Okay I wanted to clarify something. This Jin-Woo is indeed stronger than his Pre-Awakened form in the Manhwa canon, as should be obvious, but I want to stress right off the bat, this is NOT the same Jin-Woo from the Manhwa canon. Things will quickly become apparent towards that fact, but I simply didn't want to cause anyone to hope for something that wouldn't happen. This Sung Jin-Woo is NOT a host for Ashborn. Some people seem to think that he's suddenly going to steal away the spotlight from Izuku and become the main character, but that's simply not the case. This Jin-Woo is almost a new character of sorts. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Cha Hae-In came to in a hospital bed, the white sheets loosely covering her body, which was dressed only in a hospital gown. She tried to rub the sleep from her eyes, finding that only her right arm came up to her face. She tried to look to her left, but a smooth hand caressed her cheek, stopping her.
"Hold on." Sung Jin-Woo said from the right side of her bed, "You'll want to be fully lucid before you attempt to look there."
"H-How did you get away from the Titans?" She asked, her throat incredibly dry.
Jin-Woo gently guided a straw to her lips and she gratefully gulped down some water. He had to pull away the cup to make sure she didn't drink too much too fast. "You were airlifted out to a hospital in Cheongju. The Titans are still at least an hour away."
"A-An hour?!" Hae-In did her best to sit up, but the twenty-something pushed her back into bed.
"Relax." He smiled confidently, "Even if they reach us. I'll stop them for you."
"You can't!" She shouted, "They'll kill you!"
"They can try."
Hae-In suddenly stopped panicking and looked him dead in the eyes. "My left arm is gone… isn't it?" She asked out of nowhere.
"Yes."
The S-Rank once more went to look at her left side, but this time Jin-Woo did not stop her. Where her well built and unblemished left arm should've been, there was only a stump at her shoulder.
"The doctors and healers did everything they could, but the limb was too damaged. Had they not amputated, you would've been in constant pain for the rest of your life. And… your Mana is too dense to regenerate the limb from scratch without an S-Rank Healer."
Hae-In let out a soft sigh as she gazed at the missing appendage, "Damn."
Jin-Woo raised one eyebrow, "If you want to cry or scream, I can leave."
Hae-In shook her head, "It's not that. I guess… it'll just take a minute to sink in." She smiled bitterly, "I kinda expected something like this to happen one day. After all, no S-Ranks have ever fully retired with their bodies still in one piece." Jin-Woo nodded, his gray eyes saying enough for his lips to remain motionless. "Um… where are the Titans now?"
"Aside from two, they are still rampaging in an expanding circumference from Seoul. One began swimming across the ocean and is expected to reach China within a few days. The other… one that was… bigger than the rest, remains at the Gate's entrance. He is expected to be the Boss." Jin-Woo sighed, "They would've continued onwards to North Korea and given us a slight reprieve, but Yuri Orlov was hired to block them. They turned back after realizing they couldn't break past the border and are continuing to ravage South Korea."
"You said you could stop them… if you could do that, why weren't you at the Gate? And why have I never heard of you before?"
"That's… complicated. At most, I can kill two or three of them before my power fades and then I will no longer be able to fight. Which is why we haven't been as panicked about evac as some other hospitals. I can kill a few of them and buy time for the people in more critical condition to be airlifted away."
"And you're protecting this one hospital just for me?" She asked, suddenly recalling her thought about his eyes and his soft hand touching her face. Hae-In did her best to make sure her face didn't grow hot from embarrassment.
Jin-Woo shrugged, "I guess… I just have a special attachment to this hospital."
"Sir?!" A voice shouted as a young woman burst into the hospital room, "The first of the Titans have been spotted. It's pretty far by our standards, but at full speed, it'll reach us within ten minutes."
Jin-Woo stood, "Looks like our time is running out." He began walking for the door, but Hae-In called after him.
"Wait! You can't go out there unarmed!"
Jin-Woo smiled slyly, "Then I suppose you wouldn't mind me borrowing that blade of yours, would you?" He gestured to the ornate sheath that rested on a nearby chair. The sword still rested inside.
Cha Hae-In nodded furiously, her cheