a Curse causing trouble. It’s a fact we can’t change. We’re responders, not oracles.”
“I just wish there’s some kind of machine that could tell when a Curse spawns and where or something.” Izuku mutters under his breath before whipping out a small notepad labelled ‘Curse Notes #1’, jotting down his latest exorcism before he flips to a page with a list of locations struck through and cutting out the latest one, “There’s still five more to go, and tomorrow we’ll probably hear of ten more suspected Curse activity.”
Taking out his phone he flips through a website he had been frequently lately for news on Curses. It was a chat forum where people discussed ‘supernatural activity’ happening throughout Japan called ‘Ghost Nexus’. Of course, more than 90% of them were attention seekers or pure fiction but the top ones that were widely discussed and based on real events were the ones he sought, and 1/10 times they would turn out to be caused by actual Curses.
“Well you better hurry.” Gojo points at the sky where the sun is slowly setting, “Tomorrow’s a school day. Your first day in UA. You don’t want to be late do you?”
“I know.” Izuku groans as he rubs his eyes, “I’m gonna need another cup of coffee for this.”
***
Izuku stares at the building in front of him. This was UA, the greatest hero school to ever exist in the entire country. It poured out some of the highest-ranking heroes in Japan including but not limited to Best Jeanist, Edgeshot, Endeavour and All Might himself. It was possibly the greatest in the entire world.
So why wasn’t he more excited about this? Maybe because he knows the seriousness of what it means to be a Pro Hero now, or at least something similar. Late nights spent hunting Curses made him see things he thought he’d never see outside of horror movies.
This wasn’t fun and games. It was a dangerous job where people depended on them to protect them, and in some cases avenge them.
“People deal with seeing death for the first time differently.” Gojo pipes in from inside his head, “You just saw yours for the first time a week ago and it wasn’t exactly pretty. Death has a thing with changing one’s perspective on life, especially the more violent they are.”
“I know.” Izuku sighed, “But if I changed then…what exactly am I becoming?”
Before Gojo could respond he heard a voice from behind him,
“Hey, is it your first day too?”
He turns to see an excited girl with short brown hair and pink cheeks walk up to him,
“Oh wow, you look exhausted.” she says surprised at how he was looking before apologising, “Sorry, that sounded rude. Are you a new student too?”
“Yeah, I am.” Izuku nods before looking back at the gates of UA.
“It’s intimidating isn’t it?” she asks, likely misinterpreting how he was feeling, “These are the same halls that churned out heroes like All Might! That’s gotta put some pressure on your shoulders, eh?”
“...I don’t think I have room on my shoulders for that,” Izuku mutters under his breath, surprising even himself with how tired he sounded.
“What was that?” the girl asks not having heard him.
“Nothing, just agreeing with what you said.” Izuku lies before walking through the gate, “Which class are you in, by the way?”
“Class 1-A! How about you?” the girl asks as she follows him.
“That’s the same with me as well.” Izuku says surprised, “I guess I should introduce myself to a classmate. Hi, my name’s Izuku Midoriya.”
He bows politely to her and she quickly bows back, “My name’s Ochako Uraraka! It’s nice to meet you, Midoriya.”
After a while of walking in silence she continues, “So how do you feel about this? Excited for your first day?”
“...I guess I should be.” Izuku admits, “It’s everything I wanted since I was a kid, to study as a hero in the same school as All Might. But here I am and I feel…tired.”
“Well, I guess that’s reasonable with those eyebags.” Ochako jokes pointing at the dark bags under his eyes, “Maybe you just need a nap?”
Izuku can’t help but laugh at that. It wasn’t supposed to be funny but he found himself chuckling nonetheless, “Heh, maybe you’re right.”
“Well look at you Mr Stutter-when-talking-to-a-girl.” Gojo leans towards him, “Deep into this conversation and not a single stutter on those lips. No doubt all thanks to your great sensei’s advice for talking to women, right?”
Izuku laughs harder at that, and Ochako blinks in surprise, not thinking her suggestion had been that funny.
“Sorry.” Izuku apologises and smiles at her in thanks, “I think I needed that.”
“Well I’m glad to help. We gotta help each other since we’re classmates and all.” Ochako smiles brightly at him, “Oh hey, that’s our class!”
Izuku turns and notices the giant door nearly three times his height with 1-A plastered on it, signifying the class. He hopes Kyoka would be there as well, and if he’s lucky he wouldn’t have to deal with…
“Put your feet down at once!” a familiar blue-haired bespectacled guy yells at another familiar blonde with red eyes, “These are the desks once used by our seniors and upperclassmen! Have you no respect towards school property!”
“Why don’t you come closer, you uptight prick?” Katsuki shouts back annoyedly, “I’ll shove so much damn respect up your ass, that stick up in there will come flying out of your mouth! What were you born with it, or did some uptight private school shove it in for you?”
“What foul language!” The glasses boy looks shocked, “Are you sure you want to be a hero with such an attitude?”
“...Well, you can’t say our class doesn’t lack personality,” Ochako says, trying to look at the bright side of things as Izuku sighs. Then his eyes scan the room and to his delight, he sees Kyoka there and gives her a slight wave with his hands which she returns.
“Psst, Midoriya. Blonde chick on the left with glasses.”
Izuku rolls his eyes and is about to tell Gojo to stop trying to set him up with girls to entertain himself when he does so and eyes widen at the familiar sight. He had seen that girl before when Nedzu showed him the picture.
But what was more surprising was the Cursed Energy leaking from her. He had been distracted with his own thoughts; he didn't sense it. The blonde girl looked at him and her eyes widened as well, almost in recognition, as their eyes met.
Was this…was this another Sorcerer?
“Well isn’t this a surprise?” Gojo mutters to himself, “And another high-grade one, even if it isn’t Special Grade. They’re really popping out of the woodwork lately.”
“What…?” he whispers under his breath before the two arguing boys notice him.
“Tsk, Deku,” Katsuki growls at him and he feels his body instinctively freeze up. Years of reflex kicking in as he takes a step back and avoids eye contact with the explosive blonde. Even after how strong he’d gotten he was still this pathetic…
“Can’t believe that kid, of all people, got in.” Gojo clicks his tongue, “But if I guess combat ability is what they’re looking for then he fits perfectly.”
“He’s always been talented,” Izuku mutters barely audibly as the boy with blue spectacles walks up to him,
“You there, Izuku Midoriya I presume?” he asks as he approaches and bows, surprising him, “I am Tenya Iida. I presume you remember me from the Entrance Exam?”
“Yeah, I do.” Izuku grimaces, remembering how the guy had shouted at him for his muttering.
“I’d like to apologise.” he says, surprising Izuku, “At first I was led to believe you were just another punk not taking the exam seriously. But it appears I was mistaken, you deduced the true purpose of the Zero Pointer from the very beginning didn’t you?”
“Huh?” Izuku asks as Tenya continues.
“You deduced that the Zero Pointer’s purpose was to test an examinee’s behaviour in high-stress scenarios and how they would respond to another examinee in danger, whether to flee or rescue them! To test our heroic potential!” Tenya says looking pained before admitting, “Stealing points from your fellow examinees, and yet leaping in to risk yourself for the Rescue Points, I admit that your tactical brilliance in amassing the largest possible points means you were the superior candidate among us.”
“...What?” Izuku asks, completely flabbergasted. Because of his actions were people now thinking he was some selfish manipulative person?!
“Hey, that’s where I remember you from!” a boy with spiky red hair exclaims, “You used me as a jumping pad to take down a Two Pointer!”
At this, some of the students began whispering among each other with some glances at him.
“What, that can’t be true.” Ochako says coming to his defence, “He doesn’t seem the type to do that.”
“...Actually I did. The jumping pad part I mean.” he says coughing into a fist, avoiding eye contact from shame, “But I swear, I didn’t know about the Rescue Points! I just thought someone was in danger and went to help. There’s nothing else to it.”
“Truly? Then I have misjudged you once more, forgive me.” Tenya says, bowing again.
“If you’re here to socialise, get out.” a voice grumbles from under the teacher’s desk to everyone’s surprise, even Kyoka's. Izuku didn’t react, however, having sensed his presence the moment he entered. He just figured it was the teacher hoping to catch a few extra winks before class started, and if late-night Curse hunting was anything like Pro Hero work he could understand. In fact, he was hoping to use the opportunity to get a short nap himself.
“This is the Hero Course, not some social club or whatever.” the man grumbles as he steps out of his sleeping bag, slurping down a juice pack, “Eight seconds to quiet down, not a rational lot, are you? Anyway, my name is Shota Aizawa. Pleased to meet you. I'll be your homeroom teacher.”
Before anyone could speak he reaches into his sleeping bag and throws at Izuku what appears to be a blue jacket with the white letters UA on it.
“Get dressed in your gym uniforms. We’re heading out to the grounds now.”
***
“A test on our Quirks?” most of the class exclaims in surprise.
“Correct,” Aizawa says before Ochako protests this,
“But what about the entrance ceremony? Or guidance sessions?” she asks confused, “That’s what the pamphlet said was gonna happen at least.”
“The orientations are available online, you can check it out on your student email,” Aizawa responds.
“We have student emails?” another student asked but was ignored by their homeroom teacher.
“UA’s known for its freestyle education system. That applies to us teachers as well.” he explains, "You did all these tests in middle school, right? Softball throws grip test, fifty-metre dash, standing long jumps and the like. The country still insists on prohibiting Quirks from the national record. Irrational I call it, which is why we’re doing this instead of orientations.”
He tosses a ball to Izuku who catches it on reflex, “Midroiya, how far could you throw in middle school?”
Izuku coughs into a fist embarrassed, “... Forty-five metres.”
Katsuki snickers from among the crowd of his classmates as Aizawa waves him over, “Well this time you’re pulling it off with your Quirk. You can do that without melting your brains like in the exam, can you? Do whatever you want, just make sure you don’t leave the circle.”
“Yes sir.” Izuku nods as he stands in the circle and raises the ball, pondering how far he can throw with just Cursed Energy and how he can extend it. Reeling it back with a fist infused with Cursed Energy he flings it before pointing two fingers at it, a pulse of Blue extending ahead of the ball and pulling it forward.
“Two kilometres.” Aizawa nods as he shows the class his score, “Knowing your limits is the first step to being Pro Heroes.”
Katsuki growls at the score and at the back of Izuku’s head as the class cheers,
“So we can use our Quirks however we want? That’s so cool!” one of the students cheers.
“This is gonna be fun!” a pink-skinned girl agreed as Aizawa glared at them.
“Fun, is that what you people think is the point of this?” Aizawa asks rhetorically and coldly, “Awesome? You’re going to be Pro Heroes in three years, people will be depending on you to save their lives, and you think it’s going to be fun and games?”
At this, everyone began quieting down and Gojo smirked at this,
“Dead serious, huh? Reminds me of a friend of mine, if he became a teacher.” Gojo says.
“Tell you what, since we’re having fun, why don’t we make a bet?” Aizawa asks sarcastically, “Whoever gets the lowest score will be judged hopeless and expelled.”
Most of the class gasped at this news and began looking at each other worriedly. Izuku looks nervous as well, not for himself really, but for the people he befriended so far like Kyoka and Ochako.
“But that’s not fair, it’s only our first day!” Ochako says.
“The world’s unfair…” Izuku mutters under his breath, “Heroes are the ones to correct the unfairness.”
“Precisely.” Aizawa agreed having heard that, “If you hoped otherwise I regret being the one to inform you that for the next three years, UA will run you all through the wringer. That’s going beyond, Plus Ultra as our school motto says.”
“I like his style, gives everyone motivation to try their best.” Gojo grins before looking at Izuku, “Let’s add more stakes to this, if you get the top score I’ll teach you a super cool technique you can pull with your Cursed Energy, no Limitless required.”
“Seriously?” Izuku whispers to Gojo which luckily goes unnoticed.
“Guaranteed.” Gojo smirks, “It’ll be even more effective against non-Curse-using foes, which is practically everyone you’ll be fighting as a Pro Hero.”
“Demonstrations over, now it’s time for 50-metre dashes,” Aizawa announces and calls up the first two students. As he does so Izuku feels someone grabbing his shoulder and turns to find the blond girl full of Cursed Energy.
“Hey, I have a question…” she whispers to him and he stops her quickly,
“Not now.” he whispers back, “After school, wait for me outside.”
The girl hesitates before letting go of his shoulder with a nod, understanding. But as she stepped back he noticed Kyoka staring at him oddly, raising a brow at him. He sighed to himself, his remaining school life was going to be complicated, wasn’t it?
***
When it came time for Izuku’s turn he grimaced as he was partnered with Katsuki and tried his best to ignore him, focusing on the track ahead of him. He knows he was fast with his Cursed Energy enhancement, probably as fast as Tenya was, but that wouldn’t be his fastest.
He knew Satoru Gojo could instantaneously warp himself to locations but he hasn’t revealed that secret yet, wanting Izuku to figure it out himself. How does he do it, what application of Limitless does he use to teleport? Can he even pull it off on the first try?
…Or perhaps he doesn’t have to. Perhaps there’s another way, Blue created a gravitational force to suck things in and can boost his speed but it’ll catch Katsuki in its area of effect as well unless he focuses it somehow.
An idea pops into his head and instead of getting into a running stance, he raises two of his fingers and points ahead of him, creating a hand sign for Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue while simultaneously creating a tunnel made of Limitless and projecting it ahead. If he can use it to funnel Blue and target only himself, he might actually be faster than predicted and-
“Don’t even think about beating me, Deku.” Katsuki growls and Izuku flinches, his focus and Cursed Energy wavering for a second. Then the starting gun fires and Katsuki blasts ahead and Izuku’s hesitation costs him a full second before he triggers his Technique.
Katsuki grins as he thinks he’ll reach the finish line first but then in a blink and gust of wind, Izuku Midoriya suddenly appears right in front of him.
“Izuku Midoriya, 1.21 seconds. Katsuki Bakugou, 4.13 seconds.” Aizawa announces as he checks the results. Katsuki glared at him with hateful eyes before shoving past Izuku back to where the class was gathering as they waited for the rest to do their exercises.
“Jeez, what’s with that asshole?” Kyoka asks as she walks up to him, “You alright there, Green? You’re leaking something.”
She gestures to his nose and Izuku groans as he wipes some blood from it with his hands, “Ugh, not yet thankfully. I haven’t done that before, so I’ll need to work on how I can fine-tune my control.”
As blood dried in his hand, he found himself being offered a box of tissues by a girl with spiky black hair in a ponytail. He remembers her, having seen her create a skateboard for her 50-metre dash.
“Trouble with your Quirk?” she asks as Izuku gratefully accepts some tissues to clog his bloody nose and she introduces herself, “Momo Yaoyorozu. Sorry to interrupt but I’ve been trying to find out what your Quirk is. Is it some kind of telekinesis?”
“Thanks, and not really.” Izuku nods with a tissue in their hand blocking his nose, “Why did you think that?”
“Well, first of all when we saw you throw the softball you then activated something and it got sent flying.” she explains, “And then during our latest test you were standing still and it looked like you teleported. If not for the gust of wind and vacuum you left behind I’d have thought it was.”
“Well I was kinda trying to teleport, but moving fast was the best I can do.” Izuku shrugged as the girl’s eyes widened, “My Quirk’s called Limitless, but essentially it allows me to bring forth impossible concepts to reality.”
“That sounds fascinating. Can you clarify?” the girl asks looking curious and Izuku nods,
“Well, there’s the neutral state of my Limitless, Infinity, which allows me to divide space infinitely and prevent anything from touching me because with infinite space between us, they’ll never reach me.” Izuku explains before raising a hand that glowed with a blue aura from his Lapse technique, “And this is an extension of my power, called Blue. When I try to extend it outwards by amplifying Infinity it allows me to create negative space. And when there’s negative space-”
“The surrounding will close in to try and fill out this impossible gap, violently so, creating a sort of gravitational pull.” the girl realises, “That’s what allowed you to move that fast, you created this Blue in front of you and funnel it with your Infinity by dividing space around you to prevent it from affecting others, then allowing you to be the only thing pulled by the Blue.”
“You got all that? Cause to me that sounds crazy.” Kyoka admits.
“It does because those are all just mathematical concepts, but your Quirk allows you to bring them to reality.” Momo says, looking impressed, “You must be really smart to have figured it all out because it sounds very difficult to use at a young age. It sounds like it requires lots of knowledge of mathematics and physics.”
“‘Sup?” Ochako says suddenly joining in, “Sorry I just heard some talk about gravity, and that’s kinda my thing. What’s going on?”
“Talking about Midoriya’s Quirk.” Kyoka gestures at him, “All I heard about were negative numbers, infinity, maths, physics and all that.”
As they were re-explaining things to Ochako, a blonde with a lightning bolt on his hair looked on with envy,
“First day and he’s swarmed by ladies?” he asks out loud, “Lucky…”
“Oh yeah, that sounds really complicated.” Ochako agreed after hearing the simplified version of it all, “I’m surprised you figured it out if it's that complicated.”
“Well…I kinda didn’t, not for a while anyways.” Izuku says looking away, “I didn’t know until ten months ago when I had a teacher help me figure out what my powers were. If not for him I think I wouldn’t have known to this day.”
“Wait, so you’re saying you grew up Quirkless?” Momo asks, looking surprised as Izuku clenches his fist at the reminder, “Pardon my outburst, but it’s just surprising. I don’t think I remember the last time I met someone who was Quirkless.”
“Yeah, I heard there are barely any Quirkless left in Japan,” Ochako remembers that little tidbit of information and Izuku cringes, looking more and more uncomfortable before it is noticed by Kyoka who decides to change the subject.
“By the way, you want to hear about Eri?” she asks, taking Izuku’s mind off things.
“Right…is she doing well?” Izuku asks as she nods,
“Yeah my parents were surprised at first but now she’s got them wrapped around a finger.” she smirks, “She’s adorable like that.”
“Sorry but who are you talking about?” Ochako asks curiously and Kyoka explains,
“Just a kid this guy has me saddled with.” Kyoka elbows Izuku playfully, “Paying me eighty thousand yen a week to take care of her for him if you can believe it.”
“Hang on, babysitting jobs go for that much?!” Ochako cries out in disbelief at the price.
“Is that odd? My parents paid much more for a babysitter when I was younger.” Momo is genuinely confused as Ochako mutters something about rich kids.
Izuku bites his tongue, not having intended for something like that to get out.
“It’s…it’s special circ*mstances. And she’s not like my kid or anything.” Izuku clarified with a blush on his cheeks.
“Of course, you’re too young for that.” Momo nods, “But it raises the question, who is this Eri-?”
“Oh hey! We’re moving on to the next test already!” Izuku interrupts changing the topic immediately, “We really should focus, shouldn’t we?”
***
“Alright, going over all your scores individually will take forever, so all I’m showing are the final marks,” Aizawa says as he shows them their scores and Izuku looks from the bottom at the 20th, which was someone named Touru Hagurake.
The invisible girl gasps lightly at the sight and he sees her trembling, for which he feels sympathy. All that effort and here she would be expelled on the first day.
Kyoka got a bit higher and let out a sigh of relief, and Ochako was somewhere in the middle toher joy. Momo got second place thanks to the versatility her Quirk provided and was mildly disappointed she wasn’t first but got over it quickly.
To his surprise the blonde girl, Melissa Shield as he had learnt, was quite low on the average despite possessing Cursed Energy. He thought with how strong her Cursed Energy was, she would be higher, but from how he was watching her performance she wasn’t manipulating it correctly and efficiently leading to sub-par performance.
And his eyes widened when he saw he was in first place, his jaw dropping slightly.
“I did it?” he mutters surprised.
“Jeez you really need more self-confidence don’t you?” Gojo sighs, “Honestly we need to get that fixed quick, you ain’t gonna get ladies without confidence you know?”
“...the f*ck?” Katsuki’s eyes widened as veins popped on his forehead, staring at his spot on the scoreboard, “Fourth place?”
“Those of you disappointed in your places on the board, tough luck. Go ahead and cry about it, but it won’t change anything. Only hard work and training can do that so don’t waste time. Things will only get harder from here.” Aizawa says coldly as he switches off the scoreboard.
Hagurake sounds like she is almost about to cry, being comforted by a guy with a large tail (Ojiro if he heard correctly), before Aizawa chimes in,
“Oh and another thing, I was lying about expelling someone.” Aizawa adds as the invisible girl stops crying, “That was a rational deception to make you all do your best.”
“Rational deception?!” half the class on the low end of the board shouts surprised and annoyed, “We were scared out of our minds!”
“As you should be. The Pro Hero industry isn't this kind.” Aizawa responds unaffected by their shouts, “Even being a student from UA doesn’t guarantee anything. We give you the basic training you need, but it’s up to you to carry yourselves over the finish line. Your schedules will be on your desks by now. Welcome to UA High.”
He leaves the students to deal with this revelation by themselves, walking around the corner before hearing a voice from behind him,
“That was a dirty trick you pulled, don’t you think?” All Might ask with a chuckle and the ever-present smile on his face, “Cruel for their first day.”
“Better a hurt child now, than a dead one later.” Aizawa mutters, “What are you doing here, All Might?”
“Ah, just checking on my future students.” All Might laughs, “You won’t believe how nervous I am teaching for the first time. I think the jitters got to me. What do you think of them so far? Particularly those two, Izuku Midoriya and Melissa Shield?”
“Those two?” Aizawa asks, raising a brow, remembering how All Might reacted in the faculty meeting when looking over the list of recommended students, “I don’t like the Shield girl. From how she performed it was like she barely knew how to use her Quirk, not sure how she convinced five different Pro Heroes to grant her a recommendation. If you asked me she probably pulled strings with her father’s name to get here.”
“That’s…a bit harsh.” All Might says, biting his lip.
“You asked for my thoughts. I don’t know what’s going on in her mind, going from one of the top students on I-Island in the Support Course and suddenly changing to join UA a literal ocean away.” Aizawa grumbles, “If she’s here for cheap thrills she’s going to be disappointed. I’ll treat her like I do any other student, but in my opinion, I think her potential is actually lower than Hagurake.”
“Well, to each their own.” All Might coughed into a fist, “And the boy, Midoriya?”
“... Performance-wise, he’s the top for a reason.” Aizawa answers after a pause, “He’s got an impressive Quirk and the skills to use it. I thought he was reckless during the Entrance Exam but it looks like he’s changed. That’s good, means he’s taking things seriously, and shows initiative by improving himself.”
“But…?” All Might asks, feeling he isn’t done yet.
“His eyes bother me.” Aizawa says, “They look like they belong to someone who’s seen things. I’m wondering what a kid has to see to get eyes like that.”
***
Izuku waved goodbye to the new friends he made today, declining their invitation to join them on their way home as he waited by the gates of UA for his appointment with a certain someone. Part of him wishes he could go with Jirou to check on Eri but this takes priority, unfortunately.
However, as he waited, a blonde that he wasn’t looking towards meeting, approached him.
“Deku…Thought I told you to stay the hell from UA?” he asks dangerously and uncharacteristically quietly. Izuku clenches a shaking fist at this, eyes staring forward and avoiding Katsuki who was glowering right next to him.
“You did. I ignored you.” he says, doing his best to ignore his presence and his accelerating heartbeat, “Just leave me alone.”
But Katsuki ignores him, placinga smoking palm on his shoulder and whispering, “I don’t have to remind you what I promise I’d do to you if you ever show your face here, Deku.”
He could have done anything to stop him. A small field of Infinity, an arm lock before shattering his elbow, anything…But he stands there and takes it just like the old days, his eyes growing distant and he starts breathing harder before someone interrupts them.
“Hey, what’s going on here?” a bespectacled blonde girl approaches, “Leave him alone, he doesn’t look like he wants to talk to you.”
Katsuki clicks his tongue but relents and moves on, but not before one last barb, “You got everyone fooled but I know who you really are. Just weak. Useless. Deku.”
He leaves and Gojo glares at him invisibly from inside of Izuku’s mind. Despite wanting to intervene he stops himself from doing so, partially because if he does his student will never learn, and partially because Izuku was actively resisting. So he does the only thing he can do and blows a raspberry as the explosive blonde leaves.
“Hey, you alright there?” Melissa asks as she dusts off the soot on Izuku’s uniform, “What was that? Do you need to report that to a teacher?”
“Forget it.” Izuku mutters before turning to her, “You came.”
He states simply and she shrugs, “You asked me to.”
“You have questions.” Izuku asks and she hesitantly nods, “When did you become aware?
“Ten months ago.” Melissa says and Izuku feels a jolt in his body, “Was it…was it the same for you too?”
“More or less.” he mutters before turning, “We should go elsewhere. Too many ears around here. I know a place where we can talk in private.”
“...You understand how shady that sounds?” Melissa asks as she crosses her arms, “I’m not going to a second location, even if it's with a classmate.”
“She’s got a point.” Gojo says, “Honestly if I were her, I’d assume you’re planning to steal my kidney.”
With a sigh, Izuku offers a hand, “I, Izuku Midoriya, vow that I’m not going to attempt anything that would threaten the wellbeing of you, Melissa Shield, nor place her in any scenario that would do her harm. Will that work?”
“Is that supposed to make me trust you?” she asks, confused at his behaviour.
“A Binding Vow.” Izuku explains, “A pact made that is the basis for all jujutsu.”
“Jujutsu?” Melissa mutters.
“If you want to know more you need to accept the vow and come with me.” Izuku explains, “If I try anything I’ll be the one that’s punished for breaking the vow. You want your answers do you?”
Melissa stares at his offered hand for a moment before taking it,
“I accept.”
Chapter 8: Trial of Curses Pt 1
Chapter Text
“Damn it…Damn it! You just had to walk in did you?!”
Marcus Flint, a disgraced scientist from I-Island, asks as he chokes the life out of Melissa Shield while pinning her to the workbench.
A few months ago he had been found embezzling funds to fuel his gambling addiction. Coupled with a nasty divorce, losing custody of his children the fact of progress he has made in his scientific research to justify his grant, and being exposed for plagiarism resulted in a downward spiral that eventually led to the decision for him to be ejected from I-Island with David Shield’s vote being the deciding factor in this.
Angry and drunk, he decided to spend his last day on I-Island attempting to frame David Shield to get him removed as well. One last act of retribution. How was he to know that his daughter would accidentally stumble upon and witness his actions?
“This…this is your fault! Damn it!” he shouts as he squeezes tighter, “Maybe now he’ll know what it’s like to lose everything!”
Melissa desperately tries to free herself, scratching at him to force him to let go but she was slowly blacking out. But before she could fully lose consciousness she saw something, a line with ten marks across his face almost like a ruler with a line on a 3:7 ratio.
She didn’t know why she did it, perhaps it was desperation to live, but she struck it directly on the ratio. It wasn’t even with that much force, she was too weak and deprived of oxygen to muster enough strength, but that little force was all she needed.
Marcus’ skull splits open in an instant down from that ratio, blood and brain splattering all over her and the workshop as the dying man stumbles back in shock. Melissa leaps up and her hand goes over her throat, trying to register what happened as the dying man had enough brain left to mutter out some last words at her,
“Mur…der…er…” he mutters before keeling over, dead before he touches the ground.
***
“...So that’s how I found out my power.” Melissa says as they sit next to each other surrounded by walls of trash in Takoba Beach, “Afterwards I started seeing these…things. Nobody else but I could see them, could touch them.”
“Curses.” Izuku nods, “Being created from Cursed Energy, which is created from the negative emotions of the Quirkless.”
“Curses…” Melissa tests the word on her lips, frowning before responding, “That explains why I only saw a handful of them in my room. I’m probably the only Quirkless person on I-Island. There’s not many of us around anymore, right?”
“I hear Argentina has the largest Quirkless population.” Izuku shrugs before looking at her, “Probably more like us there, and maybe more Curses.”
“It sounds unreal.” Melissa mutters, “Curses, evil spirits, reincarnated sorcerers from ancient clans dating back to the Heian Period…”
Before Izuku could respond, a mouth grew on his cheek with a single blue eye above it, “Hey trust me, I’m as real as you are.”
“GAH!!” both kids scream, Izuku even more so as he slaps his own cheek in surprise, “Gojo-sensei?!”
He asks surprised at the sudden manifestation. His mentor had been oddly silent through Melissa's whole story and he thought that Gojo was starring into the distance for a moment, like his mind was elsewhere.
“In the flesh, or as close as I can be.” Gojo chuckles at their reaction, “I saw someone pull this trick back when I was alive. Didn't think I could do it, but what do you know?”
“It just…it goes against all scientific reason.” Melissa says once she recovers from her shock, “A power source from negative emotions that existed since ancient times back when samurai were still a thing? How come nobody ever picked it up?”
“Simple answer? We had Tengen’s barrier suppressing and containing all Cursed activity in Japan since the old days of the Heian Period.” Gojo explains, “With him gone we’d be seeing them and Sorcerers everywhere across the globe but I guess the barrier’s disappearance coincided with Quirks appearing. With Quirks taking Cursed Energy’s place we began losing numbers and so did Curses until only the scraps remained.”
Melissa sighs and buries her head into her arms, “This is even more complicated than I thought. I wasn’t expecting this when I came to Japan.”
“...Why did you come to Japan anyways, Shield?” Izuku asks after thinking about it for a while, still not figuring that out yet, “Did you suspect it had answers?”
“Not really.” Melissa admits looking at her hands and rubbing them as if trying to remove a stain, “I came to Japan because I was scared of myself… of what I could do. My dad always said that if you’re scared of something it's because you don’t understand it, so to overcome it you need to study it. That’s what I plan to do, somewhere safe and far from where it happened. UA had the best Hero Course so I figured they could help me figure out what’s exactly going on with me.”
They both sit there in silence before Izuku speaks up again, “I can help you. Help you learn to control your Cursed Energy and use your technique. It won’t be the first time I taught someone to do so.”
“Really?” Melissa asks warrily, “What do I have to do, help you ‘exorcise’ the spirits in return?”
“You don’t need to do anything that isn’t your choice.” Izuku assures, “I won’t mind the help but that’s your choice at the end of the day, I won’t force it on anyone. Being a Sorcerer… it’s not easy or pretty.”
He says with a downcast look that Melissa recognizes in herself on bad days after her first kill, “Midoriya…have you killed someone before?”
He shakes his head, “No…but I’ve seen someone die. If it hurts this bad, I can only imagine what you must be going through. I’m sorry I can’t help you through that, but I can at least help train you to make sure you don’t accidentally kill anyone.”
Melissa nods, “I’d like that.”
***
Izuku Midoriya was a strange guy. That should have been obvious the moment she heard him talk to himself in the middle of UA’s entrance but he kept managing to surprise her. First, by nearly blowing his brains up with that insane mathematically impossible Quirk of his because he thought she was in danger in an Entrance Exam, the second was when he showed up days afterwards with a kid that he dropped in her lap along with eighty thousand yen a week for some vague reasons.
Now apparently he was some kinda ladies' man judging from his interactions with that hot blonde, Melissa Shield. Seeing the two of them meet after classes, whispering to each other during Aizawa’s brutal Quirk Apprehension Test, and now coming into class at the same time looking exhausted.
“Sorry for being too rough yesterday.” he whispers to her as they go to their own seats and Melissa looks embarrassed, “Do your bruises still hurt?”
“You can’t just say that out loud in public,” she whispers back looking flushed before setting down with a wince like she was still sore.
…Lucky bastard.
The rest of the day passes fairly normally. In the morning they’d have normal classes you’d find in a high school, English, maths, and history and during lunch time they ate at the cafeteria with food provided by another Pro Hero named Lunch Rush.
She wonders if it’s practical to hire a Pro Hero just to cook food but the moment she tasted even simple white rice she changed her mind. Whatever UA was paying for him, it wassoworth it.
Then the time came for afternoon classes which was what everyone here was waiting for. The reason they all came to UA in the first place instead of anywhere else in the country. Hero Basic Training.
A loud boisterous laugh was heard down the hall that all students in the class are familiar with, and even the most stoic of them had a glint in their eyes as the greatest hero in the world came barging through the door,
“I AM HERE!” cries All Might as he dramatically dashes through the door, “Straight through the door like normal!”
***
“I almost can’t believe it! Our first day as hero students!” Mina Ashido exclaims as she changes into her costume.
“I know it’s a dream come true!” Hagurake agreed.
Kyoka changes in silence as she puts on her own costume, more of a mix of what she had at home compared to the dedicated hero costumes designed by Support companies affiliated with Japan. But even then she was surprised her costume wasn’t the cheapest, that honour would go to Melissa Shield who puts on a UA gym uniform instead.
“Was there an issue with your costume, Shield?” Momo asks out of curiosity, “Is it perhaps not done yet?”
“Well…not exactly.” she shrugs, “I’m not actually sure what I want yet. So I’m sticking with the gym uniform until I decide on it.”
“I’m sure some of the teachers would be kind enough to offer advice on making their costumes.” Momo suggests, “Perhaps you can ask All Might after class? He went through various changes in his wardrobe over the years.”
“Maybe,” Melissa says non-committedly as she zips up the gym uniform jacket and pulls out a support item from her suitcase. It appears to be some kind of bracelet before she taps it, causing it to instantly unfold into some kind of metallic bandage wrapping around her arm like a gauntlet.
“But I see you didn’t have any problem with your Support Item.” Momo notes, “What is it?”
“It’s one of my inventions, I call it the Full Gauntlet.” Melissa explains as she flicks her arm to return it to bracelet form, “It’s originally meant to help absorb kinetic energy to reduce any backlash for those types of Quirks. But it’s also useful to block and absorb physical attacks before dishing them right back.”
“Impressive, you built that yourself?” Momo looked amazed and Melissa was about to answer before wincing, “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, just still a bit sore from last night,” Melissa mutters as she rubs her stomach.
“Last night, eh?” Mina leans with a teasing tone, “Say you came to class the same time that Midoriya guy did, doesn’t happen to be related does it?”
“No, it did.” Melissa grumbles, “Never ask him to spar with you unless you want to know what it’s like to get your ass kicked by Bruce Lee. I’m pretty sure I lost my breakfast, lunch and dinner when he punched me in the stomach.”
Hearing this, Kyoka lets out a sigh before wondering what that was about. Why did she suddenly feel relieved just now?
“Wait, who’s Bruce Lee?” Hagurake asks and both Melissa and Kyoka stare blankly at her, and most of the other girls share her confusion.
“...Savages,” Melissa mutters.
“Tell me about it, no respect for the classics anymore.” Kyoka agreed.
***
“So either take them all out or get to the bomb to win,” Melissa mutters as she memorises the map they were given. Both options weren’t exactly going to be easy considering the fact they were up against two top scorers of Aizawa’s Quirk Apprehension Test, one of the recommended students and the one who got second place in UA’s Entrance Exam.
“It’s your call, you’re the one with the most combat experience after all.” Melissa turns to Izuku standing next to her, dressed in all-white robes and baggy pants with a black scarf around his neck.
“It sounds to me like getting the bomb is the logical option.” Izuku says, “You’re one of the recommended students right? What can you tell me about Todoroki?”
