The Hero & The Demon

Chapter 2: Power

Izuku Midoriya looked at the one who had just called out to him, a boy of about his age, with black spiky hair and bright yellow eyes. He was wearing a white T-shirt with the Kanji for "Shadow" written on it and a pair of blue jeans. Overall, he looked like a nice enough individual, so Izuku replied as best he could.

"Um, C-can I help you?" He replied. His lack of social experience certainly made his response not exactly perfect, but the other boy blew his out of the water.

"Uh, n-no. That's OK. I'll just be…going. Sorry to bother ya?" His voice sounded shaken and his face was somewhere between absolute terror and astonishment for reasons Izuku couldn't hope to comprehend. The boy then spun on his feet and began sprinting away.

Not calmly walking away, sprinting. He looked like he expected Izuku to chase him across the edge of the earth.

"Well…that happened." Was all Izuku could think to say to that. After all, how was he supposed to respond to…. Whatever just happened.

"Okay, it's official: I have finally gone crazy. My mind has finally shattered like glass. I am completely insane! I am - "

"Breath."

Kage's panic attack was interrupted by a sudden voice that seemed to echo within his head. It was a strong voice, though somewhat high pitched. Immediately, he calmed himself.

"That's better. Now, allow me to introduce myself: I am Kuryo. Before I continue, let me reassure you now. You are not insane, this is all real, and if you don't calm down and shut the hell up, then you'll never get the answers you seek. Are we clear?"

Given Kage was already apparently insane – no matter what the voice in his head, the flipping voice in his own head said – he decided that playing along would probably be his only option. He nodded, stopping his sprint to a halt.

"We're clear. So, what happens now?" He spoke to himself, desperately attempting to keep his thoughts and voice clear.

"Head to Takoba Municipal Beach Park. I'll guide you. Just do what you were doing before- sprint. I'll handle the rest." Even though the voice wasn't a physical presence, Kage could swear that he felt it was smiling. He could practically see the wide grin spread across its 'face'. He did as instructed, and black markings spread across his whole body. He felt himself speeding up. Soon, the people, the buildings, everything was a blur. He grinned. Despite not understanding anything else, he knew one thing.

This was fun!

"We're Here." The voice said as Kage reached a place that might have been a beach, if it could've been seen under all of the trash. He recognised the area, despite having never been physically present there before.

"Alright, so are you gonna explain what the hell is going on now?" Kage asked, his confusion and exhaustion merging to form the faint hint of fury that bit at tip of his tongue. "Why am I suddenly an anime character? Who the hell are you? What the hell are you, for that matter. What were those black markings? Just what the hell is going on!?" Kage's voice was raised, but he didn't care. He just needed answers.

In response, he felt a tugging inside his body. He winced in pain as he clutched his stomach, one eye threatening to close.

He watched as a sliver of silver energy slipped out from his body, connecting to a black, formless orb that grew as the trail slipped out. Eventually, the trail stopped moving and simply hung loosely, like string from a knot. The black orb in front of him began to move, pulses of blackness rising slowly from it. It grew in size and then seemed to shift until it took a humanoid form. The form stared back at him, shining yellow eyes and a grin filled with black teeth that blended with the rest of itself. It looked like a black, mostly featureless doll attempting to look human. Upon its hands were four claw-like fingers and a similar thumb, while its feet remained featureless. It was of similar size and shape to Kage's new body.

"Very well. If you are prepared to listen then I shall grant you the explanation you seek in person. I am Kuryo, Lord of the Void, and you are Darren Smythe, my newest host. Well done. It is a great honour to be bonded to the most powerful Void Demon in existence." Kuryo spoke with the same voice Kage had heard within his head, but it sounded less loud and echo-y. Kage looked in utter shock for what felt like an eternity, but what was probably just a few minutes. It took him a moment more to find his voice.

"O-ok. Sure. So, what is a 'Void Demon', exactly? And what does it have to do with me being in an anime, and ,oh yeah, not dead." Kage couldn't keep his voice from shaking but he held on to the fury it held moments earlier. He was fairly certain it was all that kept him from fainting. Kuryo's mouth twitched downwards in distaste before sighing and replying.

"A Void Demon is a being that exists between the barriers of the multiverse. We occupy the space known as the Void, hence our name. When I saw your soul drifting from your world to the afterlife, I decided that your skills would be much better spent doing something more meaningful than sitting around for the rest of time. So I plucked your soul and fused it with my own, before managing to find a convenient body. Don't worry about the morality of it all – this body was one foot through death's door already. It was trivial to restore it for our purposes." Kuryo carefully explained, making sure Kage caught every word he was saying.

Kage, for his part, was truly attempting to understand what he was being told, but found it hard to accept. After all, it truly beggared belief. Demons throughout the multiverse? Merging souls? Rebirth? It was utter nonsense. But, Kage somehow knew that no matter how absurd, it had to be true. The only alternative was insanity.

