I don't own My Hero Academia!
Arrows arc in the air above the incoming army of Minotaur and Oni before falling through the air. Some hit metal armor and bounce off while a smaller number don't hit any of the incoming bodies. Those other arrows that do hit a fleshy mark, they deal both pain and damage. There's already more arrows arcing in the air, there are three groups of archers on their side after all, so there is continuous fire from that front.
Not that the incoming forces seem to care, not when they are trying to retrieve their captive leaders from his dungeon. Which are empty. Draven thinks to himself as he watches as a wave of Enchanted javelins now hit the front line, causing Magical effect to take 'root'.
The wood shafts of the javelins seem to explode into brown roots and green vines, the roots dig into the ground while the vines entangle the being hit. There's bellows of pain as the fore-runners are unable to move while from behind them, more of their forces continue charging towards the walls of Den of the Gray Leopard. None of those entangled die from getting rammed into from behind nor do those charging forward get far, they get tripped up and more javelins are sent flying, the same kind as those, too, take the form of roots and vines.
He smiles faintly in satisfaction at how those javelins are creating a living barricade using the bodies of the incoming army. The effects seem to last longer then a few seconds. With this going on, the archers change tactics and snipe at the enemies along that barricade. There's a great deal of pushing going on among the attackers.
Might as well help that along. He muses to himself, with ease, the beginning of a spell begins to be spoken while he pulls out the needed Spell Components from his Dimensional Pocket so he doesn't spent a large dose of his own Magic when he might need it later. The Spell Components are consumed as the final word of the Mad Compulsion Spell is spoken.
It matters not who gets hit for he already knows that it'll do its job perfectly. An Oni cries out and turns the massive club onto the closest target, who happens to be a Minotaur, attacking them with said weapon. Sure enough, the nearest Minotaurs turn on that Oni and kill them. In turn, the Oni who notice begin attacking the nearest Minotaur, thus it spirals out from there and his forces hold their arrows and javelins, allowing their enemies to forget where they are.
Any time it looks like they are calming down, he's using the Mad Compulsion Spell on them and it works for another four times, then he switches to a more area of effect version called Battle Lust, kicking the already violent mind sets into overdrive. This he casts five times in rapid succession about the enemy line.
With that, he signals for his archers to resume firing. As the next valley of arrows rain down, it seems his archers have switched to Enchanted arrows as half convert into lightning within getting a foot in range of the enemy while the other half become ice shards, coating their victim in a layer of frost and their armor covered in ice. The next two valley of arrows are normal ammo.
One more month. Draven thinks as the enemy forces are thinning out. Only one month. It's a promise to the other Players but it's not for him.
Still, the Devil Player remains positioned upon the wall as his archers pick off the remainder of the dual army. He leaves once his forces begin sending out people to collect what they can from the dead bodies.
! = - ^ o ^ - = !
Smiling, he walks over towards the pair in the Hot Tube. It's been a while since they got together and just enjoy each other's company. Leaning on the side of the tube, he notices that they have the water jets up and running.
"Having an enjoyable time?" Draven asks and the two startle slightly, given how loud the water jets are within the Hot Tube, it doesn't surprise him overly that they hadn't notice him walking up. "I hope you two weren't napping in here. Wouldn't want you two to drown."
"Was just giving my eyes a rest, Neko-kun." X-Rei states as she gets comfortable upon the underwater bench once again. Back leaning upon the back of the bench with head up along while one eye seems to focus in on him.
"Once was enough to learn that lesson." White-Out insists while the other takes a moment to study him. "Anything good drop from that army?"
"Nothing outstanding." He answers before straightening up and then walking around to get into the Hot Tube, he's wearing a pair of shorts, the same material as what the two are wearing as swim wear. His shorts are purple and sport a single cat paw print on his left butt cheek, he's pretty sure that was intentional given who made and gifted the shorts to him. "This is the eighth time the Oni have sent forces against me. Seventeenth for the Minotaurs."