“Well, he wasn’t one for conversation, that much I can tell. Besides that, nothing you don’t already know.” Melissa remembers him coldly turning away someone in the Recommendation Entrance Exam who tried to engage in friendly conversation, “Our Practical Exam wasn’t with robots, we just had a normal three kilometres race, and Todoroki got second place. He’s got an ice Quirk and is really good at using it, but I saw frost building up on his right side only and he was shivering. Could mean he can only direct it out of the right side and is vulnerable to prolonged use.”
“He’s also the son of Endeavour.” Izuku points out, “If ice comes only from the right, maybe fire comes from the left? He’s got a scar there, after all, might’ve been a Quirk accident as a kid.”
“Fire and ice, so theoretically he can remove his vulnerability from prolonged use by just activating the opposite element.” Melissa cringes, “That’s pretty strong. What about that Bakugou guy? Any chance he’s a pushover?”
Izuku laughs mirthlessly, “Nah, he’s strong alright. He practises with his Quirk and trains his body every day so he didn’t get second place in the Entrance Exam for no reason. His Quirk’s sweating nitroglycerin from his arms that he can detonate at will, meaning besides insane offensive power he’s got toughness strong enough to tank his own explosions as well. The more he fights, the more he sweats, the stronger his explosions get. If it’s a battle of attrition he wins, so I’ll have to take him out as quickly as possible.”
“Hang on, you mean the two of you take him out as quickly as possible, right? I mean there’s two of you, just jump him and kick him while he’s down.”Gojo asks as Melissa thinks the same,
“Wait, you mean we take him out as quickly as possible right?”
Izuku shakes his head, “Kacchan’s likely going to go for me as soon as the match starts. I can keep him busy and away from the bomb leaving just Todoroki defending it while you go grab it. Touching it is an instant win condition, after all, so you’ll have the advantage.”
“That makes sense but… I get the feeling you just want to fight him solo, don’t you?” Melissa guesses as she sighs, “On one hand, I’d call out how dumb that but on the other hand…you were bullied by him weren’t you? Before you become strong.”
Izuku remains silent, avoiding her eyes which were answered enough.
“Well, far be it for me to stop someone getting back at a bully. God knows I dreamt of that a couple times. It’s everyone’s fantasy at some point, right?” she tries joking before changing her tune, “In all seriousness don’t take too long. I’ve seen you in action, I think you’re more than enough. Just take him down quickly and come help me with Todoroki. I personally think his ice is the most difficult to deal with.”
“It’s not just that, I don’t think I can become stronger without facing him and beating him.” Izuku clenches his fist, “I need to go beyond, but I can’t do that with my fear of him weighing me down.”
“Then I say go for it.” Melissa encourages, “That’s what this school’s about, isn’t it? Plus Ultra and all that.”
Before Izuku can voice his thanks, he hears All Might’s voice over the comm beads they were given,
“Villain Team prep-time’s up!”He announces,“Hero Team you are free to engage.”
***
All Might stares at the screen as the two students move into the building where the trial is taking place. So both Midoriya and Bakugou appeared to have a history with each other? That was odd, he made sure to read through the profile of each of his students and he found no record of bullying mentioned in Bakugou’s. It was all clean and he wondered what Midoriya was talking about.
…Something to investigate later, he’d have to let Aizawa know.
“Dang, so the first battle’s gonna be between recommended students and top rankers in the Entrance Exam?” one of the students, Denki Kaminari if he recalls, exclaims with excitement.
“Yeah, not sure about that Midoriya guy but he seems pretty strong. But I can tell it’s gonna be a manly clash.” Eijirou Kirishima cheers as he punches his hardened fists together.
“Come on, Midoriya! Kick their butt!” Ochako Uraraka cheers for her friend, “Oh, and Melissa too!”
All Might chuckles, “Now, now, settle down students. They can’t exactly hear you, the only form of communication is between them and me through this earpiece so your shouting won’t do any good.”
The class quieted down a bit but there was still excitement between them as they were discussing among themselves who would win.
“I mean they got the son of the Number 2 Hero with the second highest in the Entrance Exam.” Denki points out, “I don’t like their odds.”
“You forget, Midroiya’s the top scorer both in the Entrance Exam and in Aizawa’s Quirk Apprehension Test.” Kyoka says before hesitating, “Not sure about Shield though. She’s a recommended student but she got pretty low in the Quirk Test didn’t she? What even is her Quirk anyway?”
“We’re about to find out, look.” Momo points to the screen where Katsuki Bakugou and Izuku Midoriya are facing each other.
***
“So…you think you’re finally man enough to take me on, Deku?” Katsuki roars as he sets off explosions from his palms, slamming them together to intidimate him. Izuku only glares back as he gets into a fighting stance.
Melissa was off to where Shoto Todoroki was, thanks to their enhanced senses they were able to decipher his position quickly and save time. Now all he had to do was beat Kacchan or stall him long enough to win.
“Alright.”Gojo rubs his hands together in anticipation,“Not the route I’d go down but can’t argue with a classic mono on mono. This is going to be so good, I can just imagine his face after you kick his ass. Hey, maybe we can get All Might to share the video?”
Izuku takes a breath to focus himself before triggering his Cursed Energy like he always did. A bad memory, one of the many, used to spark the fire. So many to choose from, the day he found out he was Quirkless, the day his best friend turned his back on him, the ten years of torment and isolation from him…
“Sorry kid, but you should just give it up.”
“I’m sorry, Izuku!”
“Stupid! Worthless! Deku!”
“Are you okay? Can you get up?”
And in the midst of all that, older memories came to mind. Of better days, of simpler times, before any of them had their powers when being heroes was just games as they imagined all kinds of Quirks they could possibly get once they grew up.
And then his Cursed Energy falters, his flow of negative emotions stagnated by the flow and mix of positive and bittersweet memories as his stance drops.
“Wha-?”Gojo says while chewing on memory popcorn as this happens as he claps to get Izuku’s attention,“Hey, what’s going on? Don’t flake out on me now, alright! Come on, arms up, one foot forward, one foot back!”
“Scared?” Katsuki mocks, “I always knew it, and deep down, so do you. No matter what Quirk you get, you’re still the same. Useless. Deku.”
He launches forward with arms reeled back but before he can be struck, Izuku finds himself back in the mind space shared between him and Satoru Gojo, their Innate Domain. He stands there motionless and still as Gojo walks up to him, pouring a bag of popcorn on top of him to get a reaction but receives none.
“Alright. This is worse than I thought.”Gojo sighed before snapping his fingers and suddenly they were in a memory of Izuku’s living room. He gently pushes Izuku onto the couch before sitting on an armchair and whipping out a notebook and pen from nowhere.
“I’m not in the mood, Gojo-sensei.” Izuku mutters weakly.
“Oh, but this is serious.”Gojo counters,“Something’s wrong up there, and unless you want to quit UA this moment we need to get to the bottom of this. So come on, tell Doctor Gojo what’s wrong. We’ll be here all day otherwise, cause I’m not letting you fight that asshole out there in that state.”
Izuku sighs in defeat, “...I don’t know Gojo-sensei. I tried, I really did. But somehow…I don’t think I can bring myself to Curse Kacchan.”
“Even after all he’s done.”Gojo asks sceptical as he appears to write something down,“Let’s see, assaulting you with what are essentially firecrackers ever since you were four years old. Stopping you from making friends with anyone up to middle school. At least twenty derogatory insults on a good day, and fifty when he’s in a bad mood, every day for the past ten years.”
Izuku was silent as Gojo brought all that up and sighed,“I don’t think you’re not capable of hatred. I mean, I felt a lot of hate towards Curses the first time you saw that dead teacher so there’s an angry bone or two somewhere inside. The most common memories you use to get that Cursed Energy flowing is about Bakugou beating the crap out of you when you were kids, right next to realising you were Quirkless. So why can’t you bring it up when you’re against Bakugou?”
“He’s my friend…or at least he was.” Izuku mutters, “I hate him…but I don’t…? I just don’t know!”
Izuku shouts in frustration, banging his fist against the wooden table constructed in his memory. Gojo nods and writes that down,
“Jeez, I thought Suguru and I were complicated.”Gojo mutters as he doodles an insulting caricature of Katsuki Bakugou before looking back at Izuku,“Right, I think it’s clear this therapy stuff is way harder than I thought. How about we get to the root of things instead.”
He claps his hands and suddenly they are out of his living room, in a playground where Izuku sees a memory of his younger self standing in front of an injured child against Katsuki and his three followers.
“There we are, that memory you keep replaying in your head whenever you want Cursed Energy,”Gojo says as he paces around the scene and Izuku watches his younger self get pinned down and beaten up.
“Yeah, this was the moment that changed it all.” Izuku mutters, “Before Kacchan would mock me, insult me, belittle me. Just try to push me away for whatever reason I couldn’t understand. But the day I stood up to him it’s where the regular beatings began.”
“And whenever this gets dragged up I feel that you feel angry. But you say you’re not angry at Bakugou, then what are you angry at?”
Izuku looks at the unfolding scene with growing realisation, kneeling down towards his bruised and burnt younger self as the trio left him near unconscious, “...Myself…that’s what I’ve been cursing this entire time.’
The memory shifts again, this time subconsciously by Izuku himself as they were now in a dark room where his younger self was sobbing at the computer screen of All Might’s debut video,
“All the memories I use have one thing in common… Me at my lowest point, loathing myself for my own weakness. For being born the way I am.” Izuku mutters as he watches himself ask his mom if he can be a hero without a Quirk, only for his mother to break down into tears and hug him tightly.
“So that’s where your power comes from. Your hatred of your own powerlessness.”Gojo nods in understanding,“But still I don’t get why you just can’t Curse him.”
“Because he was my friend…my first ever friend.” Izuku remembers, the memory shifting back to their kindergarten where the two of them first met and bonded over their shared love of All Might, “We would play hero every day, well him the hero and me the loyal sidekick, but it was fun. And deep down I still miss that. Deep down I still wish for the Kacchan I knew to come back.”
Gojo looks at him sympathetically,“We all change, Midoriya. Not everyone stays the same and you can’t expect them to. You can cherish the memories and miss the people they were, but you can’t let the memory of who they once were stop you from moving forward.”
As he says this, the surroundings change and Izuku sees Satoru Gojo as a high schooler, in a black school uniform and round sunglasses walking with two figures. One of them is a boy with long black hair and bangs, and the other is a girl with brown hair smoking a cigarette. All three were laughing at something, enjoying each other's company as Gojo smiled at the memory.
He turns to face Izuku,“So Izuku Midoriya. Do you want to stay weak?!”
Gojo shouts and Izuku's face turns stern, “No, sensei!”
“So you want to be strong?!”
“Yes, sensei!”
“And how are you going to do that?!”
“Kicking Kacchan’s ass, sensei!” Izuku shouts, carried by Gojo’s hype before realising he just swore as Gojo laughs and slaps his back.
“There you go! That’s the spirit!”He gives the boy a little shake,“Now get out there and show him who’s the strongest.”
“Yes…thank you, Gojo-sensei. For everything.” Izuku says as he bows and Gojo chuckles,
“Don’t mention it, kiddo.”Gojo smirks as he ruffles Izuku’s hair,“Oh, by the way, I didn’t exactly pause things so as we speak you’re getting your ass handed to you in real-time. Good luck.”
“Huh?” Izuku blinks before Gojo slaps him back to consciousness.
***
“Come on! Where did all the confidence go?!” Katsuki roars as he slams Izuku to the wall and wails on his face, leaving bruises, “You wanted to fight? You want to be the hero? Let’s see it, Deku!”
“Bakugou, cease this at once!”All Might cry out over the earpiece,“Izuku Midoriya isn’t fighting back at all. Simply use the capture tape to restrain him.”
“Well tough sh*t for him!” Katsuki reels back a fist again, delivering another blow before a hand catches it, his eyes widening to see a suddenly conscious Izuku Midoriya holding back the blow.
“You’re right Kacchan…I was scared of you. And part of me still is.” he mutters before delivering a powerful punch to Katsuki’s stomach and launching him backwards, coughing heavily as the wind was knocked out of him.
“But it’s time I got over that.” Izuku says as he grabs his robe and throws it off, revealing a skin-tight black shirt underneath, “I’m going to be a hero, Kacchan, and I can’t do that with you dragging me down. I’m going to move forward, and if you try to stop me…I’ll curse you with everything I have.”
Katsuki spits on the floor, “You think you’re tough sh*t? After a tickle like that? Do you think you can take me down with that little capture tape?”
In response, Izuku reaches into his pockets and pulls it out, dropping it on the floor.
“This what you wanted?” Izuku asks getting into a stance as Katsuki smirks,
“Don’t give me that crap, you want this as well,” he growls before launching himself at Izuku with his explosions.
Izuku responds with a straight kick but Katsuki uses his explosions to blast himself over Izuku about to strike him from behind but then Izuku flips backwards and smashes Katsuki’s head to the ground, causing his explosion to miss.
“I do…God help me, I really do.” Izuku says as he allows Katsuki to push himself up with a growl,
He roars before boosting himself off the ground with explosions, aiming his foot at Izuku’s chin but it is grabbed before it can hit and Izuku smashes Katsuki around like a ragdoll, swinging and smashing against the walls, ceiling and floor.
And Izuku does all this with a calm look on his face, no fear, no anger, no enjoyment. It almost sends a chill up Katsuki’s neck, just what happened to the spineless nerd he used to thrash around?
He lets Katsuki go as the blonde scrambles onto his feet, launching himself again at Izuku with explosive-boosted swings that smash directly into his face. But before he could celebrate, his eyes widened as he felt Izuku barely move from the blast and looked like it did no damage.
“You should put more energy into your blows,” Izuku says, batting his arm aside and backhanding Katsuki, “Like this!”
Staggering backwards, Katsuki blasts behind him to get back at Izuku, delivering a series of explosions that he casually dodges by Izuku stepping backwards, occasionally blocking and parrying the strikes.
Gojo can’t help but smile proudly at this sudden boost in capabilities. It wasn’t just his mental state, the flow of his Cursed Energy was like never before, easily exceeding his previous capabilities. Moving faster, striking harder, moving and directing Cursed Energy like it was the most natural thing to do, and if this goes on he might…
Then it happened. Katsuki goes in for an explosive-propelled haymaker when Izuku blocks and twists his arm, reeling back his free hand as the air shimmers, space becomes distorted as the green aura around Izuku’s hand flashes black and red.
Katsuki’s instincts told him to do anything he could to avoid that, raising his free arm to block as the punch shattered the grenade gauntlet he was wearing, the shockwave travelling through and breaking his arm and ribs, shorting out the cameras in the hallway as Katsuki Bakugou was sent flying backwards and bouncing off walls like a pinball.
“A Black Flash…”Gojo smirks proudly at the display,“You actually did it. How does it feel?”
Izuku looks at his own hands in awe as he flexes his fingers, seeing his Cursed Energy’s aura crackling between them, “Amazing. I don’t think I can describe it… like I understandeverythingabout my Cursed Energy. How it flows, how it acts, how it strengthens me…It feels so obvious. Like I should’ve known this so long ago.”
“Yeah, that’s the rush that comes with Black Flash.”Gojo nods,“You’re in the zone, operating at 120% of your potential with a greater understanding of Cursed Energy than before. It’s a rare thing, landing a Black Flash, and the difference between Sorcerers that can and can’t are like day and night.”
“I can feel it.” Izuku nods before another voice is heard, this time through his earpiece.
“Midoriya, come in! What on Earth is happening?”All Might asks in concern,“The cameras around you are fried and Bakugou is not answering.”
Izuku looks down at his unconscious former friend, “He’s unconscious, sir. You might want to send him to Recovery Girl, he likely has a few broken bones from my last attack.”
“No…I’m not…” Izuku turns to look in surprise at Katsuki trying to get up despite his injuries, “...not beaten…yet….”
“Yes, you are. You’ve lost.” Izuku insists as he hears Melissa’s voice panting over the earpiece,
“Doubly so.”she says, sounding exhausted,“Bomb captured…and let me tell you it wasn’t easy.”
“Then it’s settled.”All Might declared as Katsuki’s heart sank,“Hero Team wins! All injured students, hang on tight, medical bots are en route to bring you to the nurse’s office.”
“No…can’t be…” Katsuki cries out in disbelief, “Not against sh*tty…useless Deku…”
Izuku looks down sadly at the confused and disbelieving mess that was Katsuki and kneels down,
“I don’t see any useless Deku here, do you?” Izuku asks rhetorically and sighs, “I thought this would feel better, but honestly I think I just wanted it over with.”
He stands up and turns his back on Katsuki, “I’m not the same person I was. And you don’t have to be either. This is a new beginning for us both, Bakugou. Let’s not waste it.”
Chapter 9: Trial of Curses Pt 2
Chapter Text
“So this is the bomb we have to protect,” Shoto mutters as he stares at the paper mache comically missile-shaped bomb in front of them. It looked like something plucked right out of a cartoon,
“We’re fortunate it’s on the top floor, this makes things easier.” Shoto says as he begins to step out, “Stay here, I’ll handle it all.”
“The hell you are!” his partner, Katsuki Bakugou roars at him in anger, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“They will approach us likely from the ground floor to search from bottom to top.” Shoto explains, “I will freeze every floor from fourth to bottom a few seconds after the trial starts thereby incapacitating them and winning us the match.”
Before he can step out of the room, Katsuki storms out to his surprise and annoyance, “Maybe you didn’t hear me? I said-”
“I know what you said, half-and-half.” Katsuki growls, catching Shoto off-guard by the nickname, “So understand this, I don’t f*cking care about what you have planned. I’ll wipe them both out before they reach the bomb. If you try to get in my way, I’ll kill you.”
“...You’re certainly playing the role of villain perfectly,” Shoto mutters annoyed as Katsuki storms down the staircase. Now if he tries his original plan he’ll freeze his teammate as well. Would that penalise him? He was playing the villain after all.
Deciding not to risk it, he instead sighs and goes back to the room with the bomb in it. If they both went out now, they leave the bomb unguarded and ripe for the taking. Placing a hand on the wall, he freezes solid the entire fifth floor once he is sure Katsuki has enough time to reach the fourth floor. All doors and windows were encompassed with a thick sheet of ice and he was standing at the centre of the room, eyes peeled and keeping his ears on the earpiece in case Katsuki came across and engaged their foes.
Out of their two targets, Izuku Midoriya was their most powerful threat. His Quirk, Limitless, was an absurdly powerful one capable of bending space itself. And in the Quirk Apprehension Test, he saw how Izuku used it on his tests.
First was some kind of blue orb he created that appeared to have some kind of gravitational pull to it, capable of using it to slingshot the softball and crush the grip test. But it was also capable of subtle applications, as he saw a weaker blue pulse launch him forward in the 50-metre dash and standing long jump.
But it has a weakness, just like all Quirks, overexertion. Prolonged use resulted in nosebleeds and dizziness from what he has noticed. If he can be forced into using it repeatedly, then there’s a chance he can burn out resulting in a victory for them.
However, there is a second aspect to his Quirk, some kind of enhanced physical capabilities. He witnessed it during all the endurance-related tests and the beginning of his grip test where from the corner of his eye he spots Izuku squeezing the machine resulting in a superhuman level of force, before triggering the strange blue aspect and crushing it.
A hybrid Quirk perhaps, spatial manipulation and superhuman capabilities? A powerful combination. Perhaps it was intentionally a powerful combination, created between a marriage of Quirks. Part of Shoto wondered if they were alike…
Before he could ponder more, he heard the sound of explosions and swearing over the earpiece and realised his ally had engaged their foes. But before he could ask for a report, the ice wall blocking the only door into the room was shattered with a single, well-placed punch.
Melissa Shield bursts through his barrier as he raises an eye at this. Through the Quirk Apprehension Test he didn’t notice this amount of power come from her, was it some kind of circ*mstantial activation.
“Huff, huff, huff…” she pants before raising her arms, “I really need to work on my cardio…”
Without giving her a chance to finish, Shoto steps forward with his right leg and fires off a small glacier aiming to trap Melissa. Seeing this she quickly dodges to the side before running at him. Likely she plans to rush past him to touch the bomb and instantly win, but he won’t let her do that.
Swiping with his right arm, he creates a wall of ice that separates the two and cuts off half the room, but after a pause, a portion of the wall shatters as he expected. He then summons another block of ice targeting the opening, hoping to trap Melissa.
He pauses and waits for All Might to announce his victory over her but it doesn’t happen. Before he could wonder, the glacier was smashed, sending shards of ice directly at him. She must have guessed what he was planning and sidestepped the moment she punched the wall, avoiding the brunt of his attack.
Forced to defend himself, he swipes his arm to create a smaller wall of ice as Melissa comes running from the hole she made. Getting increasingly annoyed, he decides to engage in melee with her instead; at close range, there is no chance she can destroy his ice in time before it covers her.
He steps in her way and swings his right arm, coated in icy mist. Seeing this she steps back, avoiding the first swipe as he goes for another. This time his hand grazes the metal gauntlet as she raises both hands to block.
He traps both hands together in a block of ice, the weight throwing her off and allowing him to leap at her again for another tap. This time however, she kicks him away with considerable force, but as he is sent flying backwards he manages to touch the leg that kicked him, allowing him to freeze it over with thick ice and further weigh her down.
“Damn it!” she curses before bringing her arms down on the floor, shattering the ice around them to free herself before trying to do the same with her leg. But Shoto doesn’t let up, getting up almost immediately and stomping with his right foot to summon another wave of ice directed at her.
Her eyes widen at the incoming wave but raises her gauntlet fist to meet it, the ice shattering as it meets her fist before she leaps at him with her newly uncovered arm reeled back. She was too fast for him to summon another blast, especially with frostbite steadily building up.
He raised his hand to catch it, using his Quirk, but he couldn’t build up enough ice to completely encase her, just the arm. And before he could disconnect the ice, she pulled her frozen arm back along with him, reeling back her fist with the gauntlet.
Shoto flinches and braces himself for a superhuman punch, only for it to never come. Instead, Melissa hesitates, her arm shaking not just from the cold but something else, and her pupils were dilated with breathing intensified.
Whatever the reason, it bought him enough time to kick her with his right leg, flash-freezing the lower half of her body quickly.
“Sorry,” he mutters as he freezes his trapped right arm and steps back from Melissa swinging her free arm at him in desperation.
“F-for w-what?” she asks, shuddering from the cold, “Freezing me?”
“Underestimating you.” he confesses as he approaches with capture tape, “You were weak, but not as weak as I thought.”
“You’re…s-still underestimating me…” Melissa stutters out, the cold getting to her as she tightens her remaining fist and raises it,
“Extension Technique!” she shouts as she slams it downwards, “Collapse!”
*Yesterday*
“Gak!” Melissa gets punched in the stomach with the full force of a Cursed Energy-infused fist, before vomiting her guts out on the beach.
“Oh, I am so sorry!” Izuku hastily apologises as he hesitates approaching her, lest he gets his shoes covered in vomit, “You caught me off guard there and I reacted.”
Once she stops emptying her guts, he offers her a hand which she accepts and pulls her onto her feet.
“Yeah…I hesitated again.” Melissa mutters as she looks at her hands. Just now she was about to land a punch on Izuku when her memories flashed back to that day on I-Island ten months ago.
Izuku nods in sympathy but Gojo cuts in with his mouth manifesting on Izuku's cheek,
“Come on, you aren’t going to last long if you can’t even throw a punch on someone.” he says, “Your Cursed Energy manipulation is improving quick, but you’re not as strong as you should be.”
“Give me a break, I just got my powers ten months ago without a teacher,” Melissa mutters as she wipes her mouth with her sleeve,
“Yeah, your timing and aim with Ratio’s pretty good all things considered.” Gojo admits, “Not as good as Nanami was, but pretty good all things considered.”
“Nanami?” Melissa asks.
“An old friend of mine.” Gojo says with a fond smirk, “Heh, you two even look alike. Blonde hair with glasses and the fact you have his technique must make you distant relatives. I take it you must’ve had a Danish ancestor?”
“Well, yeah, my mother had a family from Denmark.” Melissa nods.
“Then I guess fate must have a sense of humour.” Gojo chuckles at this news.
“Your mother?” Izuku asks, “I know your dad’s David Shield, he’s world famous with Nobel prizes, but what about your mother? Is she a scientist too?”
“She…was.” Melissa says with hesitation, “She passed years ago before we went to I-Island, it was a car accident.”
“...I’m sorry for your loss.” Izuku says apologetically, “I didn’t mean to bring up any bad memories.”
“It’s fine, you didn’t know.” Melissa sighs before looking at Gojo's mouth and eye, cringing a bit at how weird it looked before asking, “So was there any way he used it against others without killing them? I don’t want to-”
“Nope. You can’t exactly tone down a critical hit.” Gojo says bluntly, “I suppose you can pull back your punches to only a love tap so they don’t immediately die. If you don’t want to kill or maim anyone accidentally, I recommend just sticking to your Cursed Energy. But there are other ways he used his Ratio Technique on non-living objects…”
***
The entire floor shatters, the point of impact being infused with Melissa’s flowing Cursed Energy turning them into powerful projectiles that strike the floor beneath causing it to be destroyed as well, meaning both of them and the bomb fell two entire floors.
Melissa lands roughly, the ice covering her shattering upon contact with the rubble beneath her, the Cursed Energy flowing through her body allowing no bones to be broken but it still hurt a lot. Shoto landed relatively smoother, coating himself in ice that shatters into a million pieces upon smashing, allowing him to land on his feet but he was exhausted and slowed from frostbite building through his entire right side, starting to affect even his brain.
But the two look at the bombing half buried in rubble and Melissa starts crawling to it before getting up and running, making a leap at it just as Shoto finally reaches her, grabbing her foot and sending ice through her body just as her finger grazes the bomb.
“I got it!” Melissa shouts just as the ice reaches her neck, her hand resting on the bomb as Shoto stops the ice.
“...” Shoto stares at her hand in realisation and sighs in defeat, letting go of her. As Melissa pants from exhaustion, he taps into her earpiece to speak to Izuku, hearing him already talking likely to Katsuki from how the conversation sounded,
“Yes, you are. You’ve lost.”
“Doubly so.” Melissa agreed as Shoto placed his left hand on the ice and began melting her out of her icy prison, “Bomb captured…and let me tell you it wasn’t easy.”
“Then it’s settled.”All Might declared over their earpieces,“Hero Team wins! All injured students, hang on tight, medical bots are en route to bring you to the nurse’s office.”
***
“A cracked jaw and fractured orbital! His arm is in more pieces than I have fingers and toes, along with nearly every rib cracked!” Recovery Girl shouts as she wacks Izuku on the head with her cane which he accepts, cringing at how bad Katsuki’s injuries were.
Despite it all, he didn’t think the Black Flash would have done that much damage when he was holding back.
“You’re lucky his organs are intact.” Recovery Girl mutters as she turns her attention to Katsuki lying unconscious in a hospital bed with his arm in a cast and multiple metal pins in place to realign the shattered bones.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t think it would do that much damage,” Izuku mutters as he stares at the hand that dealt the blow. All that damage just from a single punch…if he had struck somewhere else and with more force they could be looking at a corpse instead.
Recovery Girl sighs, “You don’t get all the blame, most of it goes to that dunce running the lesson. Pitting you children against each other on your first days, what was he thinking? It’s different hitting robots and hitting other humans. He of all people should know that.”
“Will he be alright?” Izuku asks worriedly.
“He’ll have to stay here overnight for treatment, but I’ll have to call his parents for their permission first if they choose to send him to a hospital instead.” Recovery Girl says, “I can’t use my Quirk to heal all his injuries at once, otherwise he’ll die of exhaustion. He should be up and walking by tomorrow and fully healed the day after that.”
“I see.” Izuku stares at him for a moment before getting up, “Get better soon Bakugou.”
“Now just wait a moment, I’ll get to healing those bruises on your face,” she says gesturing to his bruised cheeks, black eye and broken nose. However, to her surprise, Izuku declines.
“Oh no thanks, I want to try healing it myself. Besides, I earned these by making mistakes, I need to learn from them,” he says as her jaw drops before closing with a sigh,
“This day has been exhausting enough, at least let me reset your nose then.” she offers and this time Izuku accepts, giving it a swift and painful crack to put it back in place which he flinches at.
“Ow.” he mutters rubbing his bruised nose as he feels his breathing is no longer blocked, “Thanks, Recovery Girl.”
“There, now go home, the bell rang a while ago.” she waves him off as he leaves the nurse’s office.
As he returns to his classroom to pick up the bag he left there, Gojo speaks up.
“So you finally got back at him, how does it feel?”Gojo asks,“Not exactly jumping with joy, are you?”
Izuku sighs, “No, it feels empty I guess. I’ve gotten stronger, but… I always used to hope from when we were younger, that the two of us would grow strong together, walking side by side.”
He then sighs even harder, “Oh my god, everyone saw me almost kill him! What are they going to think?”
“Hey, they saw him pummelled the lights out of you first.”Gojo points out,“And I think you’d be surprised.”
Izuku opened the door and was immediately surprised by Kyoka almost bumping into him,
“Hey watch- Midoriya?” she looked up at him in surprise before her eyes widened, “What the hell? Why is your face still messed up?!”
“Jirou?” Izuku looked at her hands to realise she was holding his bag, “Is that my bag?”
“Yeah, I was gonna bring it to you, but now you’re here.” she answers before resuming her outburst, ‘But still! Why didn’t Recovery Girl patch you up?”
“W-well, I just want to use the chance to practise my Quirk. See if I can patch myself up.” Izuku explains, taken aback by the concern she was showing.
“Patch yourself up? You can heal with your Quirk? How does that even work?” Kyoka asks looking flabbergasted.
“I must confess, I too find it perplexing.” Tenya says, surprising Izuku with his presence, “How does spatial manipulation allow for healing injuries?”
“It’s- it’s a long story.” Izuku stutters out trying to rack his mind to come up with something before a third voice interrupts them.
“C-c-come on, guys. Leave him alone.” Melissa shuddered from her seat where she was wrapped by a thick blanket by Momo and offered a hot drink from Uraraka, “It’s been a long day.”
“Of course! Forgive our pestering, Midoriya, you need your rest.” Tenya apologises before stepping back to give him room.
“You all stayed behind, why?” Izuku asks, knowing the bell rang a while ago. What possible reason did they have to wait here?
“Well for you obviously.” Kyoka gives him a slight punch in the chest, “You had a lot of people pretty worried when Bakugou was wailing on you like a madman.”
“Wait…you guys were worried for me?” Izuku asks surprised and almost stunned at this. Everyone then began looking at him with varying degrees of concern.
“Oh man, he really messed you up bad,”Gojo mutters as he shakes his head.
“Yeah, it was pretty brutal.” Ochako agreed with a shudder, “Like you weren’t moving and he still kept beating you up! What the heck was up with him?”
“Indeed.” Tenya agreed as he adjusted his glasses, “Such barbaric acts were unbecoming of a future hero. Part of me suspects something, but another part of me wonders, was it some kind of trick to get him to lower his guard?”
“It…My mind wasn’t just in the right place.” Izuku answered, looking down to avoid eye contact, “I lost focus.”
“We saw your face when he was bashing your head in. It looked more than ‘losing focus’.” Kyoka says unconvinced, crossing her arms.
“...It was.” Izuku agreed hesitantly before assuring them, “But I’m better now. Better than I ever have been since…forever.”
“Well…alright.” Kyokay says unsure before handing him his bag, “Anyways you’re gonna have to clean up your face. Don’t want Eri to see you looking like a mess.”
“Wait, what?” Izuku looks confused and Kyoka blinks.
“Ah right, must’ve forgotten to tell you.” she realises, “She’s missed you a lot you know? Kept asking when you’d come over, and honestly my parents wanna know the guy who saddled me with his kid.”
For those unaware such as Melissa and Tenya, they reacted with shock. Melissa spat out her drink and started coughing upon hearing that and Tenya began sputtering, his mind going haywire.
“M-midoriya?! Aren’t you too young to be-?!”
“It’s not what it sounds like!” Izuku quickly insisted as Gojo was cackling madly inside his head, “S-she’s just babysitting someone for me, for the time being! It’s not my kid or something!”
“Yeah, but the way she talks about you makes it sound otherwise.” Kyoka says with a smirk enjoying their reactions before deciding to add fuel to the fire, “Speaking of which, don’t forget to pay your child support.”
“Jirou!” Izuku screams as he covers his face in embarrassment while she laughs.
***
“Alright, alright, I’ve looked through your records boys.” Giran nods in approval as he scrolls through the record of the five villains sitting across from him. All petty thieves, mugging, robberies with the most grievous being battery assault, all with Quirks barely useful in combat. Just the perfect cannon fodder that he was requested to bring in for the League of Villains that contracted his service.
Now he was one for professionalism but even he admits the name was a little on the nose. But a job’s a job and he was going to do it well.
“Hehehe, glad to hear it.” their leader, a brute with some kind of fire Quirk chuckles, “Can’t believe no one’s ever thought of this before. It’s gonna be a blast.”
“You said it boss, is it true they got something big enough to kill All Might?” one of the villains asked Giran excitedly.
“I’ve been told that it very well can, and from what I’ve seen I’d put money on it.” Giran nodded with a smirk and the villains laughed with each other in glee, thinking they were going to make it into the major leagues with this job. He almost pities them.
“Hey, so I heard you’re the guy to look for to get into this League of Villains thing?”
Giran looks up from his laptop to find someone behind the villains, who also looks back in surprise. He hadn’t noticed their presence until just now, and he was sure his security system was up and running so how did someone get in?
“Hey, who the f*ck is this?” the villain gang leader stands up annoyed, “You lost, little lady?”
“Oh no, I came here because I heard of this League of Villains gig. Gee, is this what they’re hiring? Yeesh.” The girl gives him a dismissive snort. She appeared to be a young woman barely past her twenties, with dark hair in a messy ponytail with a face covered in scars that made it look like a cracked mask held together by a patchwork of stitches.
Eyes that didn’t blink with irises that glowed a slight purple yet had no life in them. A mouth that opens and closes when she speaks but at the same time doesn't look to be synched properly. Instantly Giran felt a touch of nervousness that he hid, as the villain gang leader stomped up to her and grabbed her by the rib of her black t-shirt, pulling her close as he lit a fist on fire in front of her face intimidatingly.
“Listen here brat, you got a problem with us? Speak up.” he threatens as she stares into his flaming fist intended.
“Ooh, that’s a pretty neat Quirk. Been looking for more like that.” she smiles as she taps his chest with a finger, “I think I’ll take it. Thanks.”
“Wha-? ARGH!” he asks before suddenly becoming engulfed completely in flames emanating from his hands, turning his skin to charred black as he collapses to his knees and crumples into ashes. As this happens the girl twirls the finger she used to touch him, scooping up the flames before they compress into a marble glowing orange with embers.
“Pretty…I always liked fire Quirks, they’re just neat,” she comments before one of the shocked villains charges at her enraged,
“You- you bitch!” he grew metal spikes along his arms before leaping at her. But then with inhuman speeds, she bends her body back to dodge the blow before slapping his arm with her hand, a light graze but it was enough.
Suddenly the villain vomits out blood, metal spikes growing and punching out from inside his body before turning to a liquid metal and flowing into the girl’s hands and compressing into a metal marble.