And, frankly, Kage didn't want to think he was insane. Or rather, more insane than usual.

"Skills?" Kage picked up on something Kuryo brought to his attention. "If you're looking for a skilled person, you got the wrong guy. I am aggressively average. I'm not smart, strong or really all that good at anything, really. So what skills did you see that would be 'better spent' living in an anime. And for that matter, why are we in an anime anyway? If you have access to other worlds, couldn't you have just restored me in my original world?" Kuryo seemed displeased by his words, letting out a long sigh with his eyes closed before taking a step closer to Kage to continue.

"So you didn't know. Of course. I suppose there's no way you could have been told of your Red Soul." Kage raised an eyebrow at that, but was unable to question it before Kuryo continued. "As for your original world, my abilities would have aroused far too much suspicion, to say nothing of you coming back from the dead. By the time your soul was close enough for me to intercept, your body was already confirmed dead. Time passes differently in the Void after all. So, I searched your mind and found this place. With this world in its current state, my powers would blend right in and you could make use of them to amount to something less 'aggressively average' than you once were. This brings me onto the most important part: My powers, and how you can use them." Kuryo paused, letting his answers sink in to Kage's mind. Kage hesitantly nodded in understanding; this was starting to make sense now.

"Alright, I'll bite: what exactly are my new powers?" Kage beckoned Kuryo to continue. For a moment, a grimace seemed to form over Kuryo's face, but it quickly vanished. The distaste in his voice, however, did not.

"That, is something that is better explained with a demonstration. Which was inevitable, I suppose. I'm sure you noticed the pain when we separated, and the line of energy connecting us, yes?" Kage nodded, taking notice of the faint throbbing pain in his body, and the silver strand of energy that still hung loosely between them. Despite its apparent looseness, Kage instinctively knew that there was no chance of it ever breaking.

"That energy is known as our Soul-Bond. It's what keeps our souls combined and stable. Were we to ever fully separate, we would both be instantly, and painfully, killed." A breath hitched in Kage's throat. "Even small amounts of separation will cause pain and prove detrimental. So for now, I recommend we re-combine. As the host, your control naturally overrides mine unless you will otherwise, so you will have to initiate the merging." Kuryo explained quickly. Kage raised an eyebrow.

"How do I-?" Kage began, but suddenly, instinct took over his body and he spread his arms out wide. The silver trail leaking out from his body and towards Kuryo was reeled in like a fishing line, and Kuryo's form was forced back into a small orb of glistening shadows. It was rather unsettling to watch.

Kage let out a breath of exertion as the process completed itself. Idly, he noticed just how much better his body felt now that Kuryo was back within his form. A grin spread across his face.

"Impressive." Kuryo's voice came back in his head, restored to its usual loud echo. "Most hosts take more time to adapt to the merging process. You're the second host that didn't require any explanation. Perhaps this will be even more interesting than I thought." Kage's smile increased, though with it came another raised eyebrow. How many hosts had Kuryo had?

"Seven." Kage jumped slightly as Kuryo answered without prompting. "Don't be so surprised. In this state, I have access to your thoughts. To a limited extent. I can't scan through all of your memories, and thoughts you seek to keep private are usually blocked off to me, but open thoughts are often accessible." Kage nodded in understanding.

"So, about our superpowers?" Kage prompted. Kuryo seemed to grin from within his mind.

"I was hoping you'd say that." Kuryo seemed much more enthused than he had been throughout the rest of the conversation. Kage was practically shaking in anticipation. Demonic powers were the sort of thing that would get anyone excited.

"Your human body and mind can only contain a few of my many abilities." Kuryo seemed to explain and gloat simultaneously, drawing some slight ire from his apparent host.

"The main abilities that will prove most useful to you will be Enhancement, Energy Manipulation and Construct Manipulation. There are a few others that you may be able to access with minimal risk, but we're going to start with the easy ones. Let's begin with Enhancement." Kage nodded.

"Alright, I'll see what I can do. Tell me if I'm doing it wrong or anything." Kage said as his smile calmed into a more focused and determined smirk. He closed his eyes, and focused his mind.

He felt a strong energy inside of himself. It was hard to explain, but it felt like a bubbling pool of energy, with it being mostly focused at his lower chest. He tried his best, and reached out towards the power. Once he felt himself close enough to touch the pool, he felt it rise to meet his hands. He gasped as his eyes opened, to find black markings adorning his arms.

The markings were a series of intricate lines, laid out in an angular pattern that reminded Kage of the lines of circuitry on a motherboard. As he observed the lines, he could feel the energy within, making him stronger than he could imagine.