"So, more quality stuff from the Oni compared to the Minotaurs then?" Observes X-Rei as she is clearly watching him while trying to appear that she isn't. He moves to sit so he is able to face the two of them, the water isn't that high for him, but then, he is taller then most of the Players, then again, there are short races among the Players, like Dwarves.
"Not really, just different fashion compared to the Minotaurs." The Devil Player replies. "We'd get more exotic and rare if Tengu cared enough to cross into the Expanse for a crack at rescuing their representative among the Bosses."
"Which they don't." White-Out states and he nods. "Well, enough about that, how goes playing Tour Guide?" He asks curiously and the two groan, which is, in itself, an answer.
Yes, the two now give him flat and almost dead looks at the reminder. "Well, just think, it'll be over in less then a month." Draven remarks as he finds a comfortable grove and then moving into it.
"Nothing overly official planned." Notes X-Rei upon taking a few minutes to go through the calendar, likely checking to see if anything got scheduled. "Unless you have something going on." She focuses in on him.
"Nothing important." He assures her. "Might be another attempt by certain races to try for their leader but, well, it's not like they'd it'll work given that I'm not housing them as my prisoners."
"So, the fort doesn't need you? That you can take a week or two off?" White-Out asks and he takes some seconds to study his friend.
"You want to do something? Or you already have an out line of a plan?" The original Devil Player asks, it's pretty clear that his male friend seems to have an idea of wanting to do something.
"Just thought we'd spend the last two weeks at Aqua Agglomeration." He blinks at the mention of the Plane before he smiles after nearly a minute of recalling that vacation they had. "Just the three of us."
"Are we all going to be disguised or just me?" Draven asks curiously and X-Rei blurts out, "All of us! Oh, that'll be fun! We'd be able to mingle without anyone giving us those Looks!"
White-Out pipes in as she begins to chat about what race or races they should do. "How about the same? Nobody will be overly suspicious nor will NPCs automatically think of us as Order spies right off the bat if they get suspicious."
"So, none of the usual Player races either..." She muses as X-Rei rubs her chin. "Hmm, which race do we want to pass ourselves off as?"
"I'd almost suggest Common Devils but I get the fact that someone would object." White-Out reasons and he nods his head in agreement, after all, he's a Pillar Devil and if they were going to do something that none of them were then that takes Devils out of the list of options for NPC races. "So, what race are we going to pick?" The Elf Player wonders, given they have a few days to decide before he begins to make arrangements concerning his private vacation with his two friends, they have sometime to debate the pros and cons of various races.
= - / o ^ + ^ o \ - =
The smell of the salty air of the Plane and the brisk breeze about his eyes, never mind the sight of the harbor of Squalo's Teeth sporting a steady stream of workers going onto and coming off of one of the massive ships built to survive the pretty much ocean Plane that is Aqua Agglomeration. They're already moving from the Planar Gate and towards Squalo's Teeth proper. They had used the Company's Gate to arrive at a different Plane, he already forgot the name of it but the location in particular is known for it's high population of Dracoforms.
Yes, they settled on Dracoforms as a way to honor a certain Player and they are going to pass themselves off as the sub-type that's meant for water. Hitoshi's disguise sports dark green scales with smoky gray eyes, X-Rei's disguise sports light brown scales with dark purple eyes, and Draven's sports dark red base with speckle blue spots upon the scales while sporting a tasteful pink for eye color. His current name is Drake, X-Rei's is Tohru, and Draven's is Smaug, yea, he's not sure when they decided on using names concerning dragons but they did and both X-Rei and himself did vote on Smaug for Draven's fake name.
It actually took longer for X-Rei to pick a suitable name. He reflects as they make it to what passes for a city gate. Once through, Tohru is quick to grab both of their hands and pulls them towards the nearest point of interest.
They spent most of the day doing the tourist thing at Squalo's Teeth and sampling the various local dishes that were cheap along with drinks. They settle at an actual tavern to have supper at. "So, theater? Or should we just turn in for the night?"