“Oh great! It looks like it's a tryout then!” she says with a manic grin that nearly splits her face before turning into a blur from moving at high speeds, touching all the remaining villains before they could react.
In that brief second, before they could stand up, the remaining three were killed by their own Quirks. Electrified to death, they turned to stone before crumbling, hair growing out and strangling them before all were pulled from their bodies and compressed into marbles that the girl held between her fingers.
“Hehe, score! Not a bad haul.” she looks at her collection satisfied before looking to a stunned and slightly terrified Giran, “Tada! Did I get the job?”
He takes a moment to inhale a cigarette, to mask and recover from his shock before exhaling it.
The girl frowns as she pockets the marbles, “Wait, was I not supposed to kill them? Shoot, I guess I didn’t get the job then.”
“No! No, no, I was just…impressed.” he hurriedly says before calming down and putting on one of his business smiles, “That was quite the show lady, I think you’re just the type the League are after. I got a couple questions first, how did you come across this job listing?”
“Sweet.” she says before pushing off one of the corpses from the chair and setting herself down on it, “The guys are that bar were babbling about it like it was the greatest thing ever. It took me a while to get through them, but the last one told me I should talk to you to get in.”
Giran immediately recognises the implications and maintains his smile. A dangerous, psychotic killer was what he was looking at, he doubted even that Shigaraki kid would be this trigger-happy. Killing other villains meant making enemies of both heroes and villains, so no villain worth their salt randomly offs everyone they meet unless they had a few screws loose.
“Right, that makes sense. I just need a name for the record and I’ll point you in the right direction. I’m sure they’ll love someone like you with them.” Giran says eager to get this psychotic bitch out of his office as soon as possible. And change his address again asap.
“Hmm, not sure. Haven’t made one yet…” she mutters to herself as she rubs her chin before snapping, “How about Ryoku? That sounds neat.”
“Right, Ryoku,” he says as he taps a program in his laptop, one of his hidden cameras in the room scanning her face and running it through multiple facial recognition programs but all were turning up blank. A foreign villain then? But she looked Japanese, “You new to this villain thing? You look a bit young.”
“Thanks, I made it myself.” she smiles before shrugging casually, leaning back into the chair, “And kinda, I just got here. But this villain thing sounds fun. I heard that they’re planning to take out that big guy, All Might?”
“Yep, and that doesn’t frighten you?” he asks, watching her face for a reaction.
She smirks and rests her head on her hand, “Nope. Killing him sounds fun. Can you imagine how everyone would react once they hear their Symbol of Peace is dead? Imagine the panic, the sadness, the chaos. All that negativity in the air as people try to understand how their beloved hero died…”
She shudders a bit and he swears she drooled a bit, “And imagine adding his Quirk to my collection…”
“That’s your Quirk, eh?” he asks, eyeing the corpses in the room, “Turning their Quirks against themselves and taking them for yourselves?”
“Eh, sure. Why not?” she shrugs, “Any more questions? Didn’t know there was an interview for getting this job, I would’ve gotten a tie.”
She laughs and Giran nervously laughs with her,
“Nah, like I just said. You got the job.” he nods eager to make her Shigaraki’s problem instead of his, “Welcome to the League of Villains, Ryoku.”
Chapter 10: Aftermath of Curses
Chapter Text
“Come on…just a little more…” Izuku grunts as he continues pumping the flow of Cursed Energy through his body before panting in exhaustion, only succeeding in burning himself out instead,
“Damn it…” he pants and falls to his knees.
“No, no you’re not getting it.” Gojo sighs, “You need to multiply Cursed Energy with itself, not add on to it like you just did.”
“But that doesn’t make sense!” Izuku snaps from his frustration and exhaustion, “How do you multiply energy?!”
“Hey don’t get snappy with me.” Gojo wags a finger, “But I get your frustration. It took me until my second year before I figured out how Reversed Curse Technique works. Maybe how Shoko explained it would help?”
He mutters to himself before clearing his throat and waving his finger back and forth, “You go ‘fwoo’ then ‘hyoi’. Fwoo. Hyoi. Get it?”
“...That makes even less sense!” Izuku looks at his mentor, flabbergasted, “How about you? How did you figure out Reversed Curse Technique?”
“Oh that’s easy.” Gojo smiles, “I got my throat slit by an assassin before tearing open my guts and turning me into Sorcerer fillet. And as I was choking on my own blood that’s where it hit me, the true essence of Cursed Energy. After that, it was all a matter of flipping it upside down and reversing it.”
“...Alright, let’s try to avoid that.” Izuku gulps at the imagery, “Can’t you just tell me what this ‘true essence’ of Cursed Energy is instead?”
Gojo shrugs, “I would but I can’t put it into words even if I knew every word in every language known and lost through time. It’s just something you have to feel yourself, you understand me?”
Izuku sighs, “Maybe I’ll have better luck figuring out a Simple Domain first?”
Gojo shrugs, “Maybe. Don’t sweat it, kid, plenty of top-grade Sorcerers can’t use Reversed Curse Technique. That’s why I had Simple Domain be another option.”
“But if I want to be the strongest I can’t without Reversed Curse Technique.” Izuku argues before getting up, “Now, I’m going to give it another go.”
“Maybe you should take a break?” Gojo suggests, “How about seeing our sweet little angel, see how’s she doing with the Jirous? I’m sure she misses you as well.”
Izuku sighs feeling conflicted, “I want to…but it’s going to be nighttime soon, there are Curses that need exorcising. I’ll see her once the weekends come, we’ll spend the day together then.”
“Speaking of exorcisms, you’re planning to bring that Shield girl with you today?” Gojo asks, “Gonna be her first time exorcising Curses if you find any. Hope she sticks around, if she’s anything like Nanami was, she’ll be a great ally to have.”
“This Nanami guy, what was he like?” Izuku asks out of curiosity.
“Oh he was the serious type, kinda like that Iida guy you’re friends with, only way more jaded and cynical. Like…” he clears his throat before pulling out an imaginary pair of goggles, “Jujutsu Sorcerers are sh*t! Working is sh*t! If both are sh*t I’ll do the one I’m best suited for!”
“...That sounds very negative.” Izuku sweats imagining how someone like that could be friends with Satoru Gojo, given his carefree attitude.
Gojo snickers, “Yeah he was a tough bastard…Miss him plenty. I’m actually happily surprised his family’s made it this far. How long has it been, centuries? And a supergenius great-great-great-distant relative that won the Nobel prize? He’d be proud. Time will only tell if the girl’s gonna match him though.”
“I’m sure Melissa will do him proud as a Sorcerer.” Izuku says confidently, “She fought toe to toe with Todoroki today, I’m sure she can hold her own against a few Curses.”
***
“AH!” Melissa yelps in surprise as a black skeleton with glowing blue eyes phased from beneath the ground in an attempt to grapple her, barely kicking its head off in time before resuming fighting against two more similar Curses, “How many of these are there?”
“We’ll count after we exorcise them all.” Izuku says as he delivers three rapid kicks that pulverise three more approaching Curses, “Concentrate, don’t let your emotions run wild or your Cursed Energy fluctuates.”
Melissa grits her teeth and steadies her breathing to keep her emotions steady before activating her own Ratio Technique and swinging the katana Cursed Tool Izuku had lent her. However, its length and her inexperience with blades meant she accidentally scraped the ceiling when bringing it down causing her to miss the 3:7 mark located on the neck and strike its collarbone instead, burying and sticking into the bone.
The Curse pushes through its injury and tries grabbing Melissa while two more tries at the same time. Giving up her katana she instead pulls back her fist, smashing the injured Curse in the throat and triggering a critical hit that shatters its entire body, exorcising it.
Creating two more ratios on the two remaining Curses, she pushes one away before stepping back to avoid the swings of the second trying to find an opening to trigger the ratio. But then she misjudges a blow and gets tackled to the ground, pushing its head to keep its snapping jaws away from her throat.
Wincing, she creates another ration on its skull before smacking her forehead against it and hoping her face doesn’t get chewed off. Fortunately, she got it right the first time, and the Curse was exorcised.
She pushes the rapidly vaporising Curse off her to find Izuku breaking the neck of the last Curse with a sigh, “Alright, that wasn’t that bad Shield, but I count ten to one. That’s not a problem, you just need a little more practice actually using your technique in a fight against actual enemies.”
“I know, I know…” she mutters as she accepts a hand up from him, dusting off the wrinkles of the black hoodie Izuku loaned her, “I can’t believe you do this every day.”
“Actually most days if I do run into any, but if I do they’re just Curses at Grade Four or lower. These were Grade Three, they’re the second highest I’ve met the entire month.” he corrects as he grabs the katana she dropped and hands it back to her, “Here.”
“Thanks.” she says before looking at the blade, “I don’t think this is for me. If I’m gonna fight more Curses in cramped spaces like this I’m gonna need a shorter blade. Or just my bare hands, but it’s more difficult to hit a ratio precisely.”
“Sorry, I’m having trouble finding them.” Izuku shrugs, “Gojo-sensei mentioned you can turn any weapon into a Semi-Cursed Tool though, by infusing your own Cursed Energy into it. You studied in the Support Course right, maybe you can make your own tool to use?”
“Yeah, maybe I can make my own Cursed Tools eventually?” Melissa asks as she sheathes the Cursed katana before slinging it across her shoulder, “Anyways, I take it we’re done for today?”
“Nope.” Izuku says bluntly as he scrolls through his phone, “We have two more sightings to check out before the end of the day in this district, another three in the next before we call it a night.”
“...It’s 2 in the morning.” Melissa’s jaw drops, “These were the only Curses all day and we visited ten sites before this! What are the odds the next five have any?”
“Honestly? Slim to none.” Izuku concedes before pocketing his phone, “But even if it’s just a 1% chance I have to make absolutely sure. There are too many spots for us to check across the whole country, so the least we can do is make sure the ones we’re able to reach are absolutely clear.”
“Understood.” Melissa sighs bracing herself for what is possibly an all-nighter.
***
“Are you well, Shield?” Momo asks Melissa, looking concerned as the blonde American was resting her head on the desk with one hand holding her glasses. She gets an exhausted groan in response and a weak thumbs up.
“Just tired…” she grumbles, “Coffee…that’s what I need… Can you…?”
She looks up to Momo with hope in her eyes before they are crushed, “I apologise, Shield, but unfortunately my Quirk does not allow me to create organic materials.”
Melissa returns slamming her head against the desk trying to jumpstart her exhausted brain before Izuku walks in through the glass entrance, with two cups of coffee in each hand coming to her rescue.
“Here, I guessed you’d be exhausted after last night,” he says as Melissa looks up at him like he is an angel descending from heaven as she accepts the coffee cup like it is a chalice of ambrosia.
“You two were training with each other again?” Momo asks Izuku as Melissa downs her hot drink with a moan, “What kind?”
“Oh you know, practical combat.” Izuku says, avoiding her eyes and focusing on his own cup, “I make sure to squeeze in as much combat training as possible.”
“I suppose that explains your skills.” Momo nods as Izuku returns to his seat. From behind him on the left, Kyoka glances at him.
“So…long night with Shield?” she asks and Izuku shrugs, “Why train with her by the way? You just met on our first day.”
“Well, she just asked if I could her her figure out how to best use her Quirk after watching me use mine.” he hastily comes up with on the spot.
Kyoka raises a brow, “Right…I don’t suppose your little training sessions have a spot for another? I’ve been thinking of trying to polish my hand-to-hand, in case I ever need to fight with them.”
Izuku coughs into a fist, avoiding her eyes, “S-sorry, but I think three is a crowd. Maybe we can arrange for on weekends in the morning or afternoon, we’ll be busy at night time. I can help train when I’m coming to meet Eri for the weekends.”
“...Right.” Kyoka looks at him with scepticism for some reason before playing with her earjacks. Izuku felt he said something wrong but was not sure what, but before he could ask he sensed a familiar presence in the room and turned to find Katsuki walking in with a bruised face and left arm in a cast.
The class immediately silences upon his arrival, some looking away from him, some starring with a mix of emotions ranging from intimidation or disapproval. Katsuki and Izuku's eyes met and to the latter’s surprise Katsuki was the one who blinked first, silently moving past Izuku to get to his seat and Izuku did the same.
Not long after their homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa, came through the door looking exhausted as usual, slamming a stack of papers on his desk.
“I hope you’re all rested from yesterday's battle trials.” he grumbles insincerely, “I took the liberty of looking through your marks and evaluations. Let’s start with the more troublesome ones first.”
His sharp eyes turn to Melissa, “You’re going to have a better grip on your abilities, Shield. There were a lot of risky plays that would’ve been unneeded if you had more control, so I want to see you work harder on this, alright?”
“Yes, sensei.” Melissa nods her head determinedly.
“Todoroki, you’re freezing up quick in fights. If Shield hadn’t hesitated then you would be looking at a much quicker loss.” He notes and Shoto flinches slightly, “Start using your left side more, whatever reason you have for holding yourself back it’s irrational.”
“...I’ll keep that in mind, sensei,” Shoto says quietly before Shota’s eyes turn to both Izuku and Katsuki.
“And the two of you…I want to see you after homeroom. We’re going to have a chat.” he says with a sharp glare before returning to business, “As for the rest of you, the data and comments have been forwarded, I expect you all to review them in your own time. Now for the next topic of business, we’re going to elect a class president.”
***
“So…care to explain what happened yesterday?” Shota asks, leaning against his desk in a classroom that was empty save for Izuku Midoriya.
“I lost focus, sensei.” Izuku answers, not able to meet the teacher’s eyes, “And I froze up.”
Shota sighs as he hears that, “You went limp and let Bakugou nearly blow your face off. That’s not what I call freezing up. Whatever it was, you know that in a real fight, it could have resulted in your death.”
“I know.” Izuku nods in understanding, “What happened yesterday won’t happen ever again, I promise.”
“And how can you make us sure of that?” Shota asks, “If someone like you were sent as a Pro Hero to save people, that little incident yesterday may become a disaster resulting in more than just your life. Fortunately, you’re still in school so count yourself lucky.”
Shota sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose in annoyance, “Anyways we should nip this in the bud as soon as possible. After your performance yesterday, it’s unanimously decided you should receive mandatory counselling from Hound Dog. Am I clear?”
“Huh, glad to know they’re at least not going to ignore this.” Gojo nods, “Wonder what’ll happen with Blondie then?”
“And Bakugou?” Izuku asks wanting to know as well, “What’s going to happen to him?”
“...” Shota pauses and looks at Izuku with what he thinks was a glimpse of sympathy in his eyes, “He disobeyed a direct order from his teacher when ordered to stop. Detention for the entirety of the week, that’s a minimum.”
Izuku nods silently at that before Shota continues, “We’ve also heard some…concerning things regarding the relationship between the two of you. He used to bully you, correct?”
Izuku flinches at that, about to ask how they know, before remembering what he was talking with Melissa about during the prep time for the Battle Trials while wearing earpieces All Might was using to keep an eye on them.
“...Ah,” he mutters in realisation.
“I hope you understand we can’t exactly punish him for what he’s done before UA,” Aizawa adds thinking Izuku may get the wrong idea, but to his slight surprise, Izuku nods.
“I understand. And I wouldn’t want him to be.” Izuku says looking at Aizawa, “I like to think of this as a new beginning, Aizawa-sensei. A clean slate. Honestly, after everything, what he’s done at this point looks…small in comparison. I don’t think I have room to care about it anymore.”
Izuku says, sounding surprised himself, Aizawa searches his face for any hesitation but finds none. He wasn’t sure if this mindset was mature or worrisome from the way he phrased it, whatever it was it wasn’t his speciality, that was Hound Dog’s.
“Right…Call in Bakugou on your way out, will you?” he asks before adding just as Izuku was leaving, “And make sure to learn more about controlling your power, we don’t want you to accidentally kill someone do we?”
***
“You think everything's gonna be alright?” Ochako asked as she turned to look at the classroom while they left for their next class.
“Hey if anyone’s in trouble it’s that Bakugou guy.” Kyoka assures, “That asshole has it coming. I know fights get dirty and all but it's a different case when you beat the crap out of someone not even fighting back in a literal class while the teacher demands you to stop!”
“While I don’t agree with the language, I do agree with the sentiment.” Tenya adjusts his glasses, “I can imagine Aizawa-sensei merely wishes to discuss with Midoriya his episode during yesterday’s exercise. I hope he will get the help he needs.”
“By episode, you mean freezing up and getting beat up? Seriously, what did Bakugou do to make Midoriya react like that?” Kyoka asks, sounding furious on his behalf, before turning to Melissa who was blissfully sipping her cup of coffee, “Did he tell you anything about it, Shield?”
“Huh?” Melissa snaps out of it and turns to them unsure, “Well…I’m not sure, I just know that Bakugou bullied Midoriya back in middle school. But I think that’s something anyone can guess.”
“Despicable.” Tenya mutters, “I can only hope that UA does something about this. It's hard to imagine someone with such a past being a Pro Hero. How can you trust someone to save people if they relish lording their power over the weak?”
Before he can continue, suddenly a figure charges in and blocks their path,
“I AM HERE!” All Might says, taking them all by surprise, “To have a chat with you, Melissa Shield!”
“Huh, what?” Melissa sputters out confused, almost choking on her coffee at the sudden appearance of All Might.
“A-All Might-sensei?” Tenya looks at the hero flabbergasted, “But we have classed-?”
“Fear not, I won’t take up too much of Young Shield’s time.” All Might assured with a hearty chuckle, “It’ll just be a quick chat.”
“Well…I guess.” Melissa says looking a bit nervous before looking to her new friends, “You guys go on ahead.”
They leave but not before giving her and All Might confused glances, and just as they are leaving earshot, All Might turns to face her,
“So…I think it’s about time we have a chat, don’t you?”
***
“I imagine it must’ve been quite the surprise learning I was going to be a teacher here?” All Might asked as he sat down with Melissa in a private room. Melissa gulped and nodded her head, this was what she had been dreading since yesterday.
“Yeah…and I guess it was surprising hearing I was here?” she asked and he nodded.
“The last we met on I-Island you wanted to become a scientist like your father.” he says, “I suppose the change in career choice has something to do with your…Quirk awakening?”
“...Something like that,” she says, focusing on anywhere but her uncle.
“You never called when you arrived, and your father didn’t mention anything about this.” All Might says looking a tad bit hurt, which breaks Melissa’s heart.
“You’re the Symbol of Peace, Uncle Might. We…I didn’t want to bother you.” Melissa says, this time being truthful. All Might seemed to notice something off and reached for her shoulder in a comforting gesture,
“Melissa, if there’s something wrong you know you can tell me, right?” he asks and she weakly nods.
“...Alright.”
And so she did, telling him nearly everything that’s happened including how she unlocked her “Quirk” but leaving out the parts that made everyone but Midoriya think of her as crazy, including Curses, Spirits and reincarnated Sorcerers from before the Age of Quirks. It was something she was still wrapping her head around, and until she knew more she didn’t want to drag her Uncle into her problems.
He already had so much weight on his shoulders, it would be unfair to ask him to share her burden with his own already existing.
“...” All Might was silent as he heard her story, of nearly dying and being forced to kill her attacker with her newly awakened ‘Quirk’, “I had no idea you went through such a thing so long ago, and I wasn’t even there… Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t David tell me?”
“I didn’t want you to know. You have a lot on your plate already, you’re the Symbol of Peace!” Melissa explains, looking away from her uncle in shame, “I…also didn’t want to know how’d you react when I…”
She stops, looking at her hands as they shake slightly, rubbing her palm with her thumbs against the constant stain of red she keeps seeing. She knows that they weren’t really there but she still remembers how sticky and slick it felt, the smell of copper…
All Might reach over and hugs her, “You didn’t have a choice, Melissa. I’m sorry you had to discover your Quirk in such a manner, and I’m sorry you had to deal with this by yourself. But you don’t have to be alone now, I am here.”
“...Thank you, Uncle Might.” Melissa hugs him back but feels a pang of guilt in her heart over not telling her uncle everything.
"And is this the reason you joined the Hero Course? To make amends somehow? It wasn't your fault, Melissa."
"I know that, Uncle." Melissa nods, "I just...I want to learn to use my power, even if I don't become a Pro Hero. I thought UA would be the safest place to do that...that was also far from where it happened."
"I see..." All Might trails off awkwardly, "Your partner yesterday, Midoriya. You heard he was Quirkless as well? That he unlocked his ability around the same time as yours?"
Here was the part Melissa was truly dreading. But with only a short pause, she looked into the caring eyes of her uncle and lied through her teeth.
"Yeah, I found it coincidental as well. He unlocked it during a traumatic event kind of like me," she says keeping the truth from him.
Would it be better if he knew? Would he even be able to do something against a threat he can’t even see or touch like she could? What if knowledge spread and fear of Curses rose, giving rise to bigger threats.
Maybe Gojo and Izuku were right? Maybe it was best to let things remain quiet, let the knowledge die in the dark…
"I see..." All Might says, accepting her answer, "And one last question, did you receive this ability from someone else? Did you perhaps talk with someone regarding this?"
"What?" Melissa looks at him genuinely confused, "What does that mean?"
"...Forget it, Melissa." All Might shrug it off before smiling, "Ah, look at the time. You're already late for your next class, aren't you? Come let me at least escort you there."
***
“So in the days since an entire Yakuza branch was eliminated, all its high-ranking members arrested for possession of illegal substances and weapons, we still have yet to uncover the perpetrator?” Sir Nighteye asks as he walks beside Detective Naomasa through the halls of the police station,
“Yes, the Shie Hassaikai destroyed all their CCTV footage, and any outside cameras caught nothing somehow. According to the footage, it all seemed normal before suddenly the damage was visible. But we have no physical evidence of ‘monsters’ being present that aren’t from the Shie Hassaikai.”
Sir Nighteye rubs his chin, “Perhaps a Quirk to conceal this raid was used. In which case we assume a team of operators did this. One to conceal the activities, one to generate this mass illusion of ‘monsters’ and another to take them all down as brutally as possible. From the damage the Eight Bullets received, it’s safe to assume whoever did this holds a grudge.”
Naoyama nods in agreement, “And it was also done quickly, cleanly, without any trace of our perpetrators and only one person identified as a ‘White Demon’ by traumatised yakuza grunts. This could be a professional crew we’re talking about, one that’s new on the scene.”
“Has any of the Eight Bullets said a word?” Sir Nighteye asked and Naomasa shook his head,
“No, they are all remaining tight-lipped about this. The only one chatting so far is that Kendo Rappa fellow and all he talks about is how ‘manly’ his fight with the ‘White Demon’ was. I tried asking if he knew the identity of this White Demon and he denied it, but my Quirk tells me otherwise. It did the same with three more of their members.”
“Focus questioning on them, if we can get a name it’s one step closer to figuring out this mystery.” Sir Nighteye nods and sighs, “It’s a shame we can’t directly question Overhaul himself. They put him in a braindead state for a reason, perhaps he knew something about them?”
“Perhaps.” a third voice startles them from behind and they turn to see the Ninja Hero: Edgeshot, standing there leaning against the wall with a case file in hand, flipping through them.
“Edgeshot?” Naomasa looks at him in surprise, “What are you doing here? How did you get your hands on-?”
“Apologies, this case caught my curiosity and asking for permission was taking too long.” he says as he closes the file shut and approaches the two, handing it over to the detective, “I simply asked one of your men for the files, and they relented. You must tighten security, for all they’d know, I could have been a fake sneaking in.”
“I’ll…get on that.” Naomasa mutters both confused and slightly annoyed, “But why are you so concerned about this case? This is far beyond your usual patrol grounds.”
Edgeshot suddenly stops and his hand lashes out, Naomasa flinching as he grabs something invisible in front of him.
“Apologies, Detective. I saw a fly in your face.” he says before turning to Sir Nighteye, “I understand you are in charge of the case regarding the Shie Hassaikai and their attacker? Might I ask to be let in on any new information you find?”
“Perhaps.” Sir Nighteye adjusts his glasses, “But might I ask what’s got you so curious, Edgeshot? You’ve never involved yourself in this case before now. Do you perhaps know anything regarding the attackers?”
Naomasa uses his Quirk on Edgeshot as Nighteye asks his question. The Ninja Hero pauses before answering,
“Perhaps. Or perhaps not. Time will only tell if I do, as well as any new information you give me.” Edgeshot says before walking ahead of them, heading out of the police station, “Good day, gentlemen.”
“That was…weird and vague.” Naomasa mutters before turning to Sir Nighteye, “Is he always-?”
“That eccentric? Yes.” Sir Nighteye sighs, “He’s known in the Pro Hero community for being an oddball at times, and a ninja-obsessed oddball the rest of the times. Still despite that he is a capable, skilled and trustworthy Pro Hero. We’ll keep him in the loop, if he does know something I hope he shares it with us.”
As Edgeshot walks away from the police station into an alley, he looks down at the Flyhead trapped in his hand. It was hanging off the shoulder of that poor, stressed detective ever since he went to that Shie Hassaikai compound to investigate.
He crushes it in his hands with a sigh. More and more pests like these had been showing up since a while ago and he wonders if this is connected somehow. The presence of Cursed Energy was not lost on him when he made his own private investigation into the matter.
It wasn’t a signature he was familiar with, so it was definitely not him. He’s not sure whether to call it a relief or not.
As he thinks on this, he feels the familiar shudder in his spine as a Curtain was brought down around him. Small, focused and contained to only this alley. Before it was fully brought down and before he could even twitch, a serrated katana was held against his throat. Only one person was capable of that.
“Cousin.” he greets politely, “Might I ask why you are breaching our pact? We swore to never interfere with each other’s business.”
A familiar voice scowls, “I am not, cousin. However, I am curious about the presence of new blood in my territory. I hope it’s not you?”
“Our Binding Vow would cut me down if I even tried that.” Edgeshot scowls, “So if not me, and not you, then it appears we have a third party. Foreigners?”
The blade was pressed further against his throat, almost close enough to draw blood, “Whoever they are, let them know of your pact with me. I do not wish to spill the blood of those in war against Curses like we are. But if they try to interfere with me…”
“If I met them, I’ll be sure to pass on the message,” Edgeshot answers dryly as the blade was removed. He hears the faint sound of footsteps moving away but still doesn’t turn, his hand slowly going to the tanto he has hidden on his person.
“And you still plan on continuing this…crusade of yours?” Edgeshot asks with a hint of disgust and nervousness in his tone. His hands shaking at the memory of his near death, “Stop this cousin…please.”
The voice laughs genuinely amused, “Will you stop me then? Even if you can safely break your Vow, can you truly? Remember why it was sworn in the first place? I may not be so merciful next time if you try to face me.”
Edgeshot relents and releases his grip reluctantly, and the voice scoffs,
“Just like a false hero…Can’t stake your life on your ideals.” he grumbles, “But I suppose you get a pass, one for being of the same blood, and another for the both of us fighting the true enemy.”
The curtain lifts and even then Edgeshot doesn’t look back, walking forward and away from the scene.
“One day, you’ll be stopped.” he promises under his breath, his mind going back to the presence he felt in his investigation, “If not by my hand, perhaps theirs.”
Chapter 11: A Cursed Clash Pt 1
Chapter Text
“Mhm…” Ryoku lets out a satisfied noise as she slurps the colourful co*cktail mixed by Kurogiri, “This is good. Really good. I thought all drinks tasted terrible, the last time I went to a bar they didn’t serve anything as good as this…Or maybe it was because I poured one myself after I killed the bartender?”
She wonders out loud as Kurogiri cleans a glass, “Thank you for your praise, Miss Ryoku.”
“You are very polite.” she giggles as she inches a hand closer to him, “And with such a nice Quirk…You must get a lot of attention from the ladies?”
“I must ask you to refrain from touching me, Miss Ryoku.” he politely asks without flinching, “I have heard of your abilities from Giran, and I’d rather not get killed by my own Quirk, thank you very much.”
She smirks but withdraws her hand, “Aw come on, just one touch. I won’t do anything, I just want to know how this mist feels. You use it to warp things, but what if you’re not thinking of doing so? Is it just normal black mist then? Does it warp somewhere random then? What if you think of an impossible location?”
She takes the cherry from her co*cktail and flicks it at Kurogiri to test her theory, but instead of passing through a small mist portal appears above her empty glass and dumps the thrown cherry into it.
“I must also ask you to refrain from dirtying my bar,” he asks again, ever polite.
“Again with the politeness…It’s almost unnatural.” She says leaning on her hand, studying him with an inquisitive gaze while muttering under her breath, “The perfect caretaker for the brattiest manchild possible...”
“I can hear you, bitch.” Tomura growls as he sips from his own glass, “And keep your hands off Kurogiri, he’s our only way to get in and out for tomorrow.”
“I can do the same if you let me borrow your Quirk.” she whines, “Come on Kuro, just for a day or two. I can do your job for you, and you can stay here doing whatever you do when we’re out.”
“As if we’d trust a psychopath like you with that job!” Tomura glares at her through the hand covering his face. Ryoku laughs at that,
“Really? Come on kettle, is that any way to talk to a pot?” she smirks at him, “We’re on the same side aren’t we? Us against the heroes.”
“You literally killed ten of our minions the moment you got here!” Tomura remembers, sounding more annoyed than mad. She shrugs,
“They had such pretty Quirks.” she says gesturing at the bracelet of multi-coloured and textured marbles on her wrist, “A girl has to treat herself, you get me? And I promised I wouldn’t kill anymore after that. Especially that big boy you have.”
Her smirk grew almost wide enough to split her face, “It’s impressive. To think someone had an even more wicked imagination than I did. Humans have such twisted minds...”
Tomura shares her smirk, “That’s what we can agree on. With something like that, all our grunts, and us there’s no way All Might can survive. It’s the perfect trap if you’re sure you can keep everyone out.”
“Trust me. Even when they realise something’s wrong, they won’t be able to do anything.” she grins devilishly playing with the cherry in her empty glass, “It’s a shame I can’t take All Might’s Quirk for myself, but hey, a promise is a promise.”
“Sensei said you can take anyone else’s Quirks.” Tomura says, “Be grateful we’re even letting you have any.”
“Aw, you do know how to treat a girl.” she teases before listing them off her fingers as she remembers the names from the class schedule she read, “Alright then I want at least the Endeavour kid, he’s gotta have a Quirk like his dad. Something flashy as well, something for protection, and an invisible Quirk if they have any. Just send any cool Quirks you find my way.”
“Just remember we’re not here for shopping. We’re here to ruin people’s trust in the Symbol of Peace by killing him.”
“How can I forget?” she asks, “The looks on people’s faces when he dies…that’s the top reason I joined in the first place.”
***
“Curses…Foiled once more by public transportation design.” Tenya muttered dejectedly under his breath as the class took their seats in the bus being used to transport them to their location for Rescue Trials.
“Once again?” Momo asks curious as she sits next to Tenya,
“It was for my mother’s birthday…Curse you rental bus,” he answers but is too depressed to give any further elaboration.
Izuku takes his seat and the bus begins to move, his eyes trailed towards Katsuki who he sees is now without the cast around his arm and looking uninjured.
“...Is your arm alright, Bakugou?” he asks out of some concern. However, as he half-expected, Katsuki instead glares and snaps at him,
“f*ck off,” he grumbles as the redhead sitting next to him, Kirishima, rebukes him.
“Whoa, whoa, language pal.” he says putting a hand on his shoulder, “He’s just trying to be nice.”
“f*ck you too. I’m not your pal, buddy.”, Katsuki violently shrugs the hand off and growls.
“Heh, someone’s got an attitude problem.” Mina whispers loudly enough for Katsuki to hear, increasing his anger, “Guess we got the future Endeavour here. A Pro with a humongous attitude.”
Shoto coughs into a fist at that as Katsuki looks about to snap but seeing a glare from their homeroom teacher through the rearview mirror of the bus, he bites his tongue and sits back down.
“I mean, Endeavour’s a capable Pro Hero in his own right,” Izuku says trying to change the subject from focusing on Katsuki to prevent a potential outburst. The last thing they needed was a murder, “He has the highest cases resolved in the entire country. Statistically with the number of cases solved, he surpasses All Might.”
“Yeah, but there’s a reason All Might’s the world’s greatest hero.” Ochako points out, “Who’d you rather want to save you? The strongest man alive who’s always there with a smile, or someone that’s just always scowling and glaring at you?”
“Plus, All Might has operated worldwide, he just focused more on America and more recently Japan.” Melissa adds in, “Power, personality, competency, it’s all those factors that make him renowned across the world.”
“The power’s all that matters. If he was weak he wouldn’t be the Number One hero would he?” Katsuki scoffs, surprising Izuku by joining the conversation without over-the-top shouting. Perhaps his defeat and subsequent chat with their homeroom teacher affected him more than he thought?
“It’s a constantly debated subject.” Momo nods, “But it is certain that his overwhelming and mysterious power is a key factor on why he is so effective in being the Symbol of Peace.”
“Speaking of All Might, there’s something I’ve been thinking of for a while.” Tsuyu speaks up looking at Melissa, “Your Quirk, it reminds me a bit of All Might’s.”
“Huh? It does?” Melissa looks confused.
“It kinda does.” Kyoka admits, “You levelled two entire floors with just one punch. It’s not All Might level, but it’s definitely very similar.”
“I can do that too,” Katsuki grumbled, annoyed at how they were praising her for something so simple.
“Hey, jealousy isn’t a good look on you man,” Kirishima says and Katsuki snaps,
“Shut the f*ck up! Who said I was jealous of some sh*tty Quirk?!”
“Well, it’s not really super-strength, although I guess it is one of its functions.” Melissa shrugs as she grips the hand wielding her upgraded Full Gauntlet, “My Te…Quirk, is called Ratio. Essentially it allows me to forcibly create a weak point in anything on a 3:7 ratio that when struck allows me to deal far greater damage.”
“That’s just like a video game critical hit then!” Kaminari exclaims excitedly, “Damn if that’s what happens when you hit a floor, I’d hate to see what happens when you hit a person with that.”
Melissa immediately freezes at that, going completely still. The smell of metal that wasn’t there before suddenly filled her nose, and the wet, sticky feeling around her hand wouldn’t ever come off no matter how much she tried scrubbing it away.
“I…” she mutters before the bus suddenly stops, and Shota Aizawa shouts to get their attention, snapping her out of her thoughts.
“All of you quiet down, we’re here already.” he orders as the doors on the bus open up, “Welcome to the USJ.”
***
“Floods, landslides, wildfires, this is a practical training area I created to simulate all kinds of accidents and disasters. Welcome to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint.” the Space Hero: 13 explains as she gestures to the entire area.
“Heh, someone really wanted to name this place the USJ.” Gojo smirks before looking around impressed, “Still you gotta hand it to them. Man if Jujutsu High had half the resources UA did in the old days…”
“It’s amazing.” Izuku agreed as he gazed across the USJ, “It’s the greatest Hero school in the country for a reason I guess.”
“Ohmigosh, it’s 13!” Ochako squeals in excitement, “I’m your biggest fan!”
She wasn’t the only one, as Izuku had been dying to meet her as well. There were a lot of Quirks that belonged to Pro Heroes but only a few of them manipulated space let alone in the way 13’s Black Hole worked was to the Blue application of Limitless and thus he found himself researching more into the Space Hero.