"That is the power of Enhancement. I suppose since you used it earlier, it would be easy for you to grasp." As he spoke, Kage could feel that Kuryo's 'eyes' were wide, as though he was shocked with just how suddenly Kage had managed to use his new power.

"I'm sure I don't need to tell you that this power improves you strength to absurd degrees, easily going into superhuman levels. Even with you in control, you still wield great power. Without any enemies, I can't give you any sense of scale, but I'm sure you can gauge it for yourself in due time." Kage nodded quickly to himself. Well, technically to Kuryo, but it was really himself since they were merged. At least, he thought so. It was hard to tell.

"Stay focused." Kuryo reminded him. Kage looked at his arms, in time to see the markings flicker for a moment before stabilising. "You're still new at this, so a great deal of focus will be required for even the most basic uses of your powers. You'll have to work on that. For now, let me teach you your next power: Energy Manipulation."

"Alright, how do I use that one?" Kage asked quietly.

"You feel the energy in your arms? Try pushing that power out into the palm of your hand. Once you've managed that, attempt to force it outwards. Think you can do that?" Kuryo spoke with a voice that clearly showed that he didn't in fact expect Kage to manage that. Kage simply nodded.

"I've got this." He whispered to himself focusing his mind. Yet again, he envisioned the bubbling pool of power, this time with a thin river pouring out to his arms. He clenched his teeth and attempted to force the energy out from his hands. It took him longer than his Enhancement, but after a few minutes, he could feel the energy leak out from his hand. Opening his eyes, he saw that a small orb had formed, floating above his right palm.

"You're not half bad at this." Kuryo gave him some small praise. Kage decided not to pay him much mind. He pointed his hand at a nearby pile of trash, focusing on a broken microwave. He attempted to reach out and push at the ball of energy with his mind. The orb shot out, becoming a thin cylindrical blast of black power, shooting clean through the microwave, as well as a large pile of trash behind it. The blast seemed to dissipate as it reached the end. Kage simply stared out in shock.

"Whoa." He said, because there was nothing more he could really say to that. After all, what could be said to firing a powerful black laser through a huge pile of metal? Kage didn't have an answer. Kuryo, who was likely more used to this sort of behaviour, didn't seem all that impressed.

"If you can wipe that dumbstruck expression of you face for a moment," Kuryo interrupted Kage's awe, gaining his eager attention. "We still have one more ability to go through before we're done here." Kage nodded. If he was remembering correctly, the next and final power they would be going over was Construct Manipulation.

"Correct." Kuryo answered him. "If you managed the others, this one should be a piece of cake. Just start with what you did for your energy blast. Once you have the orb of energy, try moulding it into something, instead of firing it. It can be anything you want. A sword, a book, a brick, anything." Kuryo's explanation struck Kage with a hint of inspiration.

"A sword, huh?" Kage grew yet another grin on his face. He idly wondered how many times he would make that expression today. The current guess was infinity times two.

"Trace on." Kage quoted, managing to form a rather nice looking one handed blade in his left hand. It was black, with a hexagonal pattern across the blade. His grin blew up into a euphoric smile.

"Yes! I have always wanted to do that!" Kage yelled excitedly. He took a basic sword stance, and attempted a few slashes in the air. He could feel the blade rippling with power, just like his blast.

"Huh, that actually did something." Kage raised an eyebrow at his companion's words. "That incantation, I mean." He clarified. "Try not to get too excited, but that line alone has fractionally improved the structural integrity of the blade. In other words, you just made a better blade through a reference. I don't know whether that's supposed to be impressive or pathetic."

"Both. How about both." Kage said, in a matter of fact fashion. It was then that a small glint appeared in his eyes. "Wait, if that improved the blade, does that mean I could -?!" Kuryo interrupted him.

"We are not doing the UBW. The amount of energy to achieve something of that level would cause too much bodily harm. Maybe if I was in control, but you stand no chance."

"Aw, you're no fun." Kage adopted a mock pout of despair on his face. Deactivating his power, his sword dissipated into tiny fragments that retreated into his hand, disappearing into him. Suddenly, he felt tired enough to collapse.

And so, he collapsed onto the sandy beach, and fell unconscious, another smile upon his face.

"Goodnight for now, Host. Enjoy your sweet dreams while they last."

"They will fade away soon enough."

A.N: Sorry for the wait. I'm not great at updating. I had a lot of fun working on this chapter, so I hope you all enjoy reading it just as much. Future chapters may not be quite as long as this one, as lots of exposition was needed, but I hope I managed to keep it engaging.

I mean, I'd be a pretty bad writer if I managed to make Demonic Superpowers boring, now wouldn't I?

Sincerely,

Lord Terronus

P.S: In case you don't know what 'UBW' is, it's a reference to Fate/ Stay Night. If you do get the references in this chapter, then firstly, Hope you enjoyed and Secondly, I didn't bring it up for nothing.