Both X-Rei and himself hum as they consider Draven's proposal. He's drinking from his mug of Warm Beach Ale while X-Rei is eating Shell Cradle Delight, it's a bunch of steamed scallops, oysters, mussels, snails, and the odd Flea Crab. Their respective friend ordered Fried Coral Lung Cat-Fish and a mug of Sea Salt Rum, X-Rei ordered a mug of the same, Sea Salt Rum, and he ordered for his supper Boiled Fern Eel, it's stuffed with shredded sea weed and other water grown veggies.
"Might want to just turn in for the night, the theaters might be less busy during the day." He reasons after giving it some thought. "Yea, it's been a pretty long day, after all, we did have to wake up so early..." X-Rei trails off while suppressing a yawn.
The disguise Devil Player nods in agreement and he brings up a different topic, "Once we're done here in Squalo's Teeth, should we take a ship to another city? Or should we just stick to this continent?" Squalo's Teeth is one of the main port cities of Promontory Strand.
"We didn't really spent a lot of time away from the campsite." Reflects Draven and he agrees, although he pipes in, "But the location of the camp was decent given the view and it a few hours walk to that tiny community if we needed to buy something we didn't realize we needed."
"... Tohru? You have any preferences?" The disguise Devil Player inquires after recalling switch name to use.
"How much of Promontory Strand did you two get around to exploring?" She asks as she glances between them. Taking a sip of her mug afterwards.
"Stuck to the northern mountain area." Draven admits upon him turn to look at him. After all, the Devil Player would know best being the one who planned that vacation.
"What other major city ports are there here on... Promontory Strand?" X-Rei asks and it's clear that Draven did some reading just for this, he can tell given the way the disguised Player's eyes seem to light up. It's not all that different then the look X-Rei gets when she's chatting about the details behind the concept of a function, a function she wants one of her babies to have.
He does his best to finish eating his dish and drink his ale, just enjoying the company of his two friends. Hard to believe... I not only found people who tolerate me but who want to be friends with me... Hitoshi finds it comforting, the silver lining of this situation, really. Neither of them care about his Quirk and he doesn't really care about their own or lack of one.
Sure, time in this game is all subjective yet, he's known Draven for years and he's come to know X-Rei in the few years they've met because of a certain incident resulted in someone ending up in the form of a leopard variant. The Elf Player's gaze lands on Draven as he recalls how his friend almost died and yet, he somehow managed to Order the Devil Player into doing something to ensure he Lives. That... that was kind of mind blowing and nerve wracking at the same time along with something that he's determined to never see happen again.
! = - ^ o ^ - = !
"I... I..." Draven looks rather uncertain as they wait for the count down timer to run out. Between them, X-Rei and himself share a look, oh, they both notice slight changes in mood with the disguised Player but this is the first time the other seems willing to breach the topic.
He looks so vulnerable... Hitoshi thinks to himself as his gaze returns to looking at the still disguised Player, they were still in their disguises as Dracoforms. "We've noticed you're mood..." He trails off.
"You're been kind of a downer at times." X-Rei sums it up and he sends her a minor glare at the bluntness of that. "Ah, well, it's not just a recent thing." Admits Draven.
"Ok, here..." The other male member of the trio takes a deep breath and tries to collect himself. "I'm not sure... It's only a thought! It really is but, well, I kept getting these Looks... from Nuala."
He's not sure what to make of that, honestly, after all, it's been a while since he's seen the two interact. Then again, all three of them have left the game three months before the deadline... The Elf Adventurer recalls.
"What kind of Looks are we talking about?" Asks X-Rei and he highly doubts he's the only one to hear the undertone in that question. "They seem to be... pitying ones, generally, I think."
"Pitying?" He repeats and the other nods with a slight positive hum. "Generally pitying and then there's been... Night/s_Thorn's reactions plus a number of questions about..."
"About what I experienced when I was under your command, you know, the one to Live." Draven gets around to stating, clearly not looking happy at remembering that. "Trying to get me to... recreate the mental arrays I thought up but, well, it's just... hazy."