Seeing the few footage of her using it to rescue people from disasters made him respect her even more, especially now knowing how difficult it was to do such a thing. If he learns from her it would mean he could learn to use Limitless in a more precise manner, maybe discover a way to reduce Blue’s rapid burnout of his brain.
“Excuse me.” Melissa raises her hand confused, “I thought there were going to be three teachers today?”
“I was thinking the same.” Shota nods and looks towards 13, “Where’s All Might, 13?”
“Ah from what he told me, he was too busy with heroics in the early morning and overexerted himself. He’s now resting in the teacher’s lounge before he joins us.” 13 explains gesturing to Shota with three fingers, something Gojo noticed.
“Hmm…” Gojo hums to himself and Izuku looks confused,
“Something wrong?” he whispers under his breath and Gojo shrugs,
“Eh? Probably nothing, forget about it.” Gojo shrugs off, “Class’ is about to start so you should focus. Just thought of something interesting.”
Izuku shrugs it off, attributing this to his mentor’s strange eccentricities as he listens to the speech 13 is about to give. But as she was beginning to speak, suddenly Izuku felt a pulse in the air and froze.
It was a familiar sensation he had felt when seeing Eri for the first time. The raw unbridled Cursed Energy let loose wildly like a blazing flame. But this was different, yet so similar at the same time.
Even Melissa Shield who had only begun delving into the world of Curses sensed what he felt and immediately knew something was wrong, but because of her lack of knowledge and experience, she couldn’t figure out what.
But Izuku was already spinning towards the source of the sudden flare of Cursed Energy, his classmates and teachers starlet when he suddenly got into a stance to ready Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue as they looked down at the centre of USJ to find a young woman who looked barely older than them drop from a pool of black mist. Izuku cursed under his breath, realising whoever that was, it was out of range.
“Huh, who is that another student?” Kirishima asks, confused as he peers down at her.
“It looks like everyone’s here, except for All Might. But oh well, the show must go on…” the person notes before shrugging and raising two fingers as she begins chanting softly as everyone feels a tingle down their spine.
"Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure."
A Curtain! Izuku realises as the pool of mist above her widens and dozens upon dozens of figures come rushing out.
“Everyone huddle together! Those are villains!” their homeroom teacher suddenly calls out as he pulls on his capture weapon.
“What, villains?!” the class reacts with shock and confusion at this except Izuku who immediately turns to Shota,
“Aizawa-sensei! That girl over there, she’s blocked out everything from the outside world. Nothing’s getting out. People, electric signals, everything.”
“So that’s how the alarm isn't ringing.” he mutters before glancing at Izuku, “How did you know?”
“It’s because of my Quirk!” Izuku quickly answers, trying to think of the best course of action. Does he charge in right now? How does he explain his reasoning to his teacher and classmates? And what about the Curtain?
“Careful Midoriya, that’s a Special Grade Curse.” Gojo warns, “If your classmates are your concern, bust down the Curtain yourself. They’re meant for concealment, not protection.”
“Got it.” Izuku suddenly turns and points at the door, “Everyone gets down and hang tight!”
They do as he says as he uses Blue to pull apart the doors to USJ revealing a night sky.
“Wait, nighttime?!” Kyoka looks confused, “But it was just morning!”
Kaminari, the closest to the hole, tries running out first only to slam headfirst into the Curtain, creating a ripple in the air.
“Is it one of the villains’ Quirks?” Momo asks, worried.
“They trapped us?” Tenya reacts with concern as Izuku steps up with an aura of Cursed Energy flowing through his arm.
“Whatever it is, we need to all get out now. Melissa?” He looks at her and she nods her head, bringing up her own fist covered with the Full Gauntlet. But before either of them could move to the front and strike, a swirl of black mist appeared overhead.
Shota tries to activate his Quirk at the figure that appeared through the mist but to no avail. He was covered in too much of the black mist to allow his Quirk to affect the real body beneath it all if it was even there.
“Greetings, my name is Kurogiri of the League of Villains.” the cloud of black mist with glowing yellow eyes speaks to them, “Apologies for the intrusion but we are here on business regarding your teacher, the Symbol of Peace known as All Might…Here for his death to be specific.”
“What? Kill All Might, are they insane?” someone in the class mutters in disbelief as everyone tenses.
Izuku grits his teeth as his hand readies for the signs necessary for Blue. He can’t use one immediately after the previous one, especially with it having been strong enough to tear down the gates, without bursting his brain like a balloon. As he realised in his fight against his first Cursed Spirit, a minimum twenty-second cooldown was necessary to prevent overexertion…
But should he wait? Should he take the risk and stop whoever this was right now? It’s some kind of teleporter, so what if he dodges before Blue takes effect? How strong must it be to restrain him while Melissa destroys the Curtain? Can he avoid catching his classmates with it?
As he waits while the villain monologues, both Katsuki and Kirishima instantly leap at Kurogiri without hesitation to strike with their Quirks. But as expected, they did nothing but swat the black mist aside, allowing them to notice a metal plate within the mist.
“How rude…But perfect additions to send to the young lady.” Kurogiri mutter under his breath.
So there was a weakness! Why else would one wear and hide armour if they were seemingly untouchable? And just in time his brain had cooled down, allowing Izuku to start the hand signs necessary for Blue, but it was too late as black mist washes over them like a tidal wave…
“Begone…to be scattered, tortured and slain.”
***
Melissa grunts as she lands roughly…somewhere with collapsed buildings? A look above reveals that she was still in the USJ. It made sense, if this was a trap then why would they send them out of it.
The mist villain had reacted faster than the blink of an eye, warping her before she could avoid the burst of black mist. As she was gathering her thoughts, she heard footsteps and readied herself only to see a familiar red hairdo.
“Oh, you’re here too?” Kirishima looks at her with relief and surprise, “Hey Bakugou get over here!”
A familiar explosive blonde approaches, following Kirishima closely with a scowl on his face. Melissa drops her guard slightly and glances around warily,
“You guys are here? Is there anyone else?” Melissa asks, scanning the area as she spots someone falling through the sky as well, before creating a block of ice that shatters, cushioning his fall.
“And Todoroki too! Looks like it’s the four of us.” Kirishima notes as Shoto gets up, dusting the ice off his feet.
“It’s just the four of us?” he asks, looking at them, “We need to find our way back at once. Regroup with any of our classmates along the way before fleeing.”
“You don’t tell us what to do, half-and-half.” Katsuki growls as he cracks his knuckles, “We’re getting back there and then I’m gonna have a word with that motherf*cker.”
“Everyone please, we need to calm down!” Melissa pleads as she looks around, “We’re alone here…”
“...You’re right,” Shoto says as he gets ready, noticing the same as her.
“What? But isn’t that a good thing?” Kirishima ask and Katsuki clicks his tongue,
“Think about it idiot, if those f*ckers did all that work to lay a trap for All Might then why would they scatter and leave us alone?” he asks rhetorically as he starts scanning the area as well, arms at the ready for an explosive blast.
They all warily got back to back, ready for a swarm of villains to emerge and attack before Melissa was hit by the same terrifying aura she felt at the beginning of the villains' attack on the USJ.
Out of the corner of a collapsed building, they hear the humming of a tune as the young woman with crack-like scars covering her face skips into view casually.
“Hm, only four.” she looks disappointed before shrugging, “Well at least one of them’s the Endeavour’s kid.”
Shoto reacts first, slamming his right foot down and blasting her with ice. But then as the ice travels towards her she whips out two marbles, one filled with embers and the other appearing made of stone, crushing both of them, engulfing her fists with flames before punching the ice.
The ice explodes and vaporises into steam. The girl laughs as she flicks the arm she used to punch, which was now covered in a spiked gauntlet made of molten rocks coated in flames,
“Hah! So that’s your Quirk, huh?” she whistles, impressed looking up at the rising steam, “Man if that’s just your ice, I wonder what your fire’s like?”
As she looks away, Melissa charges in with both Katsuki and Eijiro. Katsuki gets there first, swinging his hands and blasting at her with explosives. Only before they could impact, she whips out three marbles and crushes them.
Liquid metal explodes from her hand, generating a large shield that deflects the blast before she swings it like it was made of cardboard, swatting him aside.
“The Todoroki kid…a flashy Quirk…” she smiles widely as she dodges Eijirou’s hardened fist without looking, before the shield melts back to its liquid state before turning into a whip, using it to slash at him. Fortunately, he was able to raise both hardened arms to take the block, knocking him back and chipping his armour, but leaving him mostly unharmed,
“And one for protection.” the girl’s smile grew to almost splitting her mouth, “I guess I’ll forgive him for sending me this little.”
Melissa roars and punches straight at her but the girl shapes the whip into a rectangular shield. In that moment she activates Ratio and creates a weak point in the shield, punching it and shattering it.
This takes her by surprise as she stumbles back from the force of the blow while returning the metal shards to liquid and back into her hand, separating into three marbles again.
“That was strange…” she mutters rubbing her chin in thought, “Like it wasn't a-?”
An explosion cuts her off as Katsuki rockets towards her while she is distracted. The blast he generates sends her smashing through a collapsed building as the students regroup.
“What the heck was that?!” Eijirou asks, “Was it metal manipulation or something? And that magma fist? Does she have two Quirks?!”
“No, didn’t you notice?” Katsuki snarls, “That bitch was holding marbles or something when she did those things.”
“So those marbles are the key?” Shoto asks as he builds up ice on his right arm, “Then if we take them away, she’s all but Quirkless.”
Melissa shudders feeling the immense build-up of Cursed Energy, “No…we need to run. Now!”
Before they can react to her warning, the collapsed building in front of them explodes as a small tower of roots rises from beneath and lifts the villain into the air she cackles,
“That was spectacular.” she applauds, “You had power behind that blow, but just not enough to hurt me unfortunately. Although you did wrinkle my clothes a bit.”
She says patting at the torn-up black sweater she was wearing.
“Oh, I’ll do more than wrinkle your clothes, bitch!” Katsuki growls as he readies to leap at her again but doesn't out of caution. He put a lot of force behind that attack and this villain came out looking no worse for wear.
“You all have very strong Quirks, I suppose that’s a given since we’re in the greatest hero school in the country. All except one…” The villain looks right at Melissa with a curious gleam in her eyes, then snaps off the bracelet of marbles she was wearing, “But you all could use a bit of fattening before slaughter!”
She throws them all towards the students and Shoto raises a wall of ice to block them. But then it was shattered and melted as a humanoid creature made of molten rock landed in front of them, letting out a roar, followed by monsters of various sizes and shapes all made of various elements and material like electricity, hair, and so on.
“What kind of Quirk is this?!” Eijirou asks, confused as he readies his own Quirk to face these new creatures.
Meanwhile, Melissa finds herself terrified at the sight. These monsters… were filled with Cursed Energy but something more as well. Gojo and Izuku had told her they didn’t think it was possible, that no one with Quirks should have Cursed Techniques, or vice versa.
And yet before she stood monsters filled with both.
“Come on!” the villain encourages gleefully as the monsters charge at them. Katsuki tries flying over them to take the fight directly to the girl, but a humanoid made of rocks grabs him by the leg and slams him down. Eijirou rushes to help him but gets lashed by the Quirk made of interlocked hair, held in place and strangled. Melissa shifts her Full Gauntlet to a bladed form, an upgrade of hers that curved the metallic bandages into resembling a shortsword, bringing it down and freeing Eijirou before creating a Ratio on the creature.
Before she can slash it, it regrew its lost limb and slaps her away. Meanwhile, Shoto tries his best to help but is occupied by the largest of the creatures, one made of molten rock that made it immune to the ice he was throwing at it.
“They say one’s Quirk grows at the brink of death, as one struggles with all their might.” the villain cheers gleefully at the sight of the brawl, “So fight hard! Struggle! Fatten your Quirks before I-?”
She gets cut off as a rock smacks the back of her head, not dealing any damage but catching her by surprise.
“What the...Was that a rock?” She looks flabbergasted as she searches for the source, before behind her another rock begins floating as the students realise who it is. The rock then smashes against her head again but this time the villain spins and grabs Touru Hagurake by the neck.
“Hagurake!” Melissa shouts as she cuts the hair monster at the ratio, splitting and bursting it apart before rushing towards them, but the rock monster fighting Katsuki smacks him just before he activates his Quirk, inadvertently blowing up the area around him and blasting Melissa as well.
“An invisibility Quirk! This is exactly what I wanted!” the villain cheered as Touru struggled in her grasp. The villain then scratches her head, “Huh, but I’m not sure how I’m gonna kill you with your own invisibility…Oh well, I’ll figure that out later. Hey, you kids down there! Here’s a little preview of what you should expect from me, about how my ability works… Quirk Manipulation: Transferal.”
The villain touches Touru on the forehead and chants. In her hold, Touru began convulsing, her invisible skin shimmering and ripples as her invisibility was peeled off her like ink being drained, leaving her visible in a bodysuit made of her hair fibres, losing their invisibility as well as turning into a suit made of green fabric. Even as they were fighting for their lives, the students couldn’t help but gape in horror at the impossible sight before them.
Touru Hagurake’s Quirk, Invisibility, had been stolen.
Chapter 12: A Cursed Clash Pt 2
Chapter Text
“Hagurake!” Melissa shouted with anguish as she sliced at the tendrils of hair the creature in front of her was using to lash at both Eijirou and her. The villain laughs as she holds Touru by the throat while using her other hand to hold the shimmering, translucent marble.
“Amazing…it offers complete invisibility without any noteworthy tradeoffs. Complete disappearance from sight. But that’s not its only function as well…” the villain mutters before looking down at the former invisible girl, “She called you Hagurake, right? I saw your name on the class schedule. Touru Hagurake. I’ll remember you for a long time, thank you for this beautiful gift.”
“sh*tty hair! Glasses bitch!” Katsuki shouted out as he was fighting off the rock golem, blasting himself away from it and towards them, “Switch!”
Instantly getting his meaning, Melissa switched her Full Blade back to the Full Gauntlet, running to the golem and creating a Ratio as Katsuki flew over her, throwing a belt full of grenades containing vials of his sweat at the hair monster while Eijirou was fending it off.
“Extended Technique: Collapse!” Melissa cries out as she slams her fist on the 3:7 mark, at the same time pouring out her Cursed Energy into the monster. It explodes into rubble instantly at the same time Eijirou hardens to shield himself from Katsuki’s blast as he detonates all the grenades inside the hair monster, incinerating it to ashes.
“Kirishima, with me! Bakugou, go help Todoroki!” Melissa shouts as she dashes towards the villain holding Touru and her Quirk. She looks down at the two approaching students with amusem*nt before throwing the unconscious Touru’s body at Melissa who stops to catch it.
Eijirou however continued charging after sparing a brief glance to make sure she was alright, screaming and swinging a fist at the smiling villain who stood there and took it straight to the face.
“What did you do to her?” Eijirou asks as he throws a left hook across her cheek. However the villain continues smiling as Eijirou keeps throwing more and more punches at her,
“What does it look like?” she asks tauntingly as a blow to the stomach is received, “I stole her Quirk, and it’s right here!”
She says flashing the translucent marble in front of her like it was a prize won from a gacha-machine serving to further anger Eijirou.
“Give it back!” Eijirou shouts as he throws a hardened punch right in her face, the girl grinning as she tanks the powerful strike head-on without flinching. This was worrying Ejirou, how was it possible she wasn’t at least bruised from such attacks?
But before he could further delve into the issue or strike further, she pressed her lips against his fist as it struck. He was momentarily confused at this before screaming as pain wrecked every nerve in his arm.
He looks at it in horror as every inch of his right arm’s skin was hardened and sharpened to such an extent it is stabbed into his own muscles, grazing and poking at the bone making just moving it agony.
Unbeknownst to him, Ryoku had poured her Cursed Energy through her mouth, channelling her technique through it to cripple Eijirou’s arm.
“I admit, your Quirk’s pretty awesome as well. Simple but awesome.” the villain praises as Eijirou falls to his knees, the agony and sudden rupture of many vital veins and arteries nearly sending him to shock, “And I could tell from your punches that you’re strong too for having a Quirk of that level. Not sure if the hardened skin will look good on me, but I’ll be sure to treasure it anyway.”
Eijirou pushes through the pain and swings his impaired right arm, planning to take advantage of its hardened state to use as a flail. She just grins and catches it with one arm, horror growing on his face as he realises what is about to happen.
She gives him a surprisingly kind smile, “So much willpower…your Quirk definitely suits a man like you. I wondered how far you could have gone with it. Such a shame… Quirk Manipula-?!”
She sighs before beginning to activate her technique to finish him off, but then Melissa leaps into action, creating a Ratio on the villain’s arm and slashing at it with her Full Blade precisely. The villain stumbles backwards as Melissa gets in front of Eijirou, blade drawn and pointed at her.
“Kirishima! Can you walk?” Melissa asks desperately as the villain plays with her severed hand with curiosity.
“I…I can…” he pants, trying to ignore the feeling of thousands of needles piercing his right arm.
“Then grab Touru and run now,” Shoto says stepping up beside Melissa, both Katsuki and him having finished up the molten monster with a combined attack of Shoto dropping a glacier before Katsuki explodes it into shrapnel, tearing up the molten monster faster than it could melt the ice.
“You and your arm’s just gonna hold us back.” Katsuki snarls as he pops a few small explosions on his palm, “I’ll take this bitch down. All extras just run along now.”
Eijirou wants to argue but then pain racks his arm again and he gives in. If he can’t hurt her with both arms what could he do with just one? He limps away, grabbing Touru and hoisting her over his shoulder before making a run for it.
“Well, well, this is a surprise.” the villain says as she swings her severed hand around, the stump leaking out purple blood, “I made this skin out of the best protective Quirks I had but here we are.”
“The hell…” Katsuki cringes at the sight of the strange blood leaking out of her, “Is she even human?”
“Hah! Don’t lump me in the same category as you all.” she laughs before glancing at Melissa, “But you…I think you and I are more alike than I first thought. My name’s Ryoku by the way.”
“I don’t care!” Melissa snaps, not wanting to give this person any chance to continue chatting, “Hagurake’s Quirk! Give it back now?”
“Or what?” she taunts while reattaching her arm back on its stump, holding out the translucent marble tauntingly, “It’s not like she was doing much with it. I can do way more than she possibly could in her entire lifetime.”
“So she’s got a healing ability as well?” Shoto mutters quietly to the two of them, “With so much unknown I don’t think just throwing ice on her is enough.”
“No, but I have a plan.” Melissa suggests, “You keep holding her in place, covering her in ice. I’ll strike then after that Bakugou stuns her with his explosions. Rinse and repeat.”
“Finished strategizing?” Ryoku taunts them, giving them no chance to respond, whipping out another metallic-looking marble and two more strange ones before swallowing them. Immediately metal spikes grew out of Ryoku’s arm before it elongated turning to some kind of spiked club-whip combination, “Then let’s get started!”
***
“Amazing, as expected of a class belonging to the greatest hero school of Japan.” Kurogiri reluctantly praises as he realises most of his mist was swept away only reaching half the class when Izuku Midoriya uses an application of Blue that was strong enough to sweep it away without pulling his classmates into its orbit.
Shota then tried throwing his capture tape around the villain as 13 popped out one of the fingertips of her glove, pointing it at Kurogiri. Even the students were chiming in with both Mina Ashido and Yuga Aoyama trying to use their respective Quirks on the villain who immediately teleported away when faced with the onslaught.
“Both you and 13 have quite the Quirks, such that would definitely be troublesome for me. Begone.”
Kurogiri blasted them with mist again but this time 13 was able to absorb the mist with her Blackhole Quirk and bought enough time for Izuku to cool down before activating Blue again.
This time however it was a more different and focused application as he began accelerating the flow of Cursed Energy through his body everywhere but his legs while creating a vacuum with Blue to suck in Kurogiri. Faster than Kurogiri could blink he suddenly appears directly in front of Izuku, heavily confused by the sudden transferal before Izuku delivers a straight kick into his chest.
There was definitely something under the mist, else why would he have armour hidden near his neck? His foot touches something soft, and before Kurogiri could recover he then diverts the flowing Cursed Energy into his left foot, simulating a second stronger impact into his guts.
“Divergent Style: Blue!” Izuku shouted as Kurogiri was launched away before the still-present Blue swooped him back in, landing on Izuku’s second foot ready to repeat, “Quadruple Impact!”
A new style of combat that Gojo had taught him after getting first place in Aizawa’s Quirk Apprehension Test. Apparently inspired by one of his previous students who couldn’t control their Cursed Energy to follow his superhuman strength.
While lacking in insane physical prowess, Izuku makes up for his control over Cursed Energy, first striking with a normal Cursed-enhanced strike before directing all Cursed Energy through his body towards the striking limb in an instant, creating the second impact for Divergent Strike, or rather Divergent Fists as was its original name.
But when the second-foot strike, before the Cursed Energy impact could reach, Izuku felt his foot sink in as he was pulled away. His vision clouded with black mist before light suddenly returned as he fell from the sky, disoriented but quickly recovering thanks to having experienced Gojo’s instantaneous travel before.
“Kurogiri, what the hell did you bring here?” a voice calls out and Izuku turns to see a few dozen metres away as a villain covered in hands standing next to a hulking muscular creature with a bird beak.
“My apologies, Shigaraki…” Kurogiri groans in pain as he lies at the hand villain’s feet, “I underestimated the students and had to flee, but he was caught up in my attempts to escape him…”
He was still conscious? Even if Izuku had been holding back to not kill he was sure ribs should’ve at least been broken from four repeated strikes with Cursed Energy. But if they were planning to kill All Might then of course they wouldn’t be weak.
He turns around to glance at the villains beginning to surround him. Using his second sight to take a read of their Quirk energy, he found them all to be just as weak as the Yakuza thugs he had faced almost a week ago. But this time he wasn’t catching them by surprise and was surrounded on all sides, and then there were the ones of concern.
The one known as Kurogiri was radiating high levels of power but likely didn’t have much in terms of physical prowess. The one with hands was higher than the rest of the villains surrounding but not overwhelmingly so. But the muscular one with black skin and bird beak…
“That’s a tough cookie there.”Gojo admits,“Stronger than Overhaul I’d wager. Way stronger. Are you sure you got this Midoriya?”
“I have to…Like you said, sensei. I can’t depend on you for everything.” Izuku says, steadying his breath as he gets into a stance, preparing to be swarmed but keeping his eyes focused on the three villains apparently in charge.
Gojo smirks,“Alright then, give it your best shot! But hey, make sure that you swap with me if it’s something you absolutely can’t handle. I’ll be watching, so show me how much you’ve improved.”
Suddenly a villain leaps at him from behind, firing bullets from his fingers, “What’s the matter? Too scared to act, kid?”
However, before the impact they slowed to a stop, surprising the villain before Izuku delivers a roundhouse kick to his jaw, nearly tearing it off and making sure he’ll have to eat through a straw for the rest of the year.
Seeing this, the villains began attacking at once from all sides. One of the closest, a mutant type with four arms and granite skin slams all four limbs at him but then he falls forward, pushing the ground with his arms and launching both feet at the four granite limbs, shattering the bones with basic Cursed Energy before delivering a Divergent Strike, focusing the flow towards of Cursed Energy towards his legs and breaking the granite skin on all four arms.
“G-get him!” another villain screamed as they tried swarming him, but Izuku spun on his hands and feet split apart, kicking and knocking those that weren’t smart enough to keep their distance.
“You idiots, he's a close-quarters power type!” one of the villains shouted as he pointed an open palm at Izuku, “Ranged squad open fire before he gets close!”
Wanting to waste as little of Limitless as possible, Izuku simply dodges or swats away the projectiles fired at him before suddenly grabbing a rock fired at him at speeds comparable to a rifle, and flinging it back at the villain with a literal hand cannon, breaking it.
His eyes shift to the side, glancing at the villains watching from the distance. Between them, there were still plenty of villains in his way, but the main three hadn’t made their move yet. Should he make a break for it back to his class, to aid their escape? Only something Cursed can destroy a Curtain raised by a Cursed. Or should he take the chance to eliminate the head villains? What about the Special Grade Curse? What should he do…
“Gojo-sensei…what do I do?” Izuku asks as he closes in on the ranged villains in an instant, demolishing them with only one strike each, bones crumbling beneath his kicks.
“You should do what you think is best.”Gojo supplies unhelpfully, content with watching,“If your instincts aren’t worth following, is there any reason to keep trying to be your world’s greatest Hero?”
“...” Izuku remains silent at this as one of the villains still barely conscious despite a shattered hip point aims their Quirk at him before it fails to fire, confused for a moment before a black shoe steps his head onto the floor.
“Hey, Midoriya!” Shota Aizawa shouts as he grabs two villains with his capture scarf before slamming them against one another, “If you’re able to walk, what the hell are you still doing here? Get back with your class and hole up together at the entrance, I’ll keep them at bay while you try to break out.”
“They haven’t made a scratch yet?” Izuku asks as he blocks strikes from two villains attempting to engage him at the same time, before delivering kicks right into their stomachs to send them away, “What about the rest of the class?!”
“About half of them are god knows where!” Shota responds as he deactivates the Quirks of someone trying to stab him before punching him in the throat, “But our priority is getting as many of you out as possible, call for help then deal with the villains.”
Izuku flinches at the thought of leaving his classmates before remembering Gojo’s words. At the same time, he flinches at the sense of Cursed Energy close by and turns his head to the Collapsed Zone of the USJ.
Two energy signatures…If Melissa was there with other students then they may at the very least hold the Curse off… What would All Might do in this situation? Save everyone with his overwhelming power, of course, be everywhere at once with his immeasurable speeds. But he wasn’t All Might. And what would Gojo-sensei do?
He would…he would try to save as many as he can even if it’s not everyone…
God if there’s someone up there please let this be the right choice.
“We need to beat the villains at the head of this group now!” Izuku shouts to Aizawa, pointing at the trio in the distance, “If we can force them to retreat then we can save the rest of the class immediately after.”
“What?! No, don’t do anything rash!” Shota exclaims as Izuku breaks into a sprint towards the villain leaders, smashing aside the villains dumb enough or slow enough to be in his way.
“Heh, look at this.” the villain with hands sneers at him, “Is this what UA only teaches its students? Violence and-?”
Izuku closes the distance between them quickly, not giving the villain any chance to speak before delivering a kick aimed straight at his face. But at that moment a black blur appears in front of the hands villain, blocking his strike with a hand and catching his leg. Izuku directs his Cursed Energy towards his leg exploding into a second impact hoping to stagger the villain, but it doesn’t even flinch.
Izuku’s eyes widen before the muscular bird-like villain lifts him by the leg to smash him into the ground. But the moment he was lifted he focused Infinity around his grabbed leg, dividing and expanding space enough for his leg to slip free of the grasp, before delivering a kick with his other leg straight into the villain’s exposed brain, but the only effect was the flesh rippling. Even when another Divergent Strike exploded from his limb it didn’t affect it at all besides causing the flesh to ripple more.
“So that’s its power. Freaky.”Gojo realises as Izuku kicks to launch himself away from the villain before it swings at him again,“Your kicks are landing definitely but it’s not affected at all.”
“Absorbing my attacks? Nullifying it?” Izuku mutters to himself unsure as the villain with his hands laughs at his performance.
“Come on, you can’t be that surprised can you?” he taunts as Izuku falls flat down to dodge another swipe from the bird villain, “Our artificially-created villain, Noumu, he’s made to fight All Might one-on-one as the perfect, hard counter. You’re pretty good for an NPC, messing up so many of our raid parties. But you’re not All Might.”
“Noumu?” Izuku mutters as the Noumu slams a black fist right at his face, barely blocked by an Infinity barrier in time. Insane physical strength and speed, he was sure if it wasn’t for his Cursed Energy reinforcement he would’ve been turned into paste by now, combined with some kind of Quirk that nullifies physical damage? That definitely sounded like a perfect counter for someone like All Might.
However, he wasn’t All Might.
“Cursed Technique Lapse: Blue!” Izuku shouts as he points a finger at the Noumu while keeping the barrier up. Behind the Noumu, an orb of Blue was created, pulling the villain away from him and flinging him into the air before Blue slammed down at high speeds, pulling the villain with it.
Izuku gets up and pants, wincing as he feels blood flow from his nose at the simultaneous use of Blue and Infinity. This was more serious than he had thought, if this goes on then he may very well have to use-
Before he can complete the thought he senses something from behind and leaps away just as the villain with his hands claws at him,
“We’ll teach you a lesson for injuring our getaway.” the hand villain chuckles as he continues swiping at Izuku, “You’ll be a good warm-up. You know we were planning to trap All Might here with that girl’s power, then kill him and all the students but I suppose we can settle for just killing you all first and then All Might at a later date. Let his despair grow for a while before we end it.”
Anger flares in Izuku but he steadies it before his Cursed Energy can fluctuate, grabbing one of the villain's arms as he was swinging it at him before snapping it in two.
“Do you want to say that again?” Izuku asks angered before he sees a shadow loom over him and something strikes him at the side faster than he could react. Had he not instinctually focused all his Cursed Energy at that point he could have died right then and there.
Izuku was sent flying from the blow, smacking against rock and skidding to a stop as he tried catching his breath through cracked ribs. That speed…it was insane, faster than he was.
Coughing out blood he pushes himself up and glares at the villain with his hands as the Noumu stands protectively ahead of him.
“f*ck! You…you bastard!” he shouts in agony as he holds his broken arm, glaring at Izuku through the hand covering his face, “Noumu…tear his arm off for me in exchange for him breaking it.”
Izuku grimaces as he braces himself, focusing his Cursed Energy to reinforce his reaction time and speed. Then the Noumu moves and this time Izuku was able to leap over and behind it as it swung at where he once was.
He uses his senses to look at the Noumu again, focusing on it and finding what he saw to be difficult to believe. The Quirk Energy signatures…it was like there were multiple in the same body, screaming in agony. It was almost nightmarish to look at, reminding him of the few Cursed Spirits he had witnessed before.
“It’s like multiple people’s essence crammed into the same cramped container.”Gojo notes with distaste in his tone,“Like the Quirk equivalent of a Transfigured Human? Midoriya, you know if they aren’t kidding about it being artificially made…”
“...Is there anything human left inside?” Izuku hesitantly asks as the Noumu swings an arm around, nearly catching him off guard, barely blocking it with an Infinity barrier in time, “Reverse Cursed Technique! If I can-?”
“Even it has limits, don’t you remember?”Gojo says,“It’s not something that can heal this, only physical damage not whatever’s been done to this.”
“...” Izuku became silent as he used Infinity to deflect another punch from the Noumu with one arm while the other struck with his hand flat and Cursed Energy at the tip of his fingers sharpening it like a blade that pierces into the Noumu’s stomach, “...I’m sorry.”
He apologises before he expands Infinity from around his arm, the barrier forcing away the flesh of the Noumu and tearing out a portion of its guts. Seeing something so human bleed out and lose its organs gets Izuku to freeze at the sight.
Horror…was this what Melissa felt when she accidentally killed the man strangling her? As he was consumed by his thoughts, the Noumu stepped back as if stunned by the sudden damage before his eyes widened at the sight of the hole in its stomach repairing itself.
“What?!” Izuku looked shocked and raised his arms, it was too soon to use Infinity again so he had to settle for reinforcing it with all his Cursed Energy before being launched backwards with cracked arms.
“You think his Shock Absorption is all he had?” the villain with hands mocked, “We made him fight All Might! He’s the perfect killing machine, you’ve got an impressive Quirk but it’s nothing against our Anti-Symbol of Peace! What, do you think if you fight hard enough you could beat it? Or are you hoping you can buy time for All Might to arrive? Trust me, I’ve been guaranteed that not even All Might can break down the barrier around us. In the next minute, you’ll be dead and we’ll move on to the rest of your class.”
“...Is that so?” Izuku asks before pressing his two hands against one another and chanting the passphrase that Gojo had given him, “Foresight.”
In that moment Izuku’s green irises flickered as they were replaced by an almost otherworldly shade of blue. In that moment he felt he could see everything, individual pores on the Noumu’s skin, the specks of dust floating around the air, his classmates attempting to breach the Curtain while 13 stands guard, his classmates scattered across the USJ and the wings of a fly flapping somewhere in the Landslide Zone…
Everything in the USJ at once…and somehow he wasn’t overwhelmed by all this information, processing it like he would when he still had his normal eyes…Was this how Satoru Gojo sees the world?
He shakes the thought away and focuses on his foes with his gleaming blue eyes, “Unfortunately for you, you’re not going to last thirty seconds.”
***
Ryoku flings the club-whip at them horizontally but Melissa cuts it away with another well-struck Ratio that sevres it clean off. As this happens Shoto blasts her with his ice, completely encasing her in a small glacier as Melissa charges in, Full Gauntlet reels back infused with her Cursed Energy.
She grits her teeth as she does everything to imagine Ryoku as anything but a human. She wasn’t one anyway, just a Curse like those black skeletons she fought with Izuku. No matter how she looked she was a monster, and she needs to be dealt with as such.
Her fist strikes the Ratio on the glacier while pouring out Cursed Energy at the same time. The ice shatters and infused with Cursed Energy they become deadly shrapnel for Ryoku, stabbing deep into her body and tearing chunks out of her.
Purple blood splatters everywhere and over Melissa as well, Ryoku’s eyes widening in surprise at the damage she received, stepping back in shock.
“You…killed me?” she mutters and Melissa freezes, her mind going back to I-Island.
““Mur…der…er…”
As she freezes, Ryoku then leaps forward with a childish yet maniacal grin. She pulled out an ivory marble and broke it in her hand, turning it into a claw weapon that she gripped, slashing at Melissa as she used Cursed Energy to repair the damage done to her body,
“Just kidding!” she laughs as she attacks the still-frozen Melissa, however, a powerful explosion knocks her away, bouncing off the floor before skidding to a stop just as another glacier from Shoto traps her in place.
“Oi! Snap out of it blondie!” Katsuki screams at her, snapping her out of her thoughts, “Are you trying to get yourself killed or something?! Get your head in the game!”
Melissa grits her teeth and nods, turning back and reeling her fist for another Collapse. Again the ice shatters, and again the shrapnel tears Ryoku to shreds forcing her to repair herself with Cursed Energy, buying time for Katsuki to strike with another powerful blast that stuns her.
And through it all, Ryoku can’t help but smile. It was a simple but effective tactic, even when the two lacked Cursed Energy they were still able to hold her in place with the ice, and the explosions were powerful enough to rattle her skull and daze her long enough to be covered in ice again.
Then there was the blonde with glasses and Cursed Energy, being the one capable of harming her, combining her technique with Shoto Todoroki to maximise damage against her while keeping her unable to retaliate. A stun lock, if borrowing one of Shigaraki’s terms.
But unfortunately for them, she had no intention of staying defenceless. The manoeuvre was effective but predictable, meaning she just needed to introduce a complication and it would falter. And fortunately, she had just the thing. Especially with her latest gift…
The next time Melissa shatters the ice and tears her body apart, she uses the shower of ice to conceal the movement of grabbing four marbles from her pocket, forgoing repairing her body and pouring the Cursed Energy into her Technique and when Katsuki comes to blast her again she strikes,
“Go to hel-?!” He screams as he builds up his sweat once more hoping this time will be the finishing blow, before Ryoku swings her arm at him and somehow an invisible force slices his throat, the shock causing his explosion to stall before a stab wound punches through his chest and flings him towards Shoto.
Unwilling to freeze one of his allies, he hesitates between catching him or moving around to quickly freeze Ryoku before rescuing his ally, giving her the time to strike. An invisible blade stabs through his side, going clean through his body as Katsuki slams into him.
“Bakugou! Todoroki!” Melissa shouts before she barely raises her Full Gauntlet to deflect the blade, now coated with enough blood it was visible, “No…is that-?”
“Touru Hagurake’s Invisibility.” Ryoku grins as she flicks the blood off the invisible whip-blade she held, “Combined with Steel Spikes, Flexibility and a pinch of my Quirk Manipulation to constantly adjust its shape, size and length. Pretty nasty to go against, isn’t it?”
Melissa breathed heavily, the exhaustion from using so many Collapses was taking its toll on her, if she tried to use one more her reserves would run dry. Ryoku notices this and smirks,
“Here, how about this?” she suggests, “You’re pretty much useless to me, fighting’s just going to waste my time and I don’t like getting sweaty for no reason. So how about I just take what I came here for and I’ll let you run off?”
“You think I’ll accept that?!” Melissa shouts defiantly, shifting her gauntlet into the Full Blade, “Even if I did, you’d stab me in the back.”
Ryoku laughs, “Hah! No, it’s not worth the effort. But I won’t do it anyway, because if you let me take their Quirks I’ll vow to never touch so much as a hair on you for the rest of our stay here. Good enough?”
Melissa widened her eyes, feeling a ripple of Cursed Energy wash over them and knowing what that was. A Binding Vow just like one given to her by Izuku days ago. She meant her word but still…
“I won’t…” she says as she inches closer to the bleeding out and injured Katsuki and Shoto, trying to get between them and Ryoku, “If you want them, you need to get through me!”
“Really?” Ryoku sneers unimpressed, pointing at her shaking legs, “You’re literally shaking with fear. You were only holding your own when you had those two with you, how long do you think you can last just by yourself? A minute? Two?”
“...I don’t know,” Melissa replies honestly, she wasn’t a good fighter and if she tried she’d be turned into mincemeat. But then she thinks what her Uncle would do in a scenario like this, he wouldn’t even contemplate the offer at all like she did, he would stand, fight and win like he does with a smile on his face.
“But I’m not going to leave them either way!” Melissa says, gripping her blade with both hands, “I’m…I’m here to be a Hero! So nobody’s dying on my watch!”
“Except me I take it?” Ryoku smirks, “I felt the damage you were doing, and something tells me those weren’t exactly going for knockouts with all that shrapnel. What kind of Hero so easily kills?”
“You’re not human…You're a Curse...” Melissa whispers under her breath, more to remind herself as her Cursed Energy flows across her body, pointing her blade at Ryoku, “You’re a Curse. And I’ll exorcise you!”
Chapter 13: A Cursed Clash Pt 3
Chapter Text
“So what was that move you pulled on Bakugou?” Melissa asks as she shines the flashlight around at the area under the bridge. Thanks to a post on the GhostNexus they believe this area had possible Curse activity but so far it was clean, possibly another dud, “I saw the record and I don’t think I saw you do something like that before.”
“It was the Black Flash, and it wasn’t a part of Limitless. It’s something anyone with Cursed Energy can do, you just need to imbue Cursed Energy into a physical attack at the right time.” Izuku explains as he searches under the bridge carefully. Thankfully the water was only ankle deep but it meant his pair of sneakers were filthy, making a mental note for himself to get a pair of boots and wear them next time.
“And what’s the right time?” Melissa asks before cringing as she feels she stepped on something soft, slimy and squishy, “Oh god why couldn’t they pick a better place to haunt?”
“Well, it’s one-millionth of a second.” Izuku shrugs, “Not something you can do intentionally, the timing’s insane. I was just so focused on the fight, manipulating my Cursed Energy, and suddenlywham! I got it. The feeling was like nothing in the world… almost like feeling the world revolve around me.”
“Huh, didn’t know you had an ego in you.” Melissa jokes before kicking over a trash bag under the bridge.
“Look, it’s something you have to feel by yourself. You’ll understand then.” Izuku explains before glancing at his watch as he steps out from under the bridge to get some light with Melissa following beside him, “Alright 7:45PM, according to the post we just need to-”
Before he can finish, a bucket of ice water on top of them causes Melissa to scream in surprise, as the sound of laughing teens fills the area.
“Holy sh*t I can’t believe someone actually fell for it!” someone from above the bridge laughs as Izuku looks unamused at the situation but resigned, Melissa, looks caught between relief and anger.
“Midoriya-?” Melissa glares at the teens above but Izuku cuts her off before she can finish.
“No. This is just how it goes. Comes with the territory.” Izuku mutters, ready to head out, dragging an annoyed Melissa along as the three stupid teens on the bridge laugh at them.
***
A Black Flash, that was what Melissa Shield needed. A Black Flash imbued with Collapse to finally exorcise the Cursed Spirit. A normal attack wasn’t enough, even with a Ratio multiple will be needed to finally exorcise Ryoku. But can she do it? Izuku said no one could bring it out willingly, that it was luck, and how could she even time her Cursed Energy at one-millionth of a second?!
Melissa snaps out of her thoughts as Ryoku slashes with her invisible whip-blade. Unable to decipher its movements, Melissa swings her Full Blade wildly hoping to deflect it by chance, only to scream in pain when something pierces through her ankle.
“Ooh, so close.” Ryoku taunts before pulling it back and flicking the blood off, “Come on, what was that about making sure no one dies? At this rate, everybody including you is going to die.”
“No, they won’t!” Melissa shouts back and runs at Ryoku despite her injured ankle, enforcing the wounded area with Cursed Energy so she can walk on it despite the damage done to her tendons. Ryoku pulled her arm back to swing again, but as Melissa ran she was dragging her blade against the ground before swinging to kick up a cloud of dust.
The invisible whip-blade cuts through the dust cloud allowing Melissa to just barely get an outline of its trajectory, swinging her own blade to parry the blow so it grazes her cheek instead of hitting straight on through her skull.
“Huh, what do you know...” Ryoku muses as Melissa closes the distance between them, withdrawing the whip-blade and using her Cursed Technique to reshape it into a serrated scimitar instead.
She slashes aimed at a Ratio created on Ryoku’s body, but it is blocked and parried, allowing Ryoku to stab Melissa in the shoulder, “...you actually are that bad. I’m surprised you even know how to hold a sword.”
Melissa grits her teeth, pushing through the pain as she swats away the blade in her shoulder and slashes at Ryoku desperately which she easily blocks. But then out of nowhere, something stabs her in the back, at her shoulders.
“Hey you got something on your back, let me get it for you!” Ryoku grins wildly, having turned the invisible blade into a hook to snag at Melissa’s shoulder, pulling it hard and throwing her into a nearby collapsed building, cracking the walls.
“Come on, where’s that ‘heroic spirit’ just now?” Ryoku mocks as she strolls up to Melissa leaning against the walls and catching her breath, “Aw, are you tired? Does the little hero want to take her nap?”
Melissa grits her teeth and stabs at Ryoku again, but it is easily deflected. However, Melissa then uses her other hand to grab Ryoku’s arm, holding the blade in place while taking a stab into her chest.
“Nice, that’s good. Ferocity, I love it!” Ryoku praises, “But you forget one thing…”
Melissa coughs out blood as she feels something stab her stomach, realising it was bone claws from Ryoku’s other hand,
“I’ve got more than a few Quirks,” she smirks before pulling out the claws and letting blood pour out, Melissa stepping back in shock. Ryoku snickers as she returns the bone claws to its marble form and pockets it, “Man you’re really not cut out for this are you? I mean, you had a good strategy until it fell apart now you’re just swinging your sword. Come on, where’s that fire in your eyes? You just look like a terrified little girl. Are you sure you want to be a Hero?”
Of course not, that was not what she was planning for at all until she got her Curse Technique. She came to train and make sure she couldn’t hurt anyone with it ever again. She never thought she was going to get into a fight to the death with an actual villain! Why did she even come here in the first place?!
…Maybe because some childish part of her still clung to that old dream of being a Pro Hero, no matter how hard she tried to bury it. Because she didn’t want to be just a murderer, maybe she thought that somehow this would change things? Maybe if she became a Hero, then she wouldn’t call herself a ‘murderer’ whenever she looked into the mirror every morning
A murderer… if she died now that’s what she’d be. A murderer who went to UA to run away from her problems. A murderer who died, and in doing so let her classmates die as well.
“I don’t want that…I don’t want to die…” she mutters shakily under her breath, getting Ryoku’s attention.
“Sorry, what was that?” she mocks thinking Melissa was begging for her life, “You gotta speak up there.”
With a scream, she shifts her weapon back to its Full Gauntlet form and slams it into Ryoku’s stomach with such speed that surprised her, striking a Ratio at the same time. The blow sent Ryoku back by a dozen feet, as Melissa pushed forward ignoring all the pain and damage her body was accumulating.
‘She’s crazy!’Ryoku thinks to herself as she blocks Melissa’s blade with her invisible scimitar,‘No, it’s more like she’s completely giving up all defence for offence. She knows that I’ll win in a prolonged fight, so this is her all-or-nothing gamble!’
Ryoku laughs at this before pushing off Melissa, “That’s right, get some fire in that belly! Let’s finish this right!”
In the two strikes, block and dodge, Melissa has the harder time of the two as Ryoku swings playfully, treating it like playtime between toddlers. When Melissa slashes her blade at her face, Ryoku just steps back, waving her hands in mock fear.
As much as it angered her, this works in her favour. Let the Curse keep underestimating her, keep mocking her, the more she swings her sword the more she understands the pace of which Cursed Energy takes to be imbued.
‘One second…half a second…keep imbuing it faster and faster. Ignore everything else!’Melissa screams to herself as Ryoku cuts away at her body. Stabs and grazes at non-vital areas, meant to prolong her suffering and Ryoku’s amusem*nt.
“Keep it up! You’re not as boring as I thought!” Ryoku encourages before parrying a blow and stabbing at Melissa. Her eyes still focused dead on Ryoku, Melissa simply moves enough that the invisible blade only pierces her shoulder as she grabs the arm holding the invisible blade, stopping her from moving.
“You’re more fun than I thought! What’s your name again?!” Ryoku asks, feeling excitement inside her. When was the last time she felt like this besides finding a super cool Quirk for her collection? She had thought of fighting as something only necessary for getting Quirks from someone strong, but this could just change her mind.
Melissa creates one more Ratio across Ryoku’s body and strikes at it, the space around her blade rippling as it falls on the Curse. But then the arm of Ryoku suddenly snaps off to Melissa’s surprise.
One of the many Quirks accumulated by Ryoku, Octopus Limbs, granted each limb its own mini-brain to move independently of hers with pre-set commands. The arm, still containing Cursed Energy, channels it into the blade which expands invisible spikes, stabbing into Melissa’s body from its entry point on her shoulder, and also injuring the hand still grabbing the displaced limb.
“I admit, I wasn't really expecting much from you.” Ryoku says as the arm pulls out, nearly tearing out Melissa’s injured shoulder, while using the other hand to pull out the same ivory marble from before to create a set of bone claws, “It was a low bar, but you were impressive at the end.”
But before Ryoku could deal the finishing blow, a wave of ice suddenly encased half her body, stopping her from striking. She widens her eyes in surprise as she turns to find Shoto Todoroki still lying on the ground from his injuries, looking barely conscious as he pushes Katsuki’s body off him, ice spreading from his leg towards her.
Before she could wonder how he hadn’t bled out, she spots frozen blood on both sides of his waist, as well as in Katsuki’s throat and abdomen. Shoto Todoroki had enough control over his ice to seal wounds and stop the bleeding without accidentally inducing hypothermia or freezing undamaged veins and vessels.
“You want to know my name…?” Melissa asks as she closes the distance, folding her Full Blade into the Full Gauntlet, infusing it with all her remaining Cursed Energy and striking her in the 3:7 Ratio.
“It’s Melissa Shield!” she shouts as the space around her fist is distorted, the cyan aura that surrounds her fist flashing black and red right before the impact.
Before the blow could connect, Ryoku reinforced the area she predicted to be struck with all her remaining Cursed Energy, sensing something abnormal in Melissa’s strike. The skin she wore was made of Quirks such as Stoneskin, Steel Flesh, Kevlar Weave, Damage Mitigation, an entire family of Crocodile mutants, and so on. Combined they were strong, but with Cursed Energy infused and her Technique enhancing them it should be borderline impenetrable when she focuses her Cursed Energy in one spot.
And yeah it shatters, the Ratio critical strike amplified by a Black Flash imbued with her remaining Cursed Energy tears through her torso, shredding and pumping her Cursed Energy through her body as it explodes like a balloon.
She was dead…if she hadn’t ejected her hand at the last moment using Octopus Limbs, disconnecting and flinging it away as the rest of her body ruptured and exploded, flying over Melissa’s shoulder.
Each limb possesses a brain, enough to store her Cursed Technique. Before she exploded, Ryoku imbued all her remaining Cursed Energy into the arm, modifying and rewiring the miniature brain to such an extent it created something akin to a Cursed Corpse for her consciousness to inhabit.
As Ryoku’s arm flies over Melissa, it taps the invisible spiked blade that was similarly sent flying, returning it back to its original collection of marbles before wrapping the Invisibility around her like a cloak, concealing her presence.
“No!” Melissa screamed in anguish, anger and frustration, falling to her knees as she swung wildly hoping to hit the invisible Curse, “You coward! Come back! Give back Hagurake’s…Quirk…”
She mutters tiredly, the injuries and exhaustion of Cursed Energy finally hitting her hard. Despite this, Ryoku takes one look and decides it is too risky. In her state now, even the weakest hit would exorcise her and whatever that strange black energy was, she didn’t want to experience it again.
It was time to flee, and while it was a shame to not get the impressive Quirks belonging to Katsuki and Shoto, on the bright side she didn’t come out empty-handed. The things she could do with invisibility like this…
‘Melissa Shield, huh?’Ryoku thinks to herself as her arm skitters to safety,‘I’ll be sure to remember you.’
***
The Noumu roars and punches at Izuku, but he doesn’t flinch as the fist strikes the Infinity barrier, slowing to a halt before he kicks him in the chest with a Blue manifested at the soles of his feet.
The vortex slams into and shreds deep into the Noumu’s stomach at an atomic level, ripping off its rapidly regrowing flesh. But Izuku wasn’t done and kicked upwards, launching Blue into the air like a football and carrying the Noumu with it.
Izuku watches it fly up, before noticing the hands villain charging from behind to touch him with his unbroken arm, but again it was blocked by Infinity.
“What the hell are you?!” he screams enraged, “Why can’t you f*cking die?!”
“It’s my ability, Limitless. I divide space between us so nothing touches me unless I allow it.” Izuku discloses his Technique, granting it a modicum boost in performance before spinning around and grabbing the arm, “Like so…”
Faster than the villain could react, Izuku spins to gather momentum before throwing the villain right under the Noumu as it falls. Using an application of Blue, Izuku rushes and pulls himself above the Noumu, looking like had just teleported, and kicks it while Infinity expands violently to push it down.
In the crater it created, the Noumu pushes itself up to allow the villain it landed on to crawl out with more than a few broken bones. Looking up before he was barely able to throw himself out of the way when Izuku slammed down on the Noumu’s back, creating a shockwave that sent the hands villain flying a few metres.
The villain glares at Izuku before his eyes widen at some invisible force pressing the Noumu down, making it unable to move.
“Is that your plan? Trying to keep it trapped?” he taunts, “How long would you be able to last? The moment you drop your Quirk, Noumu will tear you to shreds.”
“This isn't a trap.” Izuku says bluntly before pumping more and more power into Infinity, expanding it and flattening the Noumu more, “You said this Noumu is resistant to shock, blunt force attacks won’t work. But what about just pure force pressing down?”
As he says this, the Noumu attempts to push Izuku away but no matter how strong one may be, one cannot push space itself and only succeeds in cracking the ground beneath it. Before long, the Noumu’s bones broke from the intense pressure as less and less space was given for it to occupy.
The Noumu screeches at Izuku in agony, bones breaking and stabbing at its organs all while its automatic healing factor means it heals improperly with its bones unable to reset properly. Izuku grits his teeth, even with Six Eyes this was pushing Limitless to a degree he hadn’t experienced before, and he wasn’t done yet. Ten more seconds, he had to make sure the Noumu was completely incapacitated.
Shota Aizawa, having finished dealing with the villain's grunts, turns to see the sight and grimaces. He had seen plenty of things in his long career but one of his students crushing a villain to death wasn’t on the list. And he saw the way he fought, without hesitation dealing blows that would hospitalise every single one of them, possibly permanently. Just where the hell did Izuku Midoriya learn to do all this?
With the last second of his Six Eyes, Izuku pours all his Cursed Energy into Infinity at once, crushing the Noumu until it was only a few centimetres thin, red blood splattering all over the crater but not so much as a speck touching his white robes.
He pants in exhaustion, looking down at the mess of whatever that Noumu was. A pool of red blood with organs squirting out of holes created by bone shards tearing out from the inside, brains leaking out of its mouth and open skull.
Bile rises up Izuku’s throat, and unable to hold it back, he vomits. But as he was distracted, the enraged villain covered in his hands screamed as he charged at Izuku, reaching out to touch him with his unbroken arm.
However, Shota intercepts him, throwing his capture scarf at him, wrapping and pulling him down to the ground.
“Stay down.” Shota glares at the villain, activating his Quirk on him before speaking to Izuku, “Midoriya? Are you fine?”
“...Yeah.” Izuku mutters weakly, unable to move his eyes from the sight of his handiwork, “I’m fine…”
Gojo remains silent, sighing before putting a hand on Izuku’s head to simulate ruffling his hair, which he was unable to do.
“There wasn’t any way you could’ve helped him,”Gojo assures.
“I can’t save everyone, I know…” Izuku whispers back, “But that was a person once…I just killed a person…”
“Hey, that thing looked like a horror-flick reject. And did you see how its brain was exposed?”Gojo points at what's left of the brain,“Trust me, whatever that was you put it out of its misery.”
“It doesn’t feel like it,” Izuku mutters before noticing something strange. The holes on the Noumu stopped trying to desperately patch itself together but before he could wonder if it was because of its death, something stabs him through the stomach.
“Midoriya!” Shota shouts in shock, seeing an invisible blade slick with Izuku’s blood sticking out of his chest before disappearing, and faster than he could react, something sliced his arm holding the capture scarf.
Before he could scream in pain, something knocked him away from the villain he had captured. A girl with stitches on her face and black hair in a ponytail pulls out what looks like an invisible sheet around her, before wrapping it up into a small translucent marble. Her body was terribly damaged, missing about a third of her body such as her entire right arm and parts of her torso yet somehow alive.
“Ryoku?” the villain with hands looks up in surprise as the girl cuts off the capture weapon wrapping him up with a blade made of bones and steel.
“In the flesh, Shigaraki. Or what’s left.” she grumbles, sounding annoyed as the rest of her grew back, the bones first before muscle fibre wrapped around it, “I hope you don’t mind, but technically I only vowed to not steal Kurogiri’s Quirk.”
She says before flashing out a bundle of multi-coloured and textured marbles taken from the Noumu before she stabbed Izuku and cut off Shota’s arm.
“Kill that brat and we’re even! Rip his arm off for me!” Shigaraki screeches, pointing at Izuku who was shocked by the sudden attack and loss of blood, turning to face Ryoku.
“You…the Curse…” he grunts as he holds the hole in this chest to keep the blood in, “What did you do with Shield?!”
She smirks at him before crushing the collection of marbles together with a few additions of her own, “Why don’t you ask her yourself? Her corpse’s way over there!”
She shouts while suddenly throwing a single large orb at Izuku, his eyes widening as it expands into a hulking creature with metal scales and spike bones sticking out of its body, mostly around the arms. Red eyes glared as it roared deafeningly loud at Izuku who paled at the sight,
“I’ve learnt a lot these past few days.” Ryoku chuckles while admiring her work, “Seeing that Noumu for the first time made me have new ideas of my own. So I figured, why not try making my own.”
“You didn’t make that thing?” Izuku mutters, glancing down at the Noumu’s corpse beneath him, while Ryoku laughs.
“Me? Hah, no!” she says amused, “I can’t take credit for that, it’s a completely human original design. A human creating something a Curse like me hadn’t even thought of. Don’t you just find that oddly messed up?”
“Midoriya, switch with me now,”Gojo orders calmly as he uses Izuku’s senses to get a glance at the monster’s power. It was far stronger than what the Noumu original had been, and if it took all his time with Six Seconds to beat there was no way Izuku could do it again while injured.
“I-” Izuku says before the monster moves, appearing in front of Izuku in the time it took for him to blink. And then he realised he was missing his right arm.
Before he could fully register what had just happened, the monster moved once more. The punch slams him into the ground, widening the crater he is in, shattering all of Izuku’s ribcage despite the Cursed Energy reinforcement. The bones on the forearm stabbed down, puncturing his heart, stomach, lungs and intestines.
In the few seconds it had taken him to hesitate and blink, Izuku Midoriya had died.
***
“Alright, good news! You’re not dead! Yay!”Gojo cheers while sprinkling confetti over Izuku’s face who was still lying down as he was in the physical world. In the Innate Domain, he was crouching and looking over Izuku who appeared to be staring off into space,“Bad news is, you got your ass kicked hard. Literally almost every organ in your body’s torn to pieces, except your brain. But that’s a good thing since I won’t be here otherwise, and I wouldn’t be able to use Reverse Cursed Technique.”
He gives Izuku a pat on the head,“You did well with those thirty seconds of Six Eyes. Great work finding a work around the Noumu thing’s regeneration. And also taking down dozens of villains. But you can relax now, and let Gojo-sensei handle the rest.”
But then Izuku suddenly reaches out and grabs Gojo’s hand, stopping it.
“No…” he mutters softly and quietly.
“...Eh?”Gojo pauses hearing that,“I don’t think you heard me, Midoriya. If you don’t swap now, both of us are permanently done for say… the next five minutes.”
He explains after glancing at an imaginary watch. Despite that Izuku shakes his head, his eyes still staring off in the distance.
“Not yet… I can see it…”
“Huh?”Gojo lies down next to Izuku and looks up to see the endless black sky of their Innate Domain,“Alright, I’m lost. What are you ‘seeing’?”
“Cursed Energy… I see what you were talking about Gojo-sensei…” he continued muttering, sounding like he wasn’t fully there, holding out a finger and swinging it back and forth slowly, “Negative to Positive… Multiplied by one another… Fwoo… Hyoi… Fwoo… Hyoi…”
“...You lost me.”Gojo admits bluntly before tapping an imaginary watch on his wrist,“Look I think you’re trying to tell me you suddenly realised Reverse Cursed Technique? If so better hurry, the clock's ticking.”
“Fwoo… Hyoi…” Izuku mutters to himself, not registering the words of his mentor, completely engrossed in his discovery, “Back and forth… not just NegativeandNegativebecomingPositive… But creating Positive from Negative… Fwoo… Hyoi…”
“...sh*t, he’s lost it.”Gojo sighs, not feeling any change at all. He stood up and cracked his neck, prepared to swap whether Izuku liked it or not but then he felt something change. Their Innate Domain shifted a bit as he felt the flow of Cursed Energy shift.
No…not shifting. Reversing!
“Well I’ll be damned.”Gojo mutters impressed at the sight before smiling,“Alright then, let’s see how this plays out.”
***
“Oh don’t be a baby, it’s just an arm.” Ryoku looks down as Shigaraki nurses his broken arm bent at an unnatural angle.
“Is the brat dead?” he growls, “And Eraserhead?”
“What do you think?” Ryoku points a thumb back at the broken corpse, “As for Eraserhead he’s bleeding out. Hey, you don’t mind if I take his Quirk before we leave?”
“Do as you please. The moment Kurogiri wakes up we’re leaving.” he grumbles before adding, “But not before you make our evolved Noumu, or whatever the hell that thing is, killeveryperson in the USJ.”
“Everyperson?” Ryoku smirks, “You mean including your own soldiers?”
“f*ck them, they were useless anyways. Not even worth it as cannon fodder.” Shigaraki snarls, “Safer this way too, no one gets questioned. Just leave one of the students alive to pass on the message to All Might…and make sure they’re so crippled they can never become a Hero ever again.”
“Haha! sh*t, you’re a sick bastard aren’t you?” Ryoku laughs before strolling towards a bleeding-out Aizawa, lying down from broken ribs and a missing arm, “Still conscious, huh?”
He uses his Erasure Quirk on her but she simply smiles and presses a foot on his broken ribs, getting a grunt of pain out of him.
“Wow, those are very intense eyes you got there. Must be quite a pain, I imagine you get a lot of dry eye.” She asks as she kneels down, pressing her whole body weight on the broken ribs, digging them deeper as he tries to refrain from screaming. In defiance, he spits a wad of saliva and blood at her cheeks. She simply smiles and wipes off the blood, “You don’t run into a lot of Quirks like this every day. Imagine how easy this would make stealing other Quirks.1 I’ll be sure to put this to good use, Eraserhead.”
She reaches down with both hands. Her Cursed Energy was dangerously low after her narrow escape from Melissa Shield and creating that Quirk Monstrosity from the Noumu’s Quirk collection, so she prepares to dig out his eyes to steal the Quirk Factor from them later.
But then she freezes, hands inches away from Shota's skull as she feels a near-overwhelming presence from behind. Tomura feels that as well, turning to look just as he hears the words;
“Curse Technique Reversal…Red.”
A large explosive force launches them all off their feet as the Quirk Monstrosity raises both hands to block. Even with Shock Absorption augmented and mixed with Steel Spikes to create a sort of chainmail shell, the explosive force was enough that it tore off portions of it.
To the shock of the Curse and villain, Izuku Midoriya began rising from where he died, floating in the air.
“Hehehe…I got it, I finally got it…” Izuku chuckles quietly to himself as his arm grows back, flesh growing and wrapping around bones while the wounds on his body begin healing themselves. He then bursts out laughing, needing to cover his mouth with his freshly regenerated hand to stop it from evolving into full-blown cackling, “It was so obvious! It’s so simple!”
“What the f*ck…” Tomura mutters stunned before turning to rage, “If we gang up on him-”
“That guy just came back from the dead, burnt the arms off possibly my strongest Quirk Monstrosity, and is laughing his head off while floating!” Ryoku points out, feeling the immense Cursed Energy suddenly emanating from the child, “And I’m running on fumes! We’re getting out of here while the getting is good!”
Without waiting for argument she grabs Tomura and makes a break for it towards Kurogiri, which Izuku notices with his Six Eyes, pointing a finger at them as he floats.
“Cursed Technique Reversal: Red,” he repeats and launches another Red that was focused on Infinity. But then the Monstrosity rushes ahead and tanks the blow head-on, this time ripping out an arm thanks to the focused blast, the stump however quickly regenerated.
With this distraction and Izuku’s mind still adjusting, Ryoku slides towards the unconscious Kurogiri and taps him with a finger.
“Quirk Manipulation: Forced Activation.” she chants and a black mist portal opens up beneath them and closes faster than the blink of an eye.
Izuku knew he should be furious that the villains escaped but somehow he didn’t. It felt…small. From where he was it all felt so miniscule, so tiny. He felt almost in bliss. He had Six Eyes for a few seconds just before but did the world always look this wonderful even then. It was like every detail was seen more clearly like he can see more even with Six Eyes.
He sees something in the creature before him…was that its soul? How painful must it be to be crammed like that, and forcibly mutated into the abomination before him? It lashes out in rage and pain, slamming its fist uselessly against his Infinity barrier.
It needed to be put out of its misery, but half of him also wanted to get the chance to feel how strong he had gotten. The rush of power when releasing Red was exhilarating, and he wanted more.
In a flash, he spins midair and slams his leg downwards while augmented with Blue, shredding into the Monstrosity’s shoulder, nearly cleaving it in half.
He wanted to know how far his ceiling was now. He wanted to know just what it was like to use all of his power freely without consequences. And he thanks the monster in front of him for allowing it.
"Phase. Twilight. Eyes of Wisdom" Izuku quickly performs the hand signs while chanting. The sign of a great Sorcerer was reducing the steps required for a Technique while reducing as little output as possible. But now he omits nothing.
A swirling orb of Blue bigger than the creature was manifested, pulling it up into its vortex as it was launched upwards safely away and out of range for both the injured Shota Aizawa and the unconscious villains.
"Phase, Pāramitā, and Pillar of Light" Izuku chants again, this time creating a pulsing orb of Red, nearly bursting at the seams with its repulsive force urging to be released. Just manifesting and holding the two was a strain even with his Six Eyes and new perspective, but he was so close. He couldn’t stop now.
As the Blue pulled the helpless Quirk Monstrosity near the roof of the USJ, he swung the Blue back down while the Monstrosity hovered for a moment before gravity took over. Then Red and Blue collided with each other.
The colours shift, as repulsive and attractive forces collide and merge with one another. An imaginary mass of swirling purple energy crackled before him as he chanted even more, hands becoming a blur from the hand signs.
"Nine Ropes. Polarised Light. Crow and Declaration. The Gap Between Within and Without." Izuku finishes before pointing his arm towards the Monstrosity, middle finger on his thumb as he prepares to flick his fingers,
“Hollow Technique: Purple.”
Chapter 14: A Cursed Clash Epilogue
Chapter Text
“Aizawa-sensei!” Izuku kneels beside his teacher with his arm that was cut off.
“Midoriya…where did that thing go?” he rasps out, finding it difficult to breathe with his broken ribs piercing his lungs.
“Well…let’s just say you won’t like what you’re breathing.” Izuku answers as black ashes fall over them like snowflakes in winter, “Hang on, I’m going to try reattaching your arm.”
Without waiting for a reply, Izuku carefully aligns and slides back the severed limb into Shota’s stump. While he had only just used Reverse Cursed Technique, Gojo had been teaching him about its theory during his ten months of training. Converting positive energy into output wasn’t exactly something Gojo could do, but he tried explaining its theory as best as possible for Izuku using what he had heard from one of his former pupils, Okkotsu Yuta, as examples.
Izuku grimaces at what he has to do, placing his hands on the injury before activating Reverse Cursed Technique, doing his best to channel the positive energy from his brain through his palms. Doing so was easier said than done, the focus it required was akin to that of trying to thread a needle while balancing on a beach ball with an earthquake going on.
Thankfully the arm was still there, so he didn’t have to regrow it entirely. Slowly the flesh sews itself back together inch by inch. Once it was reattached, he let out an exhausted pant from the massive use of Cursed Energy. His Six Eyes time limit was already spent but his arm was saved, and his ribs were repaired enough that he was allowed to breathe better. However a lot of the damage still remained, and he would need a proper doctor to heal.
“What, did they just leave us?” one of the villains awoke, the ones with less severe injuries starting to get up.
“sh*t, did that kid take them down?” Another villain asks with fear. They had seen how he took down dozens of them at once after all, and now they woke to find their leaders missing and the kid still standing.
“We can take him!” a confident villain points at him, “Look at him, he’s covered in blood! He’s tired and injured, we can take him!”
Izuku doesn’t even turn to face them, focusing on looking over Shota to make sure he is fine. He wasn’t even going to bother fighting them off, because he used Hollow Purple for two reasons.
One of course was to obliterate the Monstrosity, but another was to take down the Curtain around the USJ. With his Six Eyes, he saw the Curtain shaking from overwhelming force striking it, and now it was gone…
A familiar booming voice rings from the entrance of the USJ,
“Have no fear, you’re all safe now.” A furious All Might steps through the broken entrance, “Because I am here!”
***
Melissa’s eyes flutter open, her head heavy as she struggles to get her bearings. Shadows were hovering over her and out of fear and reflex, she lashed out sluggishly with her arms.
“...issa…Melissa!” a familiar voice calls out as her vision clears, seeing Izuku covered in dried blood, his white robes full of holes and the entire right sleeve was torn off, holding her arms down to stop her from hitting him, “You’re safe now, the villains are gone.”
“Wha…?” Melissa drawls out, feeling her mind clouded with pain medication. Even then she feels her entire body ache from her injuries with Ryoku. Suddenly she remembers, “Todoroki…Bakugou…they-?!”
“They’re fine. Please, calm yourself.”
Melissa turns to find Tenya Iida still in his hero costume without his helmet. He gestures to her left and she finds Shoto Todoroki in a neighbouring bed, and Katsuki Bakugou lying in a similar bed in an unconscious state, a cast wrapped around his throat.
“All Might fortunately arrived in time to bring you all to Recovery Girl for healing. There shouldn’t be any permanent damage for both Todoroki and Bakugou.” Tenya explains, sitting down on a chair with an exhausted sigh, “I’m thankful you all managed to survive against those villains…You’re my classmates, I should have reacted faster, done more as your Class President.”
“No one could have predicted it, Iida,” Melissa assures, her mind finally adjusting to the medication.
“She’s right, they caught us all by surprise. Not even the teachers saw it coming.” Izuku nods in agreement, but Tenya remains unconvinced,
“It still doesn’t change the fact a lot of our classmates got hurt, some more permanent than others,” he says looking downcast and Izuku winces. Melissa looks at the two confused before realising,
“Hagurake…Kirishima…how are they?” she asks, dreading the answer.
“Recovery Girl is performing surgery on Kirishima as we speak.” Tenya answers grimly, “His arm is too damaged to be salvaged, every muscle, tendon, and nerve torn to shreds by his own Quirk. As for Hagurake, All Might is with her now, but…”
***
“I…lost my Quirk?” Touru Hagurake asks, stunned, staring at her now visible shaking hands, “But! But there’s some way to get it back, right? Recovery Girl can help me right?!”
She asks All Might desperately who looks at her with sadness, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
“Hagurake. I’m sorry, but there’s no way.” he sighs, “Recovery Girl’s results show there’s no trace of your Quirk factor left, not even in your costume. The only way we know to get your Quirk back is for the villain to give it back.”
Touru choked back a sob, “... When I saw my face in a reflection, I didn’t even realise it was me at first. I’ve been invisible so long I didn’t even know what I looked like… I never thought I’d find out like this.”
She does her best to hold back her tears as All Might continues,
“I can’t possibly imagine what you must be feeling right now.” he says trying to be assuring and comforting, “But I need you to be strong, alright? I need you to be brave. We need to know about this villain, so we can stop this from ever happening again. So that we may possibly get your Quirk back.”
“You…you think I can get my Quirk back?” Touru asks.
“Hagurake, I swear that when we catch this villain I will do everything in my power to make sure you get your Quirk back.” All might swear determinedly.
“...Alright then.” Hagurake nods as Detective Naomasa, who had been standing at the side in silence, pulls out his notebook.
“We’ll need a description as clear as possible.” he asks, “Any little detail helps, facial markings, distinguishable features and such.”
“Well…her skin was pale, almost like a corpse. Black hair in a ponytail.” Hagurake says, racking her mind to remember, “Eyes that were glowing a bit purple. Some stitches on her face that made it look like it was some cracked mask.”