He really doesn't like where this discussion is leading and feels a lump in his throat while his stomach seems to be heavy. "Then there's the whole... cutting me from Company meetings or business." He hadn't really noticed that.
"It could mean a lot of things but... I might just being pessimistic... I mean, my theory could be way off! I never got up the courage to just... ask or confront them about it, so, I'm not working with a lot of pieces or some of the pieces aren't the right ones or the critical ones..." It's rather unlike Draven to babble on like this, which means that this is clearly Izuku's influence shining through.
"Izuku." And the disguised Player's head turns to look at him. "Just what is your theory?"
"Something happened to my body." Izuku states after a few seconds. "Something..." Echo's X-Rei and Izuku nods.
His mind races before his eyes narrow. "You're here." Hitoshi states and Izuku nods in agreement. "Yea, I'm here."
"Your mind is still connected to your body." X-Rei states. "I kind of ease-dropped on something once, they mention how reassuring that is along with how bizarre it was. Well, they never mentioned who's mind is still connected to their body but..."
And this seems to be something that relieves Izuku as the tension in the shoulders and the way the other Player had been hunched over comes to an end. "Oh! That's a huge relief... I thought I was just a data ghost!"
He's not the only one to shout, "What?!" The other just laughs in a nervous fashion, clearly unsure of which of them to focus on.
"Ah, well, it was just a theory! I mean, I didn't have a lot to work with! And it just seemed to..." Hitoshi is at a loss of words at this point as he has so many emotions swirling inside of him.
"You thought your bodied died and nobody would tell you?!" X-Rei snaps, clearly angry and, well, Izuku nods slightly. "It... Well, come on, NPCs are just take, Non-Player Characters. If my body died then, I'd just be an echo of Izuku, a digital ghost, an AI that thought itself human."
"Just... stop." He manages to say and the two look at him. "Just..." His ability with words goes away with ease but the two seem to read him just fine.
"Sorry for causing you both to worry." Izuku admits and X-Rei pats him on the shoulder, she would likely mess his hair up but, well, the disguises are still up. "Hey, at least now you know that your not that." X-Rei states and the previous brainwashed Player nods in agreement.
"Yea, your right." Then the timer begins to take up their vision as it count downs from a minute to zero.
= - / o ^ + ^ o \ - =
His limbs felt too long for his body and everything seemed to be far too small. Shouta refuses to let that stop him, there's something he Needs to see for himself, to confirm with his own actual eyes and regardless of how unfamiliar his actual flesh and blood body is, it responses to his wishes in a sluggish way, what with a year of not moving while his brain signals have been diverted into a computer interface reader... Pushing his upper body, he moves into a sitting position as he takes a look at the various readers and the needle, taking moments to pick out which goes where before swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. It takes him almost a minute to get his balance when he stands, he then brushes off the various reading pads on his skin, leaving the IV alone as it will follow after him, in fact, he might as well use it to help him walk in search of the room he wants to visit.
Alarms go off as he pulls the IV towards him viva it connection. With as firm a grip as he can, after trying to grab it at least four times, missing judging the distance to varying degrees. Shouta, teacher of U.A. and the Underground Pro Hero Eraser Head shuffles out of the room. It takes him a minutes to get around his floor, he finds all the other Pro Heroes who'd been trapped in the game also housed on the floor. All wearing Quirk Suppressors and a few are also awake, although they seem to be trying to get familiar with the idea that they were finally out of the game. If a few had tears trailing down their faces, well, it's not his problem.
"As excepted of you, Aizawa-san." He looks down to find Nezu waiting at an elevator. "Well, might as well get this over with so you can get some actual rest."
He does his best to scowl but does make his way towards the white furred mammal of a principal. Leaning on the wall, the door close and he does his best to catch his breath along with allowing his protesting body to recover from his wanderings. His vision swims but it hardly matters, what matters is that he's close to verifying with his own two eyes the condition of a certain Problem Devil, who's going to have a lot more problems then just having to deal with reasserting himself as Midoriya Izuku and dealing with said emotional baggage, of which is going to be compounded given the... changes Midoriya's body has under gone.