“She? So it’s a woman?” Naomasa asks surprised, sharing a glance at All Might.
“Yeah, I think she was around nineteen or twenty years old? She looked just a bit older than us.” Hagurake continues before frowning, “I’m sorry that’s all I remember how she looked like.”
“And her Quirk? Can you explain how it works specifically?” Naomasa asks and Hagurake shudders at the memory.
“She… I was hiding when I was dropped into the Collapsed Zone. I saw her pull out these marbles and throw them, making monsters that attacked my classmates. I tried to sneak up and hit her in the head with a rock, but she caught me. And then…”
Her hands go around her throat as she looks back at the memory with fear.
“She took my Quirk…It felt like she was tearing off every inch of my skin.” she shakes with fear, “It happened so fast, but every second felt like agony… Then she turned it into some kind of marble, like the ones she was carrying around.”
“So she steals Quirks, converts them into marbles, and can turn them into some kind of monsters?” Naomasa asks for confirmation and Touru nods, “That’s…certainly a peculiar Quirk.”
“I’m sorry, that’s all I remember. I blacked out afterwards.” she apologises before turning to All Might, “...I heard Kirishima helped carry me to safety. Is he alright?”
“Recovery Girl is doing all she can to save his arm. Thank you, this will help us greatly.” All Might thanked her, “Is there anything else we can do for you?”
“...I’d like to call my parents.” she says quietly, slowly standing up, “I…I want to go home now, please.”
All Might nods and allows her to do so, although he wishes to at least escort her back. Once she was out of sight, he exhaled and let out a huge sigh, his muscles shrinking until he was near skeletal in appearance.
“My god, these children facing such a thing at such young ages.” Toshinori mutters to himself, gritting his teeth, “Fighting for their lives without me being aware until it was too late. Damn it!”
He punches a wall in frustration as Naomasa hastily calmed him down,
“There wasn’t anything you can do.” Naomasa assures, “You couldn’t have realised something was wrong.”
“But I did Naomasa!” Toshinori growls, “I tried calling but never got a response. But by the time I arrived to investigate, a black dome was encircled around the USJ. Not even my strongest punch could put so much as a dent in it… I was useless. The Symbol of Peace was forced to helplessly stand as his students fought for their lives…”
“A black dome?” Naomasa asks, suddenly alarmed, “Can you describe it?”
Toshinori looked at his friend confused, wondering why he was focusing on it, “It was inky black, large enough to cover the entire USJ. Smooth and whenever I struck it, my blows would bounce off like it was being pushed back. Why do you ask?”
“...There was an incident almost a week ago.” Naomasa explains, “A Yakuza hideout was attacked by what we assume to be an unknown group with unknown motives, dismantling their entire operation and taking down every single villain in the building. Reports from the arrested Yakuza grunts and some of their enforcers, the Eight Bullets, mentioned an ink-black dome that covered the entire area. But reports also mentioned that everything looked normal from outside of the dome, no security cameras noticed a giant black hole, but when it was brought down then we saw the destroyed building.”
“...This can’t be a coincidence.” Toshinori realises, “They sound too similar to be different Quirks. It must be some different application of the same Quirk, perhaps these villains were working together! So…”
“So if we find who attacked the Yakuza, we find the League of Villains!” Naomasa finishes Toshinori’s thoughts. This was great news, but there was one thing that put a damper on the mood.
“This girl…you don’t think it can possibly be-?”
“It’s not him.” Toshinori cuts off Naomasa before he can finish his sentence, “Even if this is some sort of elaborate disguise, which isn’t possible with his ego, their Quirks are far too different. He doesn’t turn Quirks into marbles, or turn them into monsters…This is someone completely different.”
“You don’t think they’re related, do you?” Naomasa asks, finding the thought disturbing.
“If they truly are related by blood, then it’s a shame for a young lady like this one to follow in his footsteps and turn into villainy with a power that could have been used for good.” Toshinori sighs, “Maybe it’s something to do with their Quirks. The ability to take all Quirks resulting in the urge to have it all just for themselves.”
They feel dread built within them at the thought of another All for One emerging. Toshinori swears to himself that he will never allow such a villain like him to rise ever again, no matter what.
“We need to track them down as quickly as possible. Does the police have a lead on the villains that attacked the Yakuza?” Toshinori asks and Naomasa shrugs, showing him a sketch made in his notebook.
“Not much, just a basic description. A young man in a black hoodie with a white demon mask, and glowing blue eyes.” Naomasa explains as he hands Toshinori the notebook for a closer look, “And after some questioning, we only managed to get a name out of one of the Eight Bullets, but it didn’t ping anywhere on the registry. Someone named Satoru Gojo.”
***
“A Curse that can steal Quirks…” Izuku mutters to himself in shock. Even Gojo found the prospect troubling as the two talked with each other in their Inner Domain.
“And create those things from them.”Gojo adds,“And those scars on her face remind me of another Curse I faced back when I was alive. Possible reincarnation?”
“Curses reincarnate? Like you?” Izuku asks and Gojo shakes his head,
“No, no, Curses are created from the collective negativity of humanity, remember? Or at least the collective Quirkless negativity. The more something is feared or hated, the stronger it is.”Gojo explains,“As long as the fears and Cursed Energy remain, they’ll reform. Different forms, different times, different techniques, and no memories, but they’ll definitely reform. The one I’m talking about is Mahito, a Curse born of humanity’s negativity towards humanity.”
“And here we have a Curse that’s probably born from negativity towards Quirks.” Izuku mutters in realisation, “I guess I can see why…”
“Yeah, the whole Dark Ages of Quirks thing, Quirk-ism, the constant threat of villains, feelings of inferiority, insecurity and so on.”Gojo lists off one by one,“We can count ourselves lucky no one died fighting her.”
Izuku shudders at this, “Oh my god, the Pro Heroes won’t be able to stop her…They only have Quirks and her Cursed Technique! They won’t stand a chance, they’ll just make her stronger. We need to stop her!”
“I’m not arguing with you on that.”Gojo agreed,“But before you rush off half-baked, hear me out. We don’t even know where she or this League of Villains are. She must be pretty good at covering her tracks if we haven’t heard of her yet.”
“So what do we do?” Izuku asks his mentor.
“We bide our time, they won’t keep hidden for long. Intensify both your training and Melissa’s because if this Ryoku is anything like Mahito you’re gonna need it. Anti-Domains are definitely top of the list.”Gojo lists down, looking at his student and punching his fist against his palm,“Vacation’s over Midoriya. We’re gonna be taking this up a notch until the two of you cry for Uncle.”
“Bring it.” Izuku says determinedly, “I’m just tapping into my full power now with Reverse Cursed Technique. I need to get stronger, to go beyond my limits.”
“That’s good to hear.”Gojo smiles,“Oh yeah, you’re gonna have something to do first.”
“Huh?” Izuku looked confused before realising what he was about to do, bracing himself for the incoming blow, “No, no, you are not-”
“Heh, relax, how immature do you think I am?”Gojo chuckles and Izuku lets out a sigh of relief before he suddenly points behind him,“Oh my god, what is that?!”
“Huh?” Izuku turns around in reflex at the sudden shouting.
“Sneak attack!”
***
“GAH! Stop doing that!” Izuku shouts as he snaps back to reality, surprising Kyoka who had just shaken his shoulder gently.
“Whoa, alright, chill,” Kyoka says, backing up with her arms raised. Izuku blinks quickly before blushing from embarrassment,
“Wait, no I was- I wasn’t paying attention.” Izuku hastily apologises, “I’m so sorry.”
“Eh, it’s cool man.” Kyoka assured as she sat down next to him at the seats located outside the nurse’s office, “You sure you’re alright? You were staring off into space. Pretty much everyone’s left already.”
“They have? What time is it?” he mutters as he glances at a nearby clock. Only an hour since the USJ passed, his mother was likely on her way, possibly breaking every road safety law in Japan as they spoke, “I must’ve been distracted.”
“I don’t blame you.” Kyoka sighs, “Today’s been rough. They didn’t exactly include villain attacks as part of the school’s Hero Course curriculum.”
She jokes to ease the tension as Izuku rubs his right hand, glancing down at the regrown arm. Even now he still felt like it was lightly pricked by needles, sensitive to every touch.
“Yeah…it was unexpected.” he mutters in response, “So many of us got hurt…”
“Yeah, you’re telling me. I heard Kirishima’s gotta have to amputate his arm.” she says looking downcast, “f*cking villains. I can’t believe one of them took down some of the strongest in our classandstole Hagurake’s Quirk! What the hell, how is that even possible?”
She rants, letting out stress she had been holding in since the USJ. Izuku bites his tongue knowing that while it sounded impossible in terms of Quirks, it was wholly possible in the realm of Curses.
“She’ll pay for this,” Izuku vows, clenching his fist. The next time they meet, he will exorcise her that’s for sure.
“Yeah, I hope when the Heroes find her they’ll throw her ass in Tartarus. After she gives back Hagurake’s Quirk.” she adds before going silent, “...What do you think’s gonna happen to her?”
“What do you mean?” Izuku asks, unsure of the vague question.
“She’s…well she’s Quirkless now.” Kyoka says bluntly, and Izuku feels a pang in his heart at the word, “And being a Hero’s a dangerous job, especially after seeing it today.”
Izuku contemplates this, part of him wanting to support Hagurake knowing what it’s like to be Quirkless with dreams of being a Hero. But the more cold and practical part of him that has been growing also screams out. If he went into the USJ Quirkless can he say with confidence he would have survived?
“I…I think that is up to her.” Izuku says after some thought, “Even with a Quirk, being a Pro Hero is still dangerous. Being Quirkless just means more risks. If she wants to keep going, I think we should all support her decision as her classmates.”
“I guess so.” Kyoka shrugs, “How are you by the way? I know you said you’re alright, which I honestly don’t buy, but you keep staring off into space or at your hand.”
“Am I that obvious?” he mutters before shaking his head, “I guess it’s just strange seeing my hand. I saw it got torn off and here it is still…I think the old one is still somewhere back in the USJ actually.”
“...WHAT?!” Kyoka shouts, startling him and nearly launching him off the chair, “You got your arm ripped off?!”
“H-hey, keep it down, people are resting in the nurse’s office!” Izuku whisper-shouts as Kyoka grabs his right arm, looking over it.
“I thought it was just your sleeve that was messed up, but your arm got torn off?!” she yells in shock and worries, “Oh my god, that’syourblood on your robes, isn’t it? I thought it was someone else's! What happened, because this does not look like a alive amount of blood!”
“Er…well, I got stabbed…or was it punched?” Izuku mutters to himself, “Punched by a lot of sharp bones. But only a little bit!”
“...You got stabbed a little bit by a lot of sharp bones?” Kyoka stares at him incredulously.
“Huh, this is better than some dramas actually.”Gojo snickers as he chews on some popcorn unhelpfully.
“Yeah, but I’m better now. See? Not a scratch left.” he parted his bloody robes slightly to show there were no more wounds on his torso, exposing the skin-tight black shirt underneath that was torn up during the fight.
Kyoka’s cheeks turn slightly red at this, and Izuku realising what he had essentially just done turns red as well while Gojo laughs his head off. Izuku hastily covers up once more and looks away embarrassed.
“...Sorry,” he whispers embarrassed, praying that a hole would appear and swallow him whole.
“It’s cool.” Kyoka says awkwardly, trying to get the image of how tight the shirt was wrapped around his muscles, hastily changing the subject, “So! Recovery Girl fixed you up pretty good then, didn’t know she could regrow limbs.”
“Oh no, that was me.” Izuku says surprising her, “It’s something I figured out while I was fighting the villains.”
“You healed yourself?” Kyoka looks confused, “What kind of ‘impossible mathematical concepts’ lets you heal yourself?”
“Er…” Izuku struggles to come up with an explanation without exposing the world of Curses before settling with, “I don’t know. It was a heat-of-the-moment thing. I mean I did die so-?”
“Wait, you died?!” Kyoka looks at him alarmed and he hastily tries correcting himself,
“I mean, only a little bit!” he quickly says not even sure what that meant.
“How do you ‘die a little bit’?” she asks, looking at him like he was insane, “Are you a zombie now or something? What-?!”
She then gets cut off by a phone ringing, the two of them looking around before realising it was coming from Izuku. He reaches and pulls out a different phone than he usually uses a grey flip phone.
“Oh thank god, literally anything else.” he whispers under his breath before looking at the number and remembering what the phone was, “Ehm, sorry Jirou but this is a private call.”
Getting the meaning she curls up her ear jacks and covers her ears with her hands, “Alright, don’t mind me then.”
“Thanks.” he says before stepping up and walking a few feet away to answer, “Hello? This isn’t really the best time.”
“Sorry pal, just thought you’d wanna get the news quickly.” Giran speaks through the phone casually, “Anyways you already picked up so might as well listen. The girl you wanted me to look into got one living relative still out there and kicking, a mother.”
“Really? That’s great news.” Izuku says joyfully. He had feared the worst but this was a good thing if proven true. Eri can go back to her mother who was probably missing her like crazy, he can’t even imagine how she must feel not seeing her daughter for so long.
“I’ll have all the info ready at the bench next to a tree with a swing at Shili Park. Tomorrow at 1PM sharp. Make sure you have the rest of the money ready.” Giran continues, “Speaking of which, not sure if it’s your kinda thing but I have a gig that may pay good. Some people I know are looking for strong folk with strong Quirks.”
“No, not interested.” Izuku quickly declines, “I just need the information. You’ve got an address?”
“What, you think I’m some amateur? Of course I do, you paid for the best after all. I’ll hand it over once you bring me my money.” Giran sounds offended, “Be seeing you then. Remember to get rid of the burner.”
He hangs up without a goodbye and Izuku pockets the phone, planning to dispose of it later as he turns to Kyoka.
“What was that?” she asks as she uncovers her ears.
“That was good news, Jirou!” Izuku says excitedly. It was the first good news he had gotten since the villains' attack on the USJ, “Eri’s mother. They found her.”
***
“-his fault! It’s all that stupid brat’s fault!” Tomura screams as he smashes the bar in a blind rage, Kurogiir lying on the ground still unconscious from his crushed ribs. Meanwhile, Ryoku was minding her own business, testing the mobility of the Cursed Corpse she was inhabiting while counting the number of Quirks she had left after today.
“And you couldn’t even at least kill him?!” he shouts at her, throwing a glass in her direction that she didn’t pay any care towards, “What good are you?!”
“Hey, I threw the best Quirks I had mixed in with your Noumu’s at the kid.” Ryoku points out annoyed, “I nearly died making that thing. And all I got out of it was one Quirk, not exactly what you call a profitable business venture.”
She grumbles as she plays with the translucent marble between her fingers, “But at least it wasn’t a total loss.”
Ryoku pushes herself up and stretches, “Welp, it’s been fun, call me if you ever do something like this again. Next time I’ll only join if you have Quirks as payment upfront.”
“What, where the hell do you think you’re going?” Tomura screams at her as she walks towards the bar’s metal door, “You’re a member of our party, you can’t just leave!
“Well it looks to me like this League of Villains is done for.” she says casually, “Honestly if this is a regular outing with you guys, I think I’m better off solo. I lost months of hard work because of those two.”
She grumbles remembering the two specific students that caused her so much trouble. They didn’t have Quirks, but were something like her although they were human. She doesn’t think she’s seen anyone like them ever. But what she does know is that the blonde with glasses, Melissa Shield, was a pain in the ass for actually nearly killing her. And she doesn’t even want to consider fighting that green-haired one who came right back after dying.
Before Tomura can argue, a modulated voice coming from a television nearby interrupts them.
“So if you have a constant supply of Quirks, then perhaps we can persuade you to stay, Miss Ryoku?”
“Sensei!” Tomura looks towards the television in alarm, “It wasn’t our fault, that brat-!”
“Rest, Tomura.” the voice says softly and almost kindly, “I understand it was a failure, but we shall discuss it at a later time. Instead, you must reflect on your failure to learn from it. Do not despair.”
“Sensei, huh?” Ryoku looks to the television with a smirk, “I should’ve known there was no way Shigaraki could have made the Noumu himself. I take it you’re the real brains behind this op?”
“In a way.” the voice says, “Tomura Shigaraki is the one in charge, but I supply him with things such as the Noumu, to help guide him to his true potential. He might not seem like it now, but he can go a long way.”
“Hmm.” Ryoku thinks back to his cruelty and bloodlust displayed in the USJ, willing to throw away the lives of the villains under him without a care in the world. Wanting to leave all but one child dead just to send a message.
“I guess I can see it, but honestly he seems a little bit of a brat right now.” she shrugs ignoring his offended look, “But back on Quirks, you were saying?”
“I have a proposal that someone like you would find beneficial.” the voice says, “When Kurogiri reawakens, I will ask him to bring you somewhere we can discuss this arrangement in further detail.”
Ryoku weighed her options, admitting that it was intriguing. The Quirks the Noumu had were no joke, and when they said it was artificially created could it be possible they had a large stockpile somewhere? Just the thought had her near salivating. It was like offering a starving person an entire all-you-can-eat banquet.
“You have my interest, but now you’ve got my attention.” she smiles at the television screen, “I’m sure we can work something out.”
Chapter 15: A Cursed Reunion Pt 1
Chapter Text
Melissa strikes at Izuku with quick jabs, trying to keep him on the defensive. But instead of defending as she expected, he weaves between and deflects her strikes, getting close to punching her right in the stomach.
The attack punches the breath out of Melissa but she quickly wraps around the arm and using her body weight, grapples with Izuku and pulls him down with her. This takes him by surprise and Izuku was punished with an elbow to the face.
However, Izuku quickly recovers, pushing Melissa off. She tries rushing him while he is getting up but then he retaliates with a kick to the stomach with a Divergent Strike, launching Melissa across the empty room in an abandoned apartment complex they were using for training.
After bouncing off the floor and slamming into the wall, Melissa gags before vomiting once again. Izuku winces at the sight before sighing,
“Ten minutes break, Melissa. No arguments.” Izuku says using her first name to show how serious he was about it.
“I can keep going.” Melissa insists as she wipes her mouth and tries getting up, but Izuku stops her.
“No, we’ve been at this for hours.” Izuku says firmly, “You won’t get any better if you push yourself to your own death. Take a break.”
“I can’t!” Melissa shouts in frustration, punching the floor and cracking it with her Cursed Energy, “That monster is still out there with Hagurake’s Quirk! With who knows how many others? She can be taking more Quirks from people right now and we wouldn’t even know it!”
Izuku remained silent, knowing she was right and he couldn’t refute that.
“I know…you’re right.” he sighs, “Standing around makes me feel useless but we just don’t know where she is right now. We don’t have any clues, or leads, or anything. The best we can do is prepare ourselves for the next time we meet. Then we’ll exorcise her.”
“You’re not even letting me do that!” she screams at him, taking him by surprise, “I’m not weak anymore, I’m stronger now! So keep training me! Keep hitting me! I can take it!”
She almost slips trying to get up, her exhaustion becoming too much for her. Ever since she had gotten out of UA she demanded more training with Izuku, sparring without a break for hours until now she was finally collapsing.
“Melissa…” Izuku sits down next to her, “It wasn’t your fault.”
“That thing was a Curse, you said it’s our responsibility to exorcise them…” Melissa says looking defeated, “And I couldn’t even do that! Hagurake lost her Quirk! Kirishima lost his arm!”
She choked back some tears, “I asked him to help me fight her, and he lost his arm because of it…”
“You couldn’t have known what would happen.” Izuku insists, “But because of you, Todoroki and Bakugou didn’t lose their Quirks or their lives. It was because of you that the Curse got driven off. You saved them, don’t forget it.”
“Yeah.” Gojo’s mouth suddenly materialises on Izuku’s cheeks, “A couple days into training and driving off a Special Grade by yourself? That’s a miracle in itself even if the fight left you messed up.”
“I could’ve been better.” she insists, and Izuku sighs.
“You will be, but not at this rate. You’ll just get yourself killed.” Izuku pleads, “So please go home for the night and get some sleep or do I have to knock you out and drag you there myself.”
***
Melissa drags herself back to her apartment, with Izuku (or rather Satoru Gojo) teleporting them to the roof of her apartment after the location is given. Even with Izuku and Gojo’s words, she still couldn't help but think back on her failure to protect her classmates. What happens next time if they aren’t playing around and fighting to kill as quickly as possible? Could she still drive them off? Could she even survive?
“Here we are. Thank you for choosing Satoru Gojo’s teleportation service! We hope you had a pleasant trip.” the eccentric Sorcerer says as Melissa releases her hold on him, “We’ll see you tomorrow, but Midoriya’s got an appointment at 1PM. So just train by yourself then if you wanna. Seeya!”
He brings both hands together again for the hand signs before warping away, leaving a small crater where he was standing. Melissa's sweat drops at the sight, hoping she won’t have to explain to the landlord what happened to the roof.
She took the lift down to her floor, eyes heavy from the long day she had but still hungry. She should probably get a bite before sleeping. As she thinks this, the doors to the lift open and she exits, surprised to find a familiar muscular man outside her apartment’s door.
“Uncle Might?” she looks at him in surprise as he turns to face her,
“Melissa? What are you doing out here so late?” he asks as he approaches her worriedly.
“I…I was just getting in some training.” she explains, confused as to why he was here, “What about you?”
“I was worried about you.” All Might says, “I’m sorry it took me so long to check up on you, but I heard how serious your injuries were from Recovery Girl. Why were you even training?! She told me you still needed treatment for the rest of your injuries tomorrow!”
“...” Melissa bites her lips, remembering how she had asked Izuku to use his Reverse Cursed Technique on her. He accepted it, glad to further practise healing others by outputting RCT and it took him a while to get her injuries down to the extent she can train without being hindered by them.
“Midoriya helped heal me with his power.” Melissa explains hoping that explanation would suffice, “He and I have been training for the past few days, and after today he also wanted to train how to heal with his new ability.”
“Midoriya…healed you?” All Might mutters confused before going silent, “I wasn’t sure his Quirk, Limitless, had any healing applications. It is a spatial manipulation, Quirk, isn’t it?”
“Well, Quirks are weird right?” Melissa shrugs to hide her nervousness, “You know, his Quirk has two stages. One generates negative power to activate the space manipulation part, but it also enhances himself. He just reversed it into positive energy to heal himself and people.”
“Is that what he told you?” All Might asked with a tone she couldn’t decipher, “It sounds more like he has multiple Quirks.”
“Why would you think that?” Melissa asks confusedly before All Might shakes his head.
“Sorry, forget it.” he says before gesturing to her door, “Perhaps we can talk inside?”
“Uhm, alright?” Melissa unlocked the door to her small apartment to let them both in, All Might squeezed through the door as the door was closed behind him, “So what is it you-WAAH?!”
She screams as her Uncle suddenly explodes into a puff of smoke, leaving a skeletal figure coughing blood.
“Uncle Might?!” she screeches as the skeletal figure waves a hand,
“Yes, it is I! Your- bleh!” he suddenly coughs out even more blood, “Damn, sorry, I was holding that in longer than I thought.”
“Wha-? You-! What?!” Melissa struggles to grasp her mind around the sight of her now skinny uncle coughing out blood, “What happened?! Why are you coughing out blood?!?! I’m calling for some help!”
She rushes to a landline in her apartment and starts dialling Izuku’s number before All Might taps the hook switch of the landline, hanging up the call.
“I’m fine, kiddo. Trust me, this isn’t new.” he says wiping his mouth with his sleeve, “I’ve been like this for five years.”
“Five years…Uncle Might, what’s going on?” Melissa asks, still stunned as she puts down the phone. The old hero sighs and sits on a couch,
“It’s a bit of a long story. Come on, sit down and I’ll tell you.” He says.
Melissa tentatively sits down and All Might raises his shirt, surprising her with the sight of a ghastly wound on his stomach.
“What happened…?” she mutters in shock.
“I suppose I should have told you this long ago. About everything, including what my Quirk truly is.” he sighs as he starts explaining, “Five years ago I fought an overwhelmingly strong villain. I managed to beat him but he left this as a souvenir.”
“Five years ago?” Melissa tried racking her head to remember just what kind of battle happened to give him such a wound, but it all came out blank, “I can’t remember anything like that. What about Dad? Does he know?”
“He…knows half the tale.” All Might sighs, “What I’m going to tell you is a secret only a handful of others know, I need your promise that you won’t tell anyone.”
“Of course.” she nods, “I promise.”
“Then let me tell you about what my Quirk really is, One for All.” he says holding out his hand, “To tell you the truth, it’s not a power I was born with, but a power I inherited from my master.”
“An inherited Quirk?” Melissa mutters confused, “But that’s impossible, there isn’t a Quirk out there that can be transferred from one person to another.”
That just broke everything everyone knew about Quirks, it has never occurred in the history of the world. Or perhaps…
“Is it…maybe not a Quirk?” Melissa carefully asks. Cursed Techniques on the other hand were unknown to her. Could it be possible that One for All was a Cursed Technique like-
“Hah! I know how it sounds but trust me, One for All is most definitely a Quirk. It’s not magic or anything.” he chuckles, sounding amused as Melissa sighs.
“Right.” she nods, obviously that wasn’t the case, “But…why are you telling me this?”
“Because I want you to inherit my Quirk, Melissa Shield.” All Might says, shocking her. Before she can respond, he continues, “The truth is because of my injury, my time is limited. I can only perform as a Hero for three hours a day because of it. Extending it will worsen my condition and thus reduce my time limit. I cannot be the Symbol of Peace forever, and I need someone to take my place to tell the world, I am here.”
Melissa stares at her uncle in shock. All this that he was suddenly dumping on her, was too much! She’s barely getting any time to process this. First, she discovers she is a descendant of a Sorcerer and the world is full of Cursed Spirits. Now she was learning her uncle, who had a Quirk that broke one of the constants of all Quirks, was now crippled and looking for someone to take said Quirk.
“Why me?” she finally asks, “I’m…I’m no one special.”
“I beg to differ.” he smirks, “I heard from Young Todoroki how you defended both him and Young Bakugou from that villain who stole Hagurake’s Quirk. Even wounded and given a chance to run, you fearlessly stood between them and drove her off at the risk of losing both your life and your Quirk.”
Melissa winces at this. In actuality, the latter was no risk at all considering she had no Quirk to speak of. It meant she could fight hand to hand-without risking whatever the Cursed Spirit did to both Touru and Eijirou.
“I… It was nothing. I couldn’t leave them to die. That just wasn’t an option.” she says, trying to downplay her achievements, “I have enough blood on my hands as it is.”
“Which was why I thought of you as the best choice.” All Might nods, “You know the risks that come with power, how it can easily harm as well as protect. You are brave, determined, and resilient. I have no doubt you will be the perfect successor to inherit my power. So what do you say, Melissa?”
She remains silent as she thinks over the offer. In any other scenario, she thinks she would have accepted without hesitation. Not to be the Symbol of Peace exactly, but because her Uncle was pleading with her for help, something she’d never seen before.
But she was a Sorcerer now, what would happen to her Technique once she inherits One for All? How would it react to the Cursed Energy within her? There hasn’t been a case with someone possessing both a Quirk and Cursed Technique at the same time, so what would happen? The closest was those Quirk Monstrosities she’d seen Ryoku wield and she has no desire to be anything like them.
“I’m sorry, Uncle Might.” she says after a long pause, “But I can’t take your Quirk.”
“Fantas- Pardon?” All Might’s eyes widened upon hearing that, taken aback by her answer, “You…don’t want One for All?”
“I…I’m not sure if I’m the right person to wield One for All no matter what you think.” she says avoiding his eyes, “I just can’t…”
She tries to think of an excuse, something to dissuade her Uncle from pressing the issue until she is forced to give away the secret of Curses, but to her surprise, he accepts it although he sounds disappointed.
“I see…Yes, I suppose you wouldn’t want more power after what happened when you first discovered your Quirk.” he mutters to himself before apologising, “Forgive me, I didn’t properly consider your feelings on the matter.”
Melissa wonders what he was talking about before realising it. He must have assumed her reason was because she doubted herself after her “Quirk” awakening resulting in accidental manslaughter. She curses herself for this.
“I’m sorry…” she weakly apologises once more but All Might shrugs it off.
“No, I should be the one that’s sorry.” he says before standing up, “I…should go. I disturbed you long enough. If you ever need anything, please let me know.”
He stands to get up before Melissa remembers, that this was the Symbol of Peace she was talking to. The world’s greatest hero with the combat experience to match. If anyone knows a thing about fighting it would be him.
“Please, wait!” she stands up suddenly, surprising him, “I…class is cancelled tomorrow, right? Can you help train me?”
“Train you?” All Might asks surprised, “You were grievously injured today, frankly I’m surprised you went out for a walk with how bad it was. Are you sure you don’t want to take the time off to rest and recover?”
“I’m fine. I need to get stronger. Fast!” she pleads, “You’re the strongest hero! When they come back, I need to be ready. I need to be stronger so I can stop her.”
So that she could exorcise her.
***
Izuku nervously knocks on the door to Kyoka’s house, eager to give her the good news from his recent meeting with Giran.
In the park where they handed off the documents and cash, Izuku found information regarding Eri’s family and possibly why she was found with the Shie Hassaikai. Because her grandfather was the boss of said Yakuza group.
He recalled hearing in the news that his comatose body was found in the Shie Hassaikai base that he raided and was now placed in a hospital under heavy monitoring. According to the documents he had one daughter, Shiro Akame, who was married to Shin Akame, who died from mysterious circ*mstances.
Using this and the timeframe he gathered, he was able to paint a picture. Shin Akame’s death must have affected his wife drastically, leaving her to hand her daughter over to the boss of the Shie Hassaikai to take care of for the time being, perhaps needing the time to grieve. In comes Overhaul who for some reason comatosed his former boss, perhaps in a coup, and captured Eri to create those Quirk Removal Drugs he heard of. He wonders what the poor woman must be dealing with, not being able to communicate with her father and find out where her daughter is. It must have been terrible.
He hopes at least this reunion will help her somewhat.
He knocks again before the door opens and he is greeted by the sight of a familiar face.
“Jirou!” he greets happily.
“Midoriya, so you got what you needed?” Kyoka asks as she leans against the doorframe.
“Yeah, her mother and her address.” Izuku nods, “We can leave as soon as she’s ready.”
“Well we’re having lunch now, you can come join us. Break the news to her there.” Kyoka suggests, “Besides, my parents would want to meet the guy who dumped his kid at our place.”
“Please stop phrasing it like that.” Izuku blushes in embarrassment, covering his face as Kyoka laughed.
“As soon as you stop being so easy.” she snickers before a voice from inside the house calls out,
“Kyoka, honey, who’s at the door?” a woman’s voice asked as Kyoka yelled back,
“Just a friend, mom.” She responded before pulling him in without warning, dragging him to the dining room to see two people at the table, and another familiar figure, eating some lunch. Upon being noticed, Eri immediately leaps out of her seat and towards him.
“Izuku!” she tackles his legs into a hug as he chuckles, “I missed you so much!”
“Hey, Eri. I missed you too.” he smiles as he pats her on the head before turning to Kyoka’s parents and awkwardly waving, “Uhm…Hi, I’m Izuku Midoriya.”
“So…you’re the guy who left this kid with us.” the father crosses his arms.
“Y-yes, that’s me.” Izuku quickly bows, “I am so sorry the bother you, but I couldn’t find anyone else on such short notice.”
“Midoriya, these are my parents. Mika and Kyotoku Jirou.” Kyoka introduces, “Mom, Dad, this is Midoriya. The guy I told you about.”
“It’s no problem, Midoriya. Eri is a dear to have.” Mika assures, smiling at the little girl, “It was a bit of a surprise coming home to see our daughter with a child, but she explained it was doing a favour for a friend.”
“Yes, and I really appreciate you taking care of Eri for the past week.” Izuku thanked me once more before turning to the little girl, “Hey Eri, do you mind packing your things?”
“Huh?” Eri looks up at him confused, “Where are we going?”
“It’s…it’s a long story, but we found your mother,” Izuku explains with a smile, deciding to skip over the part where he got said information from a criminal information broker. That wasn’t something you wanted to talk about in front of a classmate and her parents.
“...I have a mother?” Eri asks, genuinely confused, and Izuku almost chokes on his breath at that. The Jirou family looked slightly alarmed at that before Kyotoku spoke up,
“Kyoka, why don’t you go help Eri pack?” He suggests, eyeing Izuku oddly.
Kyoka does just that, guiding Eri back to her room to help her pack while leaving Izuku with her parents. He stands there awkwardly, trying to appear casual and failing to do so.
“Come on, sit down and relax. We don’t bite.” Mika waves him over and Izuku sits on an offered chair.
“So, Midoriya, was it?” Kyotoku asks, “What’s exactly your relation with the kid, Eri?”
“Uhm, why do you ask?” Izuku held back a gulp of nervousness and hoped he wasn’t sweating.
“Well, it’s just that we find it odd that someone would drop a child off to be taken care of by essentially strangers, especially if they weren’t related.” Mika explains, “And pay in bags of cash to be.”
“Especially a girl without any family name.” Kyotoku adds, “And expects to get hit for every minor thing she does.”
“...” Izuku stayed silent, knowing the two were already suspicious and the next thing he said could decide whether they’d call the cops or not. He can’t tell them the truth, but maybe it doesn’t need to be the whole truth…
“I found her when she was in a bad situation.” he says already hating himself for this, “They…weren’t good to her.”
Mika looks at his face and her ear jacks tipped upwards just slightly before her face softens, “I see…they weren’t her family.”
“No they weren’t.” he shakes his head and Kyotoku mutters,
“Hell…does the police know about this?” he asks.
“Yeah, they do. They’re dealing with it on their end. I was the one who found her and called the police.” Specifically, they knew about the Shie Hassaikai and are currently throwing them all in prison, except Overhaul. And Izuku did leave an anonymous call for them regarding the Shie Hassaikai.
“There was some difficulty trying to track down her family at first, so I had to take her with me. But my mother’s place didn’t have much room.” That was another half-truth, their place was a rather small apartment, “And Kyoka was the only person I knew and trusted at the time. It seemed like a good idea.”
“I see.” Mika says, “I’m sorry, the both of us assumed something was off about the situation.”
“It’s fine, I understand how it would look to someone from the outside.” Izuku says, barely holding back a sigh of relief, “I just want to get her back to her real family. To see her safe. That’s all.”
Kyotoku chuckles, “I guess the two of us were overthinking it. Glad to hear it.”
“So, now with that ugly business out of the way, I still have some questions.” Mika says suddenly changing the subject, “What is your relationship with our daughter?”
“Huh?” Izuku blinks, sounding confused at the question. But before he could answer, Kyoka came down the staircase with Eri beside her, wearing a backpack.
“Oh hey, look at the time, we should probably get going Midoriya!” she says before roughly grabbing a confused Izuku by the arm and dragging both him and Eri out, “Her mom’s probably worried sick. Can’t keep her waiting can we?!”
The door slams and Mika chuckles at this when her husband turns to her.
“So, was it me or…?” he asks.
“That he wasn’t telling us everything? Yes.” she nods and raises her ear jacks, “But everything he did tell us was true. I think we should trust they know what they’re doing.”
“You don’t think it’s anything to worry about?” he asks not out of doubt but just making sure.
“No. He seems like a kind young man. Call it a woman’s intuition.” She says, “Besides, he’s Kyoka’s classmate. UA wouldn’t let a villain study in their school, would they?”
“I suppose so.” Kyotoku concedes to that before returning to his coffee.
***
“Akame…” Eri mutters to herself upon hearing her full name from Izuku, “That’s my last name?”
“Yes, it is, Eri.” Izuku nodded as he held her right hand with his left, while Kyoka held her left hand with her right, “Are you excited to see her?”
“I…don’t know.” Eri says, sounding nervous, “I don’t remember her. I don’t remember anything before…”
She hesitates, Overhaul’s name stuck in her throat as Izuku squeezed her hand to provide comfort. After taking a breath she turns to Kyoka,
“My mom…will she be like yours?” Eri asks and Kyoka looks confused,
“Sorry? What do you mean by that?” she asks unsure how to respond to that.
“Will she be nice?” Eri asks quietly as both Izuku and Kyoka feel the overwhelming urge to hug and protect the poor girl.
“I’m sure she will.” Izuku assures her, “And I’m sure she misses you very much.”
“You’ll visit, right?” Eri asks nervously and hopefully, “I- I’ve been practising with my powers like you asked.”
Izuku flinches. Was Eri thinking that he wouldn’t visit her if she wasn’t training with her Cursed Technique? He really needs to have a talk with her soon, but after this matter with her mother is settled.
For now, he simply pats her on the head, “Of course, I will Eri. Whenever I can.”
She looks unsure at that before Kyoka decides to change the subject to get her mind off things, “Speaking of practice, you should see her with the drums. She found my old drum set during her stay. This little drummer has potential.”
“I’d love to see you play sometimes then.” Izuku smiles as Eri looks embarrassed at the praise, “I’m sure you’re really good, Eri.”
She then turns to Kyoka, tugging at her sleeve, “...Will you visit also? I still want to learn more.”
Kyoka smiles at her assuringly, “Of course kid. Who knows, we might even make a band someday when you’re older.”
They stop outside of a house in some suburb neighbourhood as Izuku pulls out his phone to check the address, “This is the place. I’ll go check just in case.”
Not that he doubts Giran's information, that man may be a criminal but he seemed professional. Izuku hated that he had to go for a villain’s help to investigate but it was the only way without dragging Heroes and police into the mess.
He knocks on the door before waiting for a reply, the door opening slightly and Izuku sees a woman that was almost the spitting image of Eri but more mature, with long white hair and red eyes.
“Hello? Can I help you, young man?” she asks confused as Izuku swallows a gulp,
“Sorry, your name is Akame, right? Shiro Akame?” he asks and she nods still confused, “You have a child named Eri, right? That you gave to your father to take care of?”
Her eyes widened in surprise and before she could ask, her eyes trailed off and her jaw dropped in shock as she spotted Eri behind him standing next to Kyoka and holding her hand.
He didn’t know what he was expecting, but what came next was a surprise. She suddenly screams and rushes backwards, accidentally tripping and falling over.
“Ma’am, are you alright?!” Izuku asks worriedly as the woman keeps backing up until she is in her house, back against the wall. Unsure what to do Izuku goes in and tries to help her up as Kyoka rushes over with Eri, confused as to what was going on.
“Wh-why is she here? She’s supposed to be with my father!” Shiro asks, almost hyperventilating.
“Something’s off, Midoriya,”Gojo warns as Izuku stares at the scared woman confused before answering,
“There’s…there’s something wrong with your father, he’s in a coma-” he tries to explain but the woman screams again as she sees Kyoka and Eri enter her house.
“Get her away!” she screams, “She did something to him, didn’t she?! I knew it…She’s cursed! Cursed I tell you!”
“What?” Kyoka looked at her shocked at what she was hearing, “Lady, you do know this is your daughter right?!”
“You did something to my father, didn’t you?!” the woman screams at a frightened and confused Eri, “Just like you did with your father! Like what you did with my husband!”
Images flicker in Eri’s mind as her mother shouts at her. Visages of the woman in front of her, smiling as she fed her along with a man. She remembers crying for some reason. Distressed. She sees the man reaching towards her before a flash of light, and all that is left is a pile of clothes.
“What…” she asks weakly, the memories overwhelming her before her mother lands the final nail in the coffin,
“You killed him!” the woman screams, tears falling from her eyes, “You hurt my father too? Are you here for me, you monster! Why did I have to give birth to something like you?! It’s all your fault!”
Something in Eri snaps, and before Izuku could try defending Eri or calming the woman down, he freezes, turning back to Eri as her Cursed Energy that was bottling up reaches a breaking point. Yellow electricity coursed through her body as even without Cursed Energy, Kyoka could feel something overwhelming coming from Eri.
“Eri, no!” he shouts as he reaches out but it is too late. The Cursed Energy was poured out, unconsciously visualising and giving it shape from the memories playing out in her mind.
“Midoriya, swap with me now!”Gojo shouts at him urgently shocked at what he is seeing,“It’s her Domain!”
But Eri was quicker, bright yellow light washing over everyone in the house as everything in Izuku’s vision went white.
Chapter 16: A Cursed Reunion Pt 2
Chapter Text
Kyoka Jirou didn't know what she was expecting when bringing Eri to meet her long-lost mother. Seeing said woman scream at her own child like she was a demon from hell was certainly not on the list. Neither was the bright flash of light that emitted from Eri.
When the light dimmed and her sight returned, she realised for some reason Izuku was grabbing and holding her close with the two of them standing on a small, blue-white circle. Instead of the entrance to a normal house, they were now standing on what seemed to be a dark hallway that stretched like a maze, with the design of white wallpaper blended together with plain concrete. Like two buildings meshed together.
“Wha-? Midoriya, what’s going on?” Kyoka asks, alarmed.
“Looks like a Domain Expansion, luckily not a fully complete one though. So no need for a Simple Domain then.” Izuku’s voice speaks, but it sounds different. Looking at him she finds his green eyes suddenly turned bright blue as he sighs, “Jeez, this is gonna be a pain though.”
“Midoriya?” she asks unsure and unnerved as whoever this was let her go, the circle they were standing on dissipating.
“Nope, not exactly.” he says, giving her a smirk before walking forward, wagging a finger to beckoning her to follow, “Come on, best to talk as we walk. Best to find her quick before something happens.”
“What? Then who are you?!” Kyoka asks as she points her earjacks at him, “What’ve you done with Midoriya?!”
The one wearing Izuku’s body turns and taps his skull, “He’s just switched places with me the moment this Incomplete Domain expanded. I’ll let him get some rest first until we find Eri. Besides, it'll give me some time to explain stuff to you first. And to answer your first question, the name’s Satoru Gojo.”
“...Is this some split-personality thing?” Kyoka asks extremely confused but lowering her earjacks once she senses no hostile intent, cautiously following him just a step behind.
“Eh, not really.” Gojo shrugs as he continues walking down the mish-mashed hallway and pushing open doors to look briefly before moving on, “It’s his body but I rent a room in his head. Built me a nice little corner, but it’s really lacking in the entertainment department that doesn’t involve Pro Heroes. In exchange, I pay my rent.”
“Rent?” Kyoka asks as he flashes a small orb of Blue and Red in each hand,
“I basically lend him my power, and from time to time I save him from near death.” Gojo says casually before extinguishing his Technique, “And teaching a few tricks as well.”
“Wait, that doesn’t make any sense.” Kyoka says, “How can you ‘rent’ someone’s brain? Why would he even allow that? And are you saying Limitless isn’t Midroya’s Quirk?”
Gojo chuckles, “Man, you’re in for a wild ride. Buckle up then, this story begins about ten months ago…”
***
“So you’re a reincarnated sorcerer?” Kyoka asks, flabbergasted by what she is hearing, “Magic is real? Ghosts are real?”
“We don’t use those terms, but sure, let’s go with that,” Gojo says as he continues searching the endless hallways they were in.
“And Eri was kidnapped by Yakuza and experimented on!” Kyoka continues still in disbelief, “She somehow got rid of her Quirk, then suddenly became cursed or something, and now she’s making a literal pocket dimension to trap us?”
“Not intentionally.” Gojo points out, “This is done mostly out of instinct I think. I gotta say, it’s really amazing. Creating a Domain is something even some top-tier Sorcerers can’t do. Even if it’s incomplete and doesn’t have a Cursed Technique imbued into it, the fact she was able to manifest this means she’s got insane potential.”
“Well, how do we get out then?” Kyoka asks worriedly, “Didn’t you say these Domain things are super deadly?”
“Nope.” Gojo clarifies, “Like I said, there’s no Technique imbued into it. If there were, we’d be hit by her Cursed Technique automatically and who knows what would’ve happened. We could age to dust, or be rewinded to before we were even born. Freaky isn’t it?”
“Very!” Kyoka shouts, getting more annoyed by the minute, “So back on how we’re finding Eri and getting the hell out of here?!”
“Relax, getting out of here requires finding Eri so it’s two birds one stone.” Gojo waves off her worries, “We just need to find her, and Izuku will get her to stop. Simple as that. Speaking of which, we’re just about there.”
He points at the end of the hall where a door stands in front of them. Now that he mentioned it, Kyoka could hear a faint heartbeat coming from inside, but also a presence that sent shivers down her spine.
“What’s inside?” she asks worried,
“No need to be afraid. Just a scared little girl.” Gojo says before shrugging, “Now this is where you come in. You got it from here, Midoriya.”
In a flash, his blue eyes dimmed until they returned to their original green colour. Izuku Midoriya snaps back into reality and suddenly looks around surprised before turning to Kyoka.
“Jirou, I-” he tries to explain himself but Kyoka stops him.
“Save it.” she says, “Just…there’s a girl in there right now who needs your help. We’ll talk about this later.”
Izuku pauses and nods, “You’re right…For what it’s worth I’m really sorry.”
He turns his attention back towards the door, gulping nervously at the output of Cursed Energy as his hand shivers while approaching the doorknob. The door pushes open slightly and Izuku finds strangely a set of stairs leading downwards into bright light.
The two teenagers carefully walked downwards until they arrived at a recreation of Shiro Akame’s house with Eri in the centre, sitting down wrapping her knees, and holding herself tightly. Yellow energy was crackling and pouring out of her.
“Eri…” Izuku tries stepping closer but the moment his footsteps off the final stair and touches the floor, a spark of yellow energy strikes at his shoes. Reacting on reflex he activated Limitless and manifested Infinity over his leg, shocked that when the energy struck the barrier it began halting its division of space before disappearing.
No, not disappearing…His Technique had been rewinded to before Infinity initiated.
“Don’t come closer…You’ll die…” Eri says softly through her tears from the middle of the room. Reluctantly Izuku steps back onto the stairs and away from the floor. If just a little spark was enough to disrupt Infinity then he couldn’t step close without Six Eyes protecting him from Eri’s Technique. Who knows how far it would rewind him if struck directly by a larger bolt? And it would last for roughly one minute and thirty seconds.
“Eri, it’s going to be fine.” Izuku assures, “We just need you to turn off your Technique, alright? Can you do that?”
“I can’t…” she mutters softly, “I need to bring him back…”
“Bring who back?” Kyoka asks.
“My father…I killed him!” Eri breaks down once more, sobbing as the energy fluctuates around her. Izuku quickly pushes Kyoka up the stairs before erecting an Infinity barrier in front of them to shield them from sparks of yellow, easily disrupting his Technique.
“I killed him! I need to bring him back!” Eri cries out as her Technique runs rampant. Kyoka then taps Izuku’s shoulders and points him to a table in the living room, squinting his eyes to see a digital clock, the type with calendars built into it.
Time keeps trying to advance but it’s continuously rewinded. And the date never goes beyond a bit more than a week ago.
A week ago…that was when Izuku rescued Eri. A few days prior she destroyed her Quirk, creating her Cursed Technique…Could it be possible that Eri could not rewind time to a period beyond the formation of her Cursed Technique?
“Rewinding time to beyond a week ago and keeping it there?” Gojo mutters shocked, “Must be the Incomplete Domain helping her out because no way is she keeping this up without draining her Cursed Energy like crazy. Even then it’s impressive.”
“Eri, you can’t save your father.” Izuku informs sadly, “Your power, it's not letting you rewind past the point you lost your Quirk and gained your Technique its place. You can’t go beyond that point.”
The crying stops upon hearing this, and Eri looks at her shaking hands in despair.
“...I should just disappear.” she whispers to herself, horrifying the two hearing such words come from a young child before she starts tearing at her own hair, “Disappear! Just go away! Just stop hurting everyone, you monster! No one cares about you!”
“Eri!” Kyoka shouts trying to get her attention over the growing storm of energy as the two of them back further up the staircase to avoid the torrent of bolts indirectly thrown at them, “You’re wrong! There are people that care about you! They're right here, right now!”
“No, they aren’t!” Eri shouts through her tears, shocking them, “When you visited I thought it meant you would finally keep me…but it wasn’t. You just wanted to leave me again…Even Jirou…you don’t want me.”
She sniffs, wiping her tears with her own sleeve, “You hate me, don’t you?... I don’t blame you… I hate myself too.”
Izuku wanted to ask how she could think such things but halted in realisation. The day after he first met Eri the first thing he did was send her away to the Jirous. One week later, not seeing her through the whole time, suddenly arrived and told her that she was leaving the Jirous again for a mother she didn’t even remember.
Something breaks inside of Izuku as he processes this, the energy erupting from Eri becoming near blinding.
“Careful guys.” Gojo manifests a mouth on Izuku’s cheek, “Either you need to get out here quick or stop her quick because at this rate she might accidentally imbue her Technique into this Domain. It won’t get her automatic hits but I don’t want to find out if her Domain-enhanced Technique would still obey her previous limits.”
“How do we stop her?” Kyoka asks desperately, not having time to ask what was up with that.
“We can try breaking out by brute force, or finding our way out since it’s Incomplete. But I won’t recommend it. Too much time and we’d get caught up in that.” Gojo says, “Or you could swap with me and let me counter with my own Domain.”
“What?!” Izuku exclaims, “That will kill her!”
“Not if I drop it the moment the Domain gets cancelled out.” Gojo points out, “It’s a risk but worst we’re looking at a few months' coma. Those are our options, risk taking her Domain’s effect or counter and risk putting her in a short-term coma.”
“...There’s a third way.” Izuku says suddenly as he steps forward, clasping his hands together in a hand sign, “Foresight.”
“Wha-? Midoriya!” Kyoka and Gojo exclaim as he suddenly walks forward down the stairs, into the storm of yellow lightning as it strikes the Infinity barrier enveloping him. Even with his Six Eyes, he had to push himself to his limits by dividing space faster than Eri could rewind time.
He had failed as a hero. He had failed Eri by leaving her. He thought it was for the best, the most practical thing to do short of leaving her in the care of authorities. But here he was staring at the consequences of his actions. For all his abilities he didn’t foresee this, and that was his fault. Now it was up to him to make things right.
“It’s going to be fine now, Eri,” Izuku grunts from the strain as he steps forward slowly. Each step itself was a strain as his Infinity barrier waxes and wanes under the barrage of Eri’s Technique, “Because…I’m here now.”
Eri looks at him stunned as he marches through the storm of yellow lightning. He had to do this in only a minute, what words could he say to help the young girl in front of him? He had no time to think, to construct the perfect verses necessary to ease her fears. So he simply speaks honestly,
“Eri…I made a lot of mistakes.” he confesses, “I left you when you needed me the most, and I’m sorry. I did what I thought was best for all of us, but I was wrong. I shouldn’t have left, and I shouldn’t have taken you from somewhere you were beginning to feel safe. I was wrong and I’m sorry.”
He finally arrives in front of her, his time with Six Eyes nearly burning out as he kneels to reach her eye level, giving her a smile as best he can to assure her,
“So how about we make another vow?” he asks as he strains himself, veins in his nose and eyes bursting, “I’ll never leave you again. I’ll keep calling every day, visit every day, so much you’ll get sick of me. The only reason I’d stop is if you ask, or if I die.”
He wrapped his arms around her, and despite the Infinity barrier separating them, she could somehow feel the warmth emanating from them. She could feel the power behind his words emanating through her.
“You’ll never be alone again Eri, I promise.” Izuku vows as he fights to keep the Infinity barrier up as his time with Six Eyes ticks down, “So let’s go home, please.”
***
Around them the Domain shatters upon itself, reverting their location back to normal. Izuku was kneeling in the living room, an unconscious Eri in his hands as he rushed to check over her. She appeared fine but was drained of Cursed Energy.
“Eri!” Kyoka rushes down the stairs once it is safe to do so, hurrying to Izuku’s side and checking on Eri, “Is she fine? Is she alive?”
She asked with fear and Izuku nodded with a sigh of relief while hugging the unconscious Eri tightly, “She’s fine…she’s fine…Oh thank god…”
Silence passed between the two as they exchanged glances with each other. Before they can speak, they freeze upon hearing a cough and turn to find Eri’s mother stirring awake. In a rush, Izuku quickly passes Eri to Kyok and gets in front of them,
“Ma’am, please-?” he says before she looks at them confused,
“Who…who are you? What are you doing in my house?!” she asked, alarmed, “I’m calling the police!”
“...What?” Izuku looks at her stunned and Kyoka mouths something in confusion and shock. That’s when he realised, the woman had been caught in Eri’s Domain unprotected. She likely thinks it was one week ago.
Before he could figure out what the next step was, the woman reached for her cell but suddenly froze. Izuku looks with worry and takes a step closer to approach, but then she collapses once more.
“...What the hell?” Kyoka mutters, “Is she alright?”
“What happened to her?” Izuku asked Gojo who responded in his head,
“Think, Midoriya. Remember last week when we felt Eri’s Technique, it took a few seconds but the memories came back all at once overlapping each other. It was a few minutes but it surprised us. Now imagine a whole week's worth of memories suddenly slamming into a non-Curse User overlapping all at once. It must’ve overloaded her brain, kinda like Infinite Void.”
“So she’s just out cold.” Izuku sighs, “This is gonna be a pain. What are we supposed to do now?”
“I may have a solution for your problems, young man.”
The two screamed and jumped at the sudden interruption and even Gojo was startled.
“Wha-? Who are…” Izuku trails off as he turns to the entrance of the house and his jaw drops. He recognised who was in front of them, anyone who kept up with the latest Pro Hero news would,
“Edgeshot…You’re the Ninja Hero: Edgeshot!” Izuku screams and points, his inner fanboy leaking out, “Japan’s Rank 5 Hero!”
“What are you doing here?!” Kyoka asked shocked and confused before realising just how this may look, “We- we can explain all this.”
“I’m sure you can.” Edgeshot says before turning his attention back to a tense and awestruck Izuku, “I’ve been following you for some time, Midoriya. Ever since you left for the Jirou household.”
“Jeez, really? We gotta work on your awareness training.” Gojo remarks as Izuku ignores his mentor,
“B-but why?” Izuku asks, racking his head for any reason the Number 5 Hero himself would be trailing him, “What did I do?”
“I was looking for the Sorcerer responsible for the Shie Hassaikai’s downfall, and after a few days of investigation, I finally found him. I sensed another Cursed Energy residue source, but to think such power belongs to a young girl,” he says turning to look at the unconscious Eri in Kyoka’s arms, who was looking at Edgeshot with suspicion and putting herself between them protectively.
Izuku felt his mind was about to blow, “WHAT?! You know about-?!”
“I’ll be sure to settle our little issue here.” Edgeshot continues, gesturing at the unconscious Shiro Akame, “It may be tough but thankfully she doesn’t seem to remember anything. Quite a powerful Technique that girl has.”
“...Who are you?” Izuku asks confused and desperately wanting answers.
“Forgive me, in my excitement I forgot to introduce myself.” Edgeshot apologises before saluting with a hand across his chest, “I am Shinya Kamihara, the Pro Hero known as Edgeshot, Sorcerer of Japan, the last of the Kamo Clan. And I greet you Izuku Midoriya, last of the Gojo Clan.”
***
Ryoku stepped through the black mist portal produced by Kurogiri where she found herself inside a dark warehouse. Fortunately for her, the Cursed Corpse she inhabited had its eyes augmented with numerous vision-enhancing Quirks, allowing her to see clearly.
Vats filled to the brim with strange liquids surrounded her in rows upon rows, each of them containing a corpse with pale skin and an exposed brain with wiring and tubes attached to them. She recognises where she was instantly, the production centre for Noumus, preparing corpses for their transformation.
“Sick.” she smirks as she taps on the glass of a nearby tube to test the inhabitant’s reaction, “This is a wicked set-up you got here, big man.”
A figure from the shadows wheels up to her in a motorised wheelchair, “I’ll be sure to pass your compliments to the good doctor. And if I may ask, please do not tap the glass. He doesn’t like it when his subjects are agitated.”
This man…his Quirk Essence was off the roof. If Quirk Essence and Cursed Energy were 1:1 then he would have her outclassed in leagues. And he was in a wheelchair, hooked up to life support machines and with half his head covered in scar tissue. Yet still willing to meet her face-to-face like this without fear.
She suppresses a sudden and smirks at him, “So I take it you’re the boss then? Name’s Ryoku.”
“You may call me All for One.” he greets with a similar smirk, “That is quite a Quirk you have there, miss. From what I’ve been told by Giran it is an ability that lets you take Quirks and use them for yourself, and also create strange beasts out of them.”
“I can say the same for you.” She says taking a closer look at his Quirk Essence, or rather the hundreds upon hundreds leashed together to some kind of core Essence deep inside, “Your Quirks, they’re all stolen, aren’t they? Just like mine.”
The crippled man laughs, “Hah! So you can see it? Impressive, impressive, this makes things all the more simple. We share the same ability Ryoku, something I find to be impossible. In all my years I have found many Quirks similar but nothing like mine. Yours is the closest to mine, and normally I wouldn’t allow for competition…”
Ryoku chuckles at this. She was having similar thoughts herself, that she’d rather not have any competition standing in her way of amassing power. She weighed her odds and right now, things weren’t good for her. Even after a day, she may have fully recovered physically, but Quirk-wise she was outgunned. Amongst that many, there was probably a chance at least one could deal true damage to her, and possibly kill her. For now, she’d wait and see where this was going,
“...but I digress. You could prove to be much more useful alive than dead,” he says as he raises a finger and uses a Quirk to pull a cart from behind and place it between them. Ryoku instantly recognises them for what they are, Quirk Essence suspended inside vials. She picks up one of them to inspect, analysing it with her Technique.
“A neural-enhancer that boosts reflexes and speed. Thirty-six years old, trained in basics but only casually, never seriously,” she mutters, looking over it. Despite being encased in glass, she could still read it effectively and sense the vestiges of the previous user’s soul, “The user dreamed of being a Pro Hero, but settled for mediocrity and became a stockbroker.”
She scoffed in disgust at this. It was a common thing she found when liberating Quirks from their previous users. Everyone kept their true inner self locked away under fear of their limits, of their society, their rules, social standards and all that useless crap. It was truly a disgusting world.
“So you can gain knowledge of their previous users as well? Fascinating.” All for One rubs his chin, “This is my offer to you, Ryoku. Continue working for the League of Villains. Help Tomura grow and prosper, do this and I will supply you regularly with as many Quirks as you wish.”
“Putting a lot of resources for the sake of that brat aren’t you?” Ryoku asks as she sets down the vial, “Feels weird. If you need power for your goals, why not do things yourself? You’re certainly pretty strong, Tomura doesn’t hold a candle to you.”
All for One almost twitches at that, “I have my own reasons as for my investment into Tomura Shigaraki. But as for my goals? They involve two things.”
He raises two fingers, “One. The destruction of this Hero Society as we know it. A complete collapse that this country will not be able to recover from. Two, which are related to the first one and vital for its accomplishment. The elimination of All Might. Publicly. I want him ruined, broken for the entire world to see and watch as society falls into despair at the fall of their precious Symbol of Peace.”
“Now you’re speaking my language.” Ryoku chuckles at the image. The thought of the broken corpse of the Symbol of Peace, beaten, bruised, bloodied and maybe missing a few limbs or part of the head. She imagines it being held in front of a crowd of his adoring fans, having their hope raised and believing their beloved hero would prevail suddenly shatter. It was an all-so-delicious image that had the Cursed Corpse she was inhabiting acting oddly. Like the thought of a full-course cuisine for humans, filled to the brim with all of one’s favourite food prepared by the finest chefs.
But then she imagines All for One or maybe Tomura being the ones to present the body, and she feels disgust and frustration. Like seeing someone push her off the table to dine her full-course meal. That was what All for One was offering, a poultry plate of scrap. Was that what he thought she was worth? The Quirks enticed her yes, but Quirks she can amass herself. There was joy in the hunt anyway, the pleasure of stalking her prey before pouncing and having to be offered them on a platter by a human felt insulting.
They think of her as useless without them…This son of a bitch.
Her pride almost has her lash out to lay her hands on All for One, but relents. She doesn’t know his true capabilities, and with the aura he was exhibiting she doubts she could manipulate his Quirk so easily. She’d have to wear him down first, and besides, she has more to learn from him yet.
So much he was keeping in the dark. She’d tear him apart bit by bit, exposing all the secrets he has to hide, wait for the perfect moment and then…his power will be hers.
“Your answer, Miss Ryoku? I do hope that you choose wisely.” All for One presses before she smiles, almost unnaturally. Wide enough to almost split her head,
“Don’t worry, I did.” she says as she picks up the vials from the cart before her, “I’m sure this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship, All for One.”
Chapter 17: Cursed Revelations
Chapter Text
“Shiro Akame has been transported to a hospital. Reports will be that she was suffering from stress due to work and collapsed at home. The two of you noticed it through the window and went in to assist.” Shinya Kamihara explains as the three sit in his Hero Agency’s office, which was designed after traditional Japanese housing with walls lined with dozens of ancient weaponry.
Anyone else would think they’re just decorations to fit Edgeshot’s ninja theme but Izuku sees them for what they really are. An arsenal of Cursed Tools from the smallest kunai to katanas to odachis and many more. It was not just an office, but an armoury.
Kyoka was holding a sleeping Eri in her arms, still exhausted from expanding her Incomplete Domain and expanding all her Cursed Energy. She looks at the Pro Hero and apparent Sorcerer with confusion and slight suspicion,
“Well, thanks for all that, but you still haven’t told us anything exactly.” she says, “For one, why did you bring us here? What’s with all this ‘Clan’ stuff?”
“There used to be three major Clans in the Jujutsu world.” Izuku explains to Kyoka, “The Gojo Clan, Kamo Clan and Zen’in Clan.”
“Correct, so you know your history, after all, young Midoriya. Or should I say, young Gojo? I thought your Clan went extinct almost a century ago.” Shinya asks and Izuku swallows nervously. He’s heard of the three Clans from Satoru Gojo’s lessons on the ancient world of Jujutsu, as well as the rivalry that exists between the Clans. The two of them had ventured out during his ten months of training to investigate the presence of any of the Clan but found all their old homes and temples abandoned, demolished or repurposed.
“I…guess so? I’m not really a member of the Gojo Clan,” he explains and Shinya raises a brow,
“Yet you wield their revered Techniques, Limitless and Six Eyes.” he points out before sighing, “Although I suppose with both our Clans can’t really be called Clans anymore if we’re both the last. How did you learn about the world of Curses then?”
So he didn’t know about the Six Eyes being turned into Cursed Objects? Izuku decides to answer vaguely,
“I had a good teacher that explained it all. But his own knowledge is lacking as well.” he says before asking, “I…hope it isn’t a bother to ask, but I have so many questions. What happened? How did Cursed Energy start dying out? How did the Clans vanish? I know the Zen’in Clan was exterminated, but what about the Gojo and Kamo? And the minor families. I couldn’t find any trace of the old Jujutsu world.”
“For someone who knows so much, you know so little at the same time.” Shinya says, sounding disappointed, “Tell me, how are you aware of the Culling Game?”
“The Culling Game?” Izuku mutters before Gojo bombards his mind with the explanation from when he was briefed on recent events after being unsealed from the Prison Realm, “I…heard it was something long ago where a Curse User called Kenjaku forced thousands of newly awakened Sorcerers and ancient incarnated Sorcerers into a death game.”
Shinya nods, “Correct. During this time he revealed the existence of Curses to several nations overseas such as the United States of America and China. He promised them that unlocking Cursed Energy potential in their civilians would bring them unlimited clean and sustainable energy. The details after that are foggy, much knowledge was lost and forgotten during the Dark Age of Quirks, but it may be possible that in their efforts to artificially create Sorcerers, a nation may have accidentally discovered something else.”
“...What are you saying?” Kyoka asks, not liking the sound of where he is going.
“It would be inefficient to modify every current generation to produce energy, but a new generation of humans capable of generating energy would be possible.” Shinya continues, “To efficiently alter the genes of every parent and produce children with such abilities, what would be the most effective approach? Gene therapy on an individual level? Not many would willingly undergo untested gene therapy to create a child who serves as a personal generator. However, if they were to modify all the parents simultaneously, without their knowledge, perhaps using a virus-like mechanism, and the use of rats as a vector…”
“You’re saying Quirks were created to replicate Curse Techniques?!” Izuku shouts as he launches himself to his feet in shock. Even Gojo was speechless upon hearing this and Kyoka’s jaw dropped at this mind-blowing revelation.
“Is…that can’t be true can it?” Kyoka asks and to everyone’s surprise, Shinya shrugs.
“Who knows? It’s just my theory,” he says and Izuku almost falls flat on his back,
“That was just a conspiracy theory?!” Izuku, Kyoka and Gojo cry out although the latter was done internally.
“I was hoping a member of the ancient Gojo Clan would know something that the Kamo Clan didn’t,” Shinya says.
“So…what happened to the rest of the Kamo Clan?” Izuku asks, “You said you were the last.”
“...” Shinya remains silent for a while, a look of shame passing through his face before sighing, “Allow me to keep some secrets for myself, Izuku Midoriya. You are certainly doing that as well, aren't you?”
Izuku bites his tongue remembering his own secret with Satoru Gojo, deciding to nod and concede to that point.
“Well, conspiracy theories aside, you still haven’t explained why you’re helping us.” Kyoka chimes in.
“Besides the fact I am a Professional Hero?” Shinya chuckles, “The four of us could be some of the last in Japan. We should do our best to support each other.”
“Wait, four of us?” Izuku looks at him confused as only three of them right now had Cursed Energy.
“Yes.” Shinya looked at him confused about why he was confused, “You, Eri, Kyoka Jirou and I.”
“Oh, I’m not a Sorcerer..” Kyoka quickly corrects, “I don’t have this Cursed Energy thing, I’m just a normal girl with a Quirk.”
“Yes? And so am I.” Shinya points to himself, surprising both of them, “Did I not mention that?”
“No!” Izuku exclaims, “But that doesn’t make sense, I can see the Cursed Energy radiating off you.”
Through his senses, he could see an Aura of Cursed Energy emanating from. It was on par with Melissa’s but it also had a unique feature, appearing to be spinning around his body and limbs.
“Ah, I see the confusion.” Shinya nodded and took off his gauntlet, and Izuku’s eyes widened upon seeing the Cursed Energy actually coming from the gauntlet, and Quirk Essence emanating from the Hero’s body instead.
“As Quirks became more common, a radical faction in the Kamo Clan believed the way forward was to prepare. They prioritised the research and development of Cursed Tools to allow future generations of their Clan to fight Curses, even without Cursed Techniques. This armour is one such relic from that era.” Shinya explains as he slides back on the gauntlet before gesturing to the weapons and tools around him, “With the amassed collection of Cursed Tools assembled by the Kamo Clan, as well as my own skills and Quirk, I have been able to operate on a scale comparable to a Grade One Sorcerer.”
“That’s amazing…” Izuku mutters in awe, “So you’ve been working as both a Hero and Sorcerer this whole time? Exorcising Curses by night, and being a Pro Hero by day?”
Shinya actually looks embarrassed at the praise, “It’s nothing amazing. Most Curses exist below Grade Four and anything above Grade Two is rare. It used to be that I would run into a few Grade Two Cursed Spirits every few months, then a Semi-Grade 1 maybe twice a year.”
“Used to?” Kyoka asks and Shinya’s facial expression turns serious even through his mask.
“Yes, about ten months ago the activity of Cursed Spirits dramatically rose.” He says, “Just last week I exorcised two packs of Grade Four Cursed Spirits and a single Grade Two in one day. And yesterday, I discovered a strange case in Shinjuku City. An anonymous caller reported to the police a suspicious stench in a neighbouring apartment room, where a search revealed several corpses numbering almost a dozen. Due to the mess of the corpses, the authorities are still having difficulty identifying the bodies.”
“My god…” Kyoka cringes at that and Izuku shares the sentiment, disgusted at the thought of such carnage.
“I’m not sure what’s worse.” Shinya mutters, “The fact we may be dealing with a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, or the fact they appeared to have been killed by their own Quirks and found without them.”
***
“Ugh, can you believe this?” Ryoku grumbles in annoyance as she looks through the front page of a newspaper detailing the police discovering one of her safe houses used to store the bodies of her victims. It was going to be a pain to get a new one.
“He-help me…” the man she was grabbing by the face pleads as he desperately clawed at her arm, two of her fingers piercing his eyes and unaware his friends were lying in pools of their own blood, “Guys…where are you…”
“You don’t mind if I crash at your place then?” She asks rhetorically while throwing away the newspaper and activating her Technique, causing the man’s own Quirk to activate forcibly. A type of energy-projection Quirk emitted from the eyes, instead of letting them release she manipulates them to build up instead until the man’s head blows up like a red balloon,
“Scratch that you definitely don’t mind.” she mutters while compressing the dead man’s Quirk Essence into a glowing red marble, “Not bad, not bad…good use for combat, but you didn’t become a Pro Hero. Failed the Entrance Exam, failed regular school, failed your parents, and joined a gang just to feel the slightest bit of validation.”
She scoffs at the corpses stewed across the newest apartment she took over. Pacing around and gesturing at them,
“You think that because you all grouped up together it meant anything? All you ended up doing was drag each other down further and further!” she rants at them, frustration at her situation leaking out.
Sure she knows why she was doing it, but she also feels like she’d been given no choice in the matter. All for One insisted it was a ‘partnership’ but she knew he was keeping a tight leash on her.
"Don’t leave between certain times of the day, go to A and take this Quirk, go to B and take these Quirks. Oh no, you don’t get to keep them, they’re for the Noumu project. Here’s a handful of Quirks I handpick for you, don’t mind the obviously rigged explosive Quirk!" she rants before taking a deep breath and sighing,
“But I guess it isn’t all your fault. Society forces you to live in those neat little squares they gave you, I can understand how frustrating that is. How maddening it is.” she continues, “Because of that, here you are wasting your Quirks away, damaging them with your drugs and debauchery. Because of just how soul-crushing this world of Quirks is.”
She raises the red marble and gestures wildly to her surroundings, “It’s crazy! The world of Quirks shouldn’t be so…constraining! So restrictive! In each of you humans, your Quirks are just itching to be free but you can’t because the world says so! This isn’t a true world of Quirks, it’s just a world that keeps insisting that they’re monkeys and not something more! Something greater!”