All of the Quirkless Players had ended up at the same hospital and they had been put into a kind of... process. In the end, according to Nezu, they only became alarmed that something might be happening to those Players due to the almost brain death of Midoriya, which caused them to want to check upon on said Player's actual body... It seems that process had a firm grip on the teen's body and they had been unable to remove the boy from the tube, the other Quirkless Players' had been removed their own tubes and what minimal changes done to their bodies easily reversed.
"It's rather fascinating the metamorphosis Midoriya-kun's body has undergone along with the rewiring of his brain." Nezu admits after a few minutes, the elevator almost reaching the basement security floor. "His base genetic material is human, the last genetic testing shows a nine percent difference from usual humans and a touch larger difference with the closes ape relative."
Turning his head, he then turns his whole body as he stares at the buttons. It's hardly all that surprising that the mammal would be highly interested in the Problem Devil's case, particularly given the fact that it makes Midoriya the very first of a new species, genetically speaking. "Most will just assume he's got a Mutant Quirk based on his appearance." Assures Nezu.
Giving the mammal a simple flat look, the elevator dings and opens. Gripping the IV contraption, Shouta tries to straighten up and walk out of the elevator, the wheels got caught in the grooves of the door but he does manage pick up the base just enough to push it pass. Moving to the side so that his employer can take point as there are security locks meant for Nezu to use.
Once pass the various doors, they arrive at the tube where the Problem Devil is floating within. "Huh..." He expected a different appearance then what he's seeing before him now.
"We've been talking with his mother about our plans, once she's accepted the idea that we can't reverse the changes he's gone through." Nezu informs him and he gives a slight nod, after all, he's had his say concerning how they should go about handling the teen, after all, few can fully understand what the teen has gone through. "She's also got enough on her plate, given what we've uncovered in regards to Midoriya-kun's previous school experiences."
"I hardly think she's the only parent who'll be pressing charges against various schools over that issue." He manages to croak out, his voice sounding so... alien to his own ears. His gaze upon the teen's dark brown skin before focusing upon Midoriya's soft gray thin stripes along his arms and legs. The hair is primarily a natural green with black under tones. The back is like one big blister with the skin being black with the surface sporting the red and blue blood vessels almost poking out.
Something pokes the skin of that 'blister' and he glances down at Nezu, not sure what to make of what he thought he saw. "The beginning of some new bone structure from our professionals have declared. The back is undergoing a massive redesign to support what's being constructed."
"We're looking at what appears to be a long term body reconstruction going on and there's not much we can get from reviewing his genetic code, all we can do is monitor him while being thankful we've succeeded in shuffling his conscious into a specially created program." The mammal states. "At this moment, I believe Midoriya-kun should be having a reunion with Midoriya-san."
"Quirk?" He asks after a period of silence as he returns to gazing at the physical body of the Problem Devil. There's a slight sigh from Nezu.
"It's unknown if he'll have one once his body has finished it's reconstruction." Or be able to identify something as one. He realizes. "We're labeling this as a recently activation of a latent Mutant Quirk."
He merely grunts and is beginning to feel the effects of his journey here with his previous bed ridden body. His fingers tighten around the IV metal pole as he tries to resist the urge to sit down. His body is at its limit and it's clear that others notice as a pair of people in lab coat approach, he doesn't resist their efforts of hustling him to a seat.
For now, Shouta is reassured that Midoriya Izuku will be able to return to his body, it's a question of what they are going to do from here on out.
The End
Author's Note: Yea, sorry about how long this chapter took but, well, somethings had been easier to type out then others.
And, well, hey, look, he's not dead! He just going to end up looking like a Devil, not like Gentleman Draven Ose though and with wings. He's going to have wings.
No Quirk as such but then, that's more because he won't be human enough for such a tag to be honestly used for anything he can do, not sure what he'll end up being able to do besides having the ability to encase himself in a field of some sort that allows him to speed his personal time up, making it look like he's got super speed.
Thanks for reading! Hope you found this story to your liking!