As she paces around she steps on something that rustles under her foot and looks down, a manga with some Pro Hero on its cover. She cringes in disgust and grinds her foot on it,
“Even these damn Heroes…a lot of them lie to themselves about why they do what they do. Everyone does that, Heroes, Villains, everything in between.” she grumbles while pocketing the marble of Quirk Essence, “Pretending to be who they aren’t, instead of following what they truly want, what they truly believe. And in doing so, they stifle their own Quirks. Disgusting…”
“Agreeing with a Cursed Spirit…'' She hears a voice come from behind her and turns in surprise to see a man climbing through the window, dressed in strange clothing and a red scarf with eye holes wrapped around his head. Draped across his body were several blades, especially a long and serrated katana across his back.
“What has this world come to? At the very least, you’re right on the part about Pro Heroes…lying about why they really do their jobs. Money, fame, never the right reasons.” he mutters as he draws the blade, stepping into the room and onto the pool of blood flooding the apartment. Ryoku gets a read on the strange man and begins worrying once she senses Cursed Energy coming from him, “I take it you’re the Cursed Spirit responsible for the mess in Shinjuku? And here I thought my cousin was at least competent in his job as a Sorcerer. Looks like it falls to the senior to clean up the messes of his junior once more.”
Another human capable of using Cursed Energy like those brats in UA? Ryoku feels slightly nervous at this, remembering how the last fight with one went. But this one in front of her doesn't look that strong Cursed Energy-wise, looking similar to that of Melissa Shield. As long as she doesn’t let her guard down and toy with her food, then…Where did he go?
In the blink of an eye, a large gash sliced across her body, nearly bisecting it if it wasn’t for both the thickness of her skin due to multiple protective Quirks and instinctual reinforcement of Cursed Energy around her torso.
Purple blood spilt out of her wounds and was coughed out as she stumbled backwards, stunned at the speed and force behind the blade. She quickly turned and raised her left arm towards him, about to activate her Quirks before she realised it was nearly severed clean off.
And worse, a strange sensation was emanating from the wounds as she felt dazed. Poison?
“Here I was worried over nothing. Special Grade or not, a Curse is a Curse, and can be exorcised.” he says as the strange blade draws in the blood on the floor and hardens, effectively increasing the blade’s length, “Especially for such a young Cursed Spirit.”
“...sh*t,” she mutters to herself in anticipation for what was going to happen.
***
“So the same Curse responsible for the murders in Shinjuku is also one of the villains responsible for the USJ.” Shinya says, sounding unnerved, “The fact that a Special Grade Cursed Spirit is cooperating with human villains spells trouble. A group like the League of Villains is likely to possess numerous resources, and this Ryoku has immense power with the ability to take Quirks. A troubling combination indeed.”
“So the reason Hagurake lost her Quirk and Kirishima his arm was because of this Curse?” Kyoka asks, sounding angry, “Isn’t this something people should know about? I mean, Ryoku could have easily killed them!”
“It’s very simple, the less people know about Cursed Spirits the better.” Shinya explains, “There are not many Quirkless people left but if word gets out about Cursed Spirits then it would be trouble. Curses can only be born from the Quirkless, as they are capable of generating low levels of Cursed Energy. If they find out it could create an immense fear towards all things Curse-related, creating a Curse of Curses. If that isn’t enough we can be looking at a similar situation to the Dark Age of Quirks, a minority possessing strange powers not understood by the masses. And we all know how that goes.”
Izuku feels a bit of dread at the image. Imagine that instead of the Dark Age of Quirks with the Quirkless against the Quirks, it was the other way around.
“But that was a long time ago.” Kyoka insists, “People are smarter than that now.”
“A person? Definitely. People? Unlikely.” he shakes his head, “The masses panic easily at things they don’t understand. And even if they become aware, what could they possibly do? A Quirk may harm a Cursed Spirit but cannot be exorcised. They will simply reform. I do not have enough Cursed Tools to arm every Pro Hero in Japan, and less than five are actually capable of denting a Special Grade. No difference will occur whether they know of Curses or not.”
“I…guess that makes sense,” Kyoka admits although still not comfortable with the idea of keeping something this big hidden.
“I think it’s best for everyone if Curses aren’t made public.” Izuku nods in agreement with Shinya, before wondering, “But…what if they find the League? The Heroes would be helpless against Ryoku.”
Shinya agreed, “Yes, at best they would only drive her off with tremendous casualties. But fret not, I will keep a close eye and ear on the investigation. When I find anything you’ll be the first to know. You will assemble all the Sorcerers you know of, and then we can exorcise this Curse together.”
He says with a clench of his fist before his eyes go to the sleeping Eri in Kyoka’s arms, “Although I doubt she will be part of our efforts, correct?”
“Absolutely not,” Izuku said firmly and without room for argument before Kyoka could speak up. He remembers the nightmares he had ever since his first Curse, and the corpse that lay there, “I’ve seen what being a Sorcerer entails. She’s seen enough. If she wants to be one when she’s older it’s her choice, but I’m not forcing her to fight, especially someone as young as her.”
“Of course. But I had to be sure.” he nods in approval, “Still, I would recommend she be at least trained in her Technique. If she truly unleashed an Incomplete Domain on pure instinct alone it makes her dangerous to those around her.”
“Right, that…” Izuku sighed, feeling a headache growing, “We need to find a place for her also. The last one literally blew up in our face.”
“I can bring her back to my place. My parents might have a lot of questions, but I think I can work something out.” Kyoka suggests, although with a look of concern on her face. It was clear that she bore some hesitation, unsure of the chances Eri could unleash another Domain by accident.
Before they can discuss this further, Shinya clears his throat.
“If I may…” he pauses to get their attention before speaking, “I may have a solution to your problems. Place her under my care.”
“What?” the two of them ask, surprised at the offer.
“It is evident you two possess means to care for her, but may risk leaking the knowledge of Curses to the public through your families.” he explains, “I am already aware of this world of Curses, and thus carry no risk. Also, although I am not a user of Cursed Techniques, I have studied many of the theories involved and can at least help her through her training.”
Kyoka looks at Izuku unsure and he shares her look. It wasn’t a bad offer, this was the fifth greatest Pro Hero in the country after all, and a fellow Sorcerer as well. He was keeping secrets from them, but weren’t they as well?
“I see you have your reservations.” Shinya notices but doesn’t sound offended, “Obviously, no matter my reputation we only just met today. There is a private room you can use to discuss and for the young lady to rest.”
***
“I think he’s the best choice.” Kyoka says as she sets down Eri on a couch in one of the rooms in Edgeshot’s Hero Agency, “I mean, if you wanna keep this Jujutsu gig of yours a secret, it’s better to hand it to someone who’s in the know and can help her with it. Imagine if she had used that Domain thing while you weren’t here.”
Izuku falls silent at that, looking ashamed at himself. He failed to consider Eri losing control of her Technique in such a way when leaving her with Kyoka and her family. What would have happened if her Domain was a lethal one?
“...I’m sorry.” he says softly but Kyoka heard it perfectly fine thanks to her Quirk, “I should have told you about everything. You should have known what you were signing up for.”
“...You’re right about that.” Kyoka mutters, not turning to face him, before mimicking his voice, “Oh hey, one more thing, this girl you’re taking care of for me has the tendency to create pocket dimensions that mess with time and put people into short-term comas. Would’ve been neat to know beforehand.”
“...I didn’t know until just now.” he weakly defended himself before sighing, “I should have trusted you, told you the whole story. If something had happened, if she accidentally activated while with you…I’m sorry. I put you in danger.”
He struggles to find words that can convey how he feels. Kyoka sighs, knowing that he was kicking himself over it, and really didn’t mean her or her family harm. And nothing happened to them anyway, she should just be glad for that.
“I would’ve agreed anyway.” Kyoka says, surprising Izuku as she caresses the sleeping Eri’s hair, “You want to know why I want to be a Hero? It’s because I want to make people smile, whether it's with music or by saving them. When you brought her to my place I could tell she’s had it rough, and I wanted to do my best and help her smile. I just didn’t know it would be that rough.”
Izuku once again felt like kicking himself, “Yeah…I should have checked first. Damn it! I was an idiot. I just thought being with her mother would make her happy. I should have looked into it more…I let her down.”
Kyoka was silent for a bit before answering, “I guess we both did. Now we’re going to drop her off again with someone we literally just met? I know he’s one of the country’s greatest Heroes and a big shot or something in Sorcerer stuff, but it feels like we’re running away from our mistakes.”
Before Izuku could respond, Gojo’s mouth grew on his cheek and spoke, “Well if you want to hear my two cents, I say let her stay with him.”
“Gojo-sensei?!” Izuku nearly jumps in surprise, “Wha-? Why didn’t you say anything just now?”
“Well, you wanted to keep this secret from this Edgeshot guy for now, right?” Gojo asks rhetorically, “And you still haven’t got around your ‘Answering-out-loud’ problem, did you?”
“I…fair point.” Izuku concedes as the reincarnated Sorcerer continues,
“Trust me, I was just as surprised as you are that Kamo Clan survived. I mean, Kamo? My Clan was pretty alright all things considered, and they still apparently got wiped out the past century or so. But Kamo survives? Seriously?” Gojo rants, sounding confused at the prospect, before Kyoka gets his attention.
“Hey, back on the topic.” she snaps him back to attention, “What do you mean we should leave Eri with him?”
“Well, that we should leave Eri with him.” Gojo repeats, “Hand her with either of your parents, you’re gonna have lots of explaining to do if she ever pulls a Domain again, and Midoriya, you have no idea how to counter Domains yet. We risk drawing more people into our little secret, and you know the old saying about loose lips.”
Izuku nods at that, clenching his fist in frustration at his own weakness leading to his inability to care for Eri.
“He’s right…” Izuku sighs, “I can’t stop a Domain now, but Edgeshot seems to know what he’s doing. He’s gotta have some training on how to stop them or something.”
“I guess I can see your point.” Kyoka nods at that, “It’s safer for everyone to have someone who knows what they’re doing take care of her.”
“...But that isn’t our choice.” Izuku says after some thought, surprising both of them as he looks to the unconscious Eri, “There’s still one last person we need to ask.”
***
Ryoku smashes through the door of the apartment to avoid another slash from the Cursed Tool while at the same time throwing a couple of marbles behind her as she limps away, forced to lean against the walls while escaping due to wounds sustained by both the blades and poison affecting her.
“sh*t, sh*t, sh*t!” Ryoku curses as she limps away, while she would hate expending two valuable Quirks, especially this low on reserves, she had no choice. At the very least they should buy her-
A severed head of a Quirk Monstrosity was thrown across the hallway and in front of her, landing with a thud before disintegrating.
“...sh*t.” She slowly turns to find her attacker looking utterly unharmed or winded at all, dragging his blade behind him and scraping the floor.
“You must be feeling its effect by now.” he says as he raises his blood-coated blade and points at her, “My Technique allows me to use my blood as a poison against Cursed Spirits. This blade I wield has unique properties that allow me to manipulate foreign blood it touches as if it were my own."
“Jeez, awfully kind of you to tell me about your Technique, isn’t it?” she asks, trying to sound confident when in actuality she was panicking and racking her head to figure out what to do next. She needed to buy more time, “You know since you’re doing that, can you tell me every last detail?”
Suddenly the door next to her opened up, and a woman curious at the strange noise she was hearing outside her room went to investigate, and find the two facing off against each other. Before she can flee, Ryoku snags her by the neck and holds her in front as a shield.
“Hey, hey! Unless you want to know what this girl’s Quirk looks like tearing up her own body, I suggest you drop the blade, asshole!” Ryoku barks out, exhilarated by her stroke of luck. To her joy the man seems to listen, looking at her for a brief moment before stabbing his sword to the ground.
“Great! Now-?” she tries to order but then he clasps his palm together and points at her,
“Piercing Blood: Quick Shot.” he chants before a spear of compressed blood bursts out from his clasped palms, striking through the woman’s head and killing her instantly. The spear of blood pierces through and Ryoku narrowly twists her head in time so instead of going straight through her skull, it pierces through her cheeks.
While this happens she kicks the corpse towards her assailant while using her Technique, turning her Quirk into a Monstrosity that tears through the cadaver and leaps onto her attacker while his blade is dropped.
She quickly stumbles into the open room and rushes towards the apartment’s kitchen, reaching for the stoves and flipping on the gas. But midway her hand freezes as her body begins freezing up and shaking, cursing under her breath as it slumps back over the kitchen counter and sliding downwards.
“Crap…” she mutters as she hears footsteps enter the room, “Gotta say, this blood’s a pretty good poison.”
“It’s even more effective since I revealed my Technique’s inner workings to you.” the man explains as he walks up to her, pointing the tip of his blade at her throat, “I don’t usually do this, but meeting a Cursed Spirit capable of speech isn’t something that happens every day. What would be the last words of such a monster, I wonder?”
Ryoku coughs out purple blood that is contaminated with the human’s poisonous red blood, “Well…I’d say you killed that human rather easily and quickly…I thought you Cursed Energy humans would be the heroic type. The ones I met certainly were.”
He scoffs, “Please. She was obviously dead the moment you touched her, wasn’t she?”
Ryoku smirks with blood dripping from the corner of her mouth, “Well yeah, but you could’ve shown a bit of hesitation could you?”
He raises his sword, aimed at her neck. But before it could swing down he sniffs and notices the scent of gas filling the room. At that moment, Ryoku retched and out from her throat came a glowing red marble which she bit down on hard just as the blade swung downwards.
Chapter 18: Cursed Revelations Pt 2
Notes:
Quality of today's chapter is a little off and got it done in rush and while I was sick with COVID.
Chapter Text
“Clever…” the Curse-wielding swordsman grunts as he pushes himself off the floor, looking around the exploded apartment. The sheer explosive power from that red marble combined with the gas created an explosion that spread through the entire floor, demolishing a few walls and likely injuring and killing a few inhabitants.
Fortunately, he had protected himself with Cursed Energy reinforcement at the last minute, although he was annoyed he wasted time talking instead of cutting the Cursed Spirit’s head off the chance he had.
“You’re still here aren’t you?” he asks as he paces around the wrecked room, kicking over the wrecked remains of a table, “You can’t have gone that far with both your wounds and my blood poisoning you. So you’re likely still here. Invisible then? You turned that poor woman’s Quirk into some kind of monster, and you summoned similar ones with those marbles…I take it your Technique has something to do with manipulation of Quirks?”
Ryoku bites her tongue before tapping her Cursed Corpse’s throat. Since in normal circ*mstances a Spirit like her can’t talk to normal humans, she got a sound generation Quirk and modified it to allow her to speak. With a few further modifications, she had her voice resemble that of an echo.
“Got me in one.” she says as she focuses her Cursed Energy on maintaining the invisibility Quirk of Touru Hagurake, and healing her body at the same time while purging the poisonous blood, “And with all those swords, red and black, I take it you must be the infamous Hero Killer? Didn’t know you hunt my kind as a hobby.”
“It is a duty. A familial obligation.” The Hero Killer grumbles as he paces around the room, searching for her, trying to pin down her voice, “Curses were of no threat to society, so I turned my attention to fixing it by ridding it of corrupt Heroes. My Clan disagreed with my ideas and we came into conflict, but I still carry out my duty whenever I can.”
“I don’t suppose you can let me go then?” Ryoku asks half-heartedly as she plots her way out of this mess, “We’re both villains after all. I’m working this thing out with the League of Villains. You heard of us, right? We’re the hot new thing, working on trying to kill the Symbol of peace, bring chaos, yada yada yada and all that crap. What do you say? Honour among thieves or something, am I right?”
Ryoku suppresses a grunt before she looks down at her wounds and at the Hero Killer, who is blocking her way out. If she makes a move he’ll hear her footsteps and come down on her swords blazing. Worst of all, her wounds aren’t healing that well thanks to the blood interfering.
He scoffs, “All the more reason to kill you. A Curse collaborating with villains? Planning on murdering the Symbol of Peace? One of the few true heroes?!” he roars, slicing half the room with his Cursed blade, the blood on it lashing out like a whip before returning, “I’ll have additional targets after this then. The rest of this so-called League.”
…Well she’d celebrate by throwing a thorn in All for One’s path, but she’d rather celebrate while alive. With a grimace she detached her arm but not before sending a simple command for it to crawl away.
“Besides, even if I do let you go, what’s the point?” he scoffs at her request while keeping his heightened senses out for any sign of movement. Whatever invisibility Quirk she was using was blocking her Cursed Energy like aluminium foils blocking signals in a Faraday cage. He has to depend on his eyes and ears instead.
“You’re a Curse. Something that only exists to kill humans.” he growls, “You offer nothing at all to this world but pain and misery. Existing only for yourself is why Curses are doomed to fail. You have no conviction besides your base desire for carnage and destruction. My conviction is far stronger, and that is why this battle will end with your death.”
“...” Ryoku was silent at his accusations. She wasn’t going to say he was wrong, she relished doing what she did but some of his words pressed buttons she didn’t know she had, pissing her off. What did this human know about her exactly?
Her invisible detached hand then knocks over some rubble, instantly getting his attention as he leaps towards the direction of the noise. Now was her chance!
Ryoku instantly makes a break for it while his back is turned but then she hears him chant again while crouching, his blade suddenly sheathed to a scabbard on his waist.
“New Shadow Style: Blood Sickle!” a blue circle emerged from his legs as he swung his blade around at speeds faster than she could track, but she was out of range. However hitting with the blade wasn’t his intention, as the crystalised blood coating the blade suddenly liquified and launched out from the speed of his quickdraw, creating a scythe-like blade of blood.
A combination of the New Shadow Style Batto Sword Drawing technique and his own Blood Manipulation. The blood blade sliced into Ryoku’s side, cursing as she dashed out of the room hoping to get some distance and purge the poisonous blood before it took effect but then the Hero Killer chanted again,
“There’s now enough blood in you…” he creates a hand sign with one arm and chants, “Extension Technique: Red Resonance.”
Inside Ryoku, the poisonous blood suddenly spreads across her body immediately, converging into several condensed orbs in parts such as the wrist, shoulder, legs and neck before exploding into spikes of blood that tear at them all. Instantly her movement was incapacitated and she fell over in the hallway, paralysed.
“...sh*t,” she mutters to herself as the Hero Killer catches up and raises his blade to stab at her head. Immediately she spits out another marble while detaching her head, morphing it into a small Monstrosity that picks up her detached head and carries it off just as the blade struck where it was previously.
But then before it could get far it was cut in half, instantly destroying it and the Hero Killer crouched once more, the blue circle growing from his feet once again as he sheathed his blade.
“New Shadow Style: Batto-!” he chants but then his eyes widen as Ryoku’s mouth glows red and unleashes a beam of energy at him, forcing him to draw his blade to protect himself instead. The force of the blast was strong enough to knock him back a bit, and the recoil sent Ryoku’s head flying in the opposite direction.
“Damn Curse,” he growls under his breath but before he can recover, the emergency exit behind him bursts down with dozens and dozens of Monstrosities pouring out.
“Surprised?” Ryoku mocks as the Monstrosities swarmed and piled over him, with excess Monstrosities rushing to her and carrying her body and head with them on their way out, “Humans panic easily, so the moment they hear a big bang they’d rush out of the nearest exit. We’re on the third floor of an apartment building with six, guess where I had my hand waiting?”
The Monstrosities tear out the blood spikes from her body before reattaching her head while being carried out, “Ah that’s more like it. Onwards! Let’s get out of here-”
Before they could get far, she felt a large output of Cursed Energy erupt from where the Hero Killer was being dogpilled by her monstrosities. Instantly the torn-up apartment floor was replaced by another environment.
The carpeted hallways were replaced by pure black and the walls around them disappeared. They were now stuck between walls of stone like inside a mountain gorge. She hears the sound of liquid splashing and looks down to see her Monstrosities carrying her down a river of blood. All the while drops of blood rain from the heavens from invisible clouds.
“Domain Expansion: Bloody Stream.”
The river of blood roars and washes over them, restraining and pulling them down, holding them in place. Each drop of rain became a sharp needle, flying at such speeds that shredded through both her and her Monstrosities like tissue paper. No matter how much she reinforced her Cursed Corpse, the effect remained the same.
The rain of blood tears through the Monstrosities dogpilling the Hero Killer as well, leaving him unharmed as they splashed harmlessly on his body while hardened blood crystals ripped his foes to shreds.
“...Well, sh*t.” she mutters realising how f*cked this situation was for her, “This is a barrier, isn’t it? I didn’t know you could imbue them with your Cursed Technique.”
“A Domain Expansion, the Pinnacle of Curses.” The Hero Killer walks up to her and points his blade at her throat, “Now tell me, where is this League of Villains located? Any villains that work with Curses willingly and aim to kill the Symbol of Peace cannot exist. Tell me and I will kill you painlessly.”
“...” Ryoku remains silent, but not exactly out of loyalty. She’d love a chance to screw over All for One, but not at the cost of her life. And also, this guy just pisses her off.
“Here’s a clue…” she groaned out, “Take that stick out your back…should give you enough room to shove your head in and look them up your-!”
The rain of blood shifts due to his Blood Manipulation, forming into chains that wrapped all over her body before pulling hard, tearing her limb from limb until all that remained was a head on a flayed torso with a single, mangled arm.
“...ass.” Ryoku finishes with a drawl. She guessed this was it for her then? There was no way out of this as far as she could see. Whether she answers or not she’s dead, and it wasn’t like she knew exactly where they were, her only way both in and out was through Kurogiri. In other words, she was doomed to be tortured until she died.
…Well it was fun while it lasted, wasn’t it? She saw a lot of cool Quirks, she killed a couple people in pretty funny ways and…what else did she do in the short span of life she was given? She…she joined the League of Villains, but how did that end up?
Nearly dying and losing most of her Quirks. Working under an asshole who lords himself over her like he was superior, with that condescending and patronising smirk of his. Sending her back and forth like a lapdog in his service with the promise of treats.
And now she was gonna be killed by this pompous asshole… A pompous asshole that was right about one thing. She hasn’t done enough yet, there is so much left to do before she kicks the bucket. She’d been thinking too small, in her little bubble only caring about surviving and collecting Quirks, that’s why she was losing against these humans with Cursed Energy.
Like the Hero Killer said. She lacked conviction. She needed to be hungrier. Greedier.
“...heh.” she chuckles, a funny thought coming into mind before bursting into full-blown laughter, “HAHAHAHAHAHA!”
“What the hell is so funny?” he asks as he slashes her across the cheek with his blade, “Do you find certain death amusing, Curse?”
“For others? Yep. For me? Not really.” she chuckles, “I just find it funny, near death's giving me a lot to think about. Chances are slim, but I can't say I didn’t at least try.”
To his confusion, she raises a hand into a sign before he realises what she is going for. His disbelief stalled him for half a second before his blade stabbed into her skull and aimed at her brain, cutting through it in an instant.
But what he didn't know was that she possessed a Cursed Corpse, and as long as her core was stable it didn’t matter what kind of damage occurred to the Corpse, she would live. Long enough for her to attempt what could very well be her last act,
“Domain Expansion…”
***
“...And we’re done.” Shinya nods as Izuku finishes signing the parchment scroll with a drop of his own blood, with Shinya’s name written as well as his own blood. This scroll had a couple talismans plastered on it with wax seals, intent on replicating a Binding Vow via more physical means.
“Now Eri, please?” Shinya asks, holding out a pen with a sharp tip towards the young girl. Izuku takes it as Eri nervously offers her hand, letting Izuku prick the thumb for a small drop of blood. After which she uses it to sign her own name on the scroll.
“So this is how Binding Vows are sworn nowadays?” Izuku asks Shinya, voicing Gojo's question for him as the scroll is lit up with Cursed Energy, setting it ablaze as it burns to ashes.
“So…this is some kind of blood contract then?” Kyoka asks, confused at the small ritual they just performed, Eri looks on with curiosity in her eyes.
“Somewhat. In days when Cursed Energy was more prevalent, they would swear Vows with each other based on mutual benefits that if broken would see the breaker in fates worse than death. With the rise of Quirks, precautions have to be made as Binding Vows aren’t that effective to those without Cursed Energy.” Shinya explains, “Now our pact is sealed. Eri is now under my protection, I shall protect, care and train her like she is of my own blood. I shall not knowingly or willingly put her in harm's way, and if any try to lay a hand on her I shall fight with all my might to keep her safe.”
Eri walks up to him nervous before bowing, “It’s…it’s nice to meet you, sir.”
“My name is Shinya Kamihara, young lady.” he responds while bowing back, “You may call me that, or by my Hero name, Edgeshot. Whichever suits your preferences.”
He turns back to Izuku, “Even weakened I can still sense her Cursed Energy’s power. Truly there is terrifying power in this girl.”
Eri flinches at that and seeing this, Shinya immediately backpedals, “I meant that as a compliment! I mean that you have a lot of potential in terms of power, Eri.”
Eri awkwardly accepts his apology before asking, “If…if I do that thing again by accident, you won’t get hurt right?”
“You mean your Domain?” Shinya smirks, “Believe me child, I’ve been practising ways to protect oneself against a Domain for a long time. Especially after-”
He cuts himself off before continuing, “Rest assured, I have my methods. And with the ancient writing I have in my possession we will make sure you will be able to effectively control your abilities. And I’m sure Midoriya will be more than happy to help where they can’t.”
“He’s right.” Izuku kneels to her eye level and gives her a smile, “I’ll come every day like I promised, to check up on you. I won’t leave you alone ever again, Eri.”
Eri nods trying to look confident, “R-right. And I’ll train every day to learn how to use my Technique. I won’t hurt anyone ever again. I’ll use it to help people like you.”
“That’s a good goal to have, Eri.” Kyoka smiles at her, “I hope you don’t mind, I'll be checking in on you from time to time also right?”
Izuku gives her a proud smile as he pats her head, “I’m sure you’ll be a great Hero one day, Eri. Maybe even the greatest.”
Before the two could leave, Shinya stopped them and handed a long rectangular case towards Kyoka,
“Here, you are involved in our little world of Curses now. It would be best to at least arm you with the necessary tools for self-defence.” he says as Kyoka curiously takes it from his hands and opens it, “It won’t do much against a Special Grade, but anything lower and it would hold its own.”
“Thanks? But what is-?” she asks before her eyes widened at the contents, “Whoa! Is this a Gibson Flying V?!”
She whips out a red V-shaped guitar from the case in surprise as Shinya nods,
“A Cursed Tool from an old era. It channels Cursed Energy through music played.” he explains, “Perhaps you’ll put it to better use than I could. Never learned how to play anyway. Take care of it, young Jirou.”
“...I will,” Kyoka says, stunned at the valuable gift before putting it back into its container.
“Huh, never thought I’d see that thing again.”Gojo mutters in Izuku’s head as he stares at the old guitar, but before Izuku can ask he shrugs him off,“Nothing, just belonged to an old fossil back in my days.”
“And you, Midoriya.” he tosses a flip phone towards Izuku who catches it on reflex, “When I need to contact you regardinguniquecases. As allies now, we should share the burden of exorcising Curses together, shall we not?”
“Wait, so you’re saying we could be working together?!” Izuku asks, nervous at the fact he could be working with a top-ranking hero like Edgeshot, “I mean, I’m still a first year in UA.”
“I’ve seen your work on the Shie Hassaikai.” he explains with a smile behind his mask, “Forgive me for assuming, but I believe you may be above a first year at the moment. Farewell.”
The two teenagers leave the building, giving their last goodbyes towards Eri as they leave. Once the two were at the entrance Izuku heard Kyoka stop walking behind him, causing him to stop as well,
“I…guess you’re still thinking about everything?” Izuku asks, turning to face her as she looks away slightly.
“Yeah…” she nods hesitantly, “Sorry but, you don’t hear about evil spirits existing around the world every day. Or that one of your best friends’s got some reincarnated nutjob in his head that talks through a mouth on his cheek! Or that the girl you’ve been babysitting for a whole week could’ve pulled you into another reality that messes with time itself!”
She yells the last part before pinching the bridge of her nose and sighing, “Sorry, it’s just…it’s been a very long day. I’d like to go home for now and process everything that’s happened, okay?”
“I…guess I can understand that.” Izuku nods apologetically as Kyoka walks passed him, “Do you need me to walk you home?”
“I can take care of myself, Midoriya.” she says before poking an earjack at his chest, “Besides from what I know, you’re about to be pretty busy aren’t you? Sun’s going down and apparently these Curses things come out at night?”
Izuku looks at the time and realises she was right. He nods quietly and she shrugs,
“So…good luck I guess?” she says, sounding unsure before walking off, “I’ll see you in class, try not to die fighting monsters or something.”
“Well, on the bright side, you didn’t scare her off too much.”Gojo suddenly speaks up from within his mind once they are alone,“And hey, chin up, at least this all turned out good in the end.”
“It almost ended in a disaster.” Izuku sighs, “I could have gotten a civilian killed, I put Eri in danger, and I accidentally dragged Jirou into all this! It’s all my fault.”
“Well…won’t hear any arguments from me.”Gojo shrugs,“You screwed up, but hey, we all screw up sometimes. What can you do about it? Just be happy all well that ends well. Eri’s now with someone who can take care of her and be safe from her Technique, if what he said wasn’t all bluster, and we’ve made major steps into rediscovering what happened to Jujutsu Society.”
“What do you think of Edgeshot?” Izuku asks out of curiosity and Gojo shrugs,
“Eh, who knows?”he shrugs,“Seems trustworthy. The Kamo and Gojo Clans weren’t exactly enemies anyway, we had a pretty good relationship at least compared to Zen’in. But those guys were assholes. Like real assholes. Imagine an entire clan made up of Katsuki Bakugous, jeez just the thought gives me shivers. Be glad they went extinct.”
Izuku sweatdrops at the image of a dozen Katsuki Bakugous screaming at each other on how each of them was the strongest and everyone else was weaker than them. And then the whole group began fighting each other for dominance and killing each other.
“...Are you sure you’re not exaggerating?” he asks Gojo.
“More or less.”Gojo vaguely answers before thinking to himself and staring at Izuku’s hair,“...You know there was at least one Zen’in survivor. She had green hair.”
“I don’t think hair colour is enough of a criterion to be related.” Izuku sweat drops again, “That would feel completely ridiculous.”
“Probably right.”Gojo shrugs before clapping his hands,“Now, back to business. We both have a lead now, don’t we?”
“We do.” Izuku nods as he pulls out his phone to call Melissa, “Shield, it’s me. We have a lead on where Ryoku might have been. Take the first train to Shinjuku.”
***
“Look, it’s so weird right?” a teenage boy with black hair asks as the girl kneeling next to him pokes at a three-legged cat with a wooden plank they found in the alleyway. The animal was starved, flesh clinging around its ribs as it let out a dry meow from his parched throat.
“It looks pretty funny, how do you think it lost that leg?” the girl asks as she pokes at it more, driving it limping into a corner before it hisses at them, acid droplets spitting out and splashing her shoes, “Oh my god, I just got these!”
“Hey, that’s a cat with a Quirk?!” the boy asks excitedly, “Holy sh*t, let’s take it back! Who knows how much we can get for it?!”
The girl looks angry, “That little bitch just ruined my shoes! Do you know how expensive they were?!”
She raises the plank to smack it as the boy struggles to hold her back, “Calm down! Think of how many pairs you can get with-?”
“Hey...” a voice mutters from behind them, turning to find a horrifying sight. A flayed human body missing all her limbs except for an arm used to pull herself towards them. Flesh all across her body was torn up, ruptured stomach and intestines leaking from her bisected body, leaving strange purple blood as a trail.
“Holy sh*t!” the boy exclaims, taking a step back in horror, “My god, lady do you need an ambulance or something?!”
“Look at her, idiot! She looks like she’s a zombie or something!” the girl exclaims, leaping back in disgust at the sight, “Don’t come any closer, freak!”
“...Your leg…looks like a good enough fit…” the Ryoku mutters before suddenly leaping forward. In the blink of an eye, she launches onto and grasps the face of the boy, instantly manipulating his Quirk. Some kind of water generation ability, so she used it to fill his inside with so much water he burst like a balloon.
“W-what…?” the girl blinked in shock at the sudden sigh before screaming and making a break for it, pushing Ryoku aside as she ran. However, she slips on the pile of gore left by the boy, falling headfirst into the road.
She desperately tries crawling away while screaming, “Someone! Help me! Anybod-AAAAARGH!”
Ryoku while on the ground reaches over and tears off one of her legs, before attaching it to her stump,
“Finally…a proper leg to walk in…” she moans as she gives it an experimental kick, “It’ll do...now for the other one…”
“Please…” the girl pleads, going into shock from the pain as Ryoku tears out the other leg. By then she blacked out and died from the loss of blood, her last cries for help dying in her throat.
“Ahh…much better.” Ryoku moans in relief, swinging both her legs up and down, “This is gonna be a pain to repair, but hey, at least I got out of there alive.”
She looks to her side, noticing the three-legged cat carefully approaching the pool of blood and water, taking a bite out of the gore that remained and licking the puddles.
“Heh…hungry little guy aren’t you?” she chuckles as the cat hiss at her, “Hehe, chill I’m not questioning your choice of meals. Sure humans can be disgusting, but we all gotta do what we gotta do to survive, right?”
She grimaces as she looks at the Cursed Corpse of hers. Once again nearly all of her accumulated Quirks were gone in the fight with the Hero Killer, save for a handful and the invisibility Quirk.
To think that even with a Domain Expansion she could only barely escape with her life, this Hero Killer was certainly no fool like Melissa Shield was.
“Hero Killer…you’ve certainly given me a lot to think about.” she chuckles to herself getting an odd stare from the starved cat. She could sense the Quirk from the animal, some kind of weak acid generation Quirk.
The old Ryoku would’ve taken its Quirk without a second thought, but she wasn’t the old Ryoku was she? She’s made of different stuff now. Instead, she swallows the new water Quirk she just took and infuses her Cursed Corpse with it, generating a small stream of clean water from her palm and holding it out to the malnourished cat.
“Here little guy…” she coos at it, as the feline draws closer, attracted by the spring of fresh water, “You must be thirsty…”
The cat however hisses at her and Ryoku chuckles, “Oh don’t mind this meatsuit. I’m not a disgusting human…you hate them don’t you? So do I…”
The cat sniffs her offered hand as if testing that claim before drinking from her palm, gulping down hungrily until it is satisfied. At that, it then crawls up to her lap and curls into her,
“That’s it…” Ryoku smirks and pets it gently, “We’re alike aren’t we? Scrounging for scraps one after the other, day by day just content with surviving. Don’t you ever think there’s something more to life than that?”
The cat purrs under her hand as she continues, “Good, that’s good. I have plans, little guy. Big plans.”
She reaches inside her mouth and down her throat, retching out a marble of Quirk Essence from her limited stores. Something the old her definitely wouldn’t think of doing. She would have considered this a waste of a valuable Quirk. But this wasn’t a waste…this was an investment.
“And who knows?” she holds it out in front of the feline, getting their attention, “I could use a little help. What do you think? From one survivor to another.”
The cat looks at the marble curiously as Ryoku slowly and carefully presses it against its mouth, and the cat swallows it willingly.
“Good.” she smiles at the cat and continues petting it, “I can tell we’re going to be the best of friends.”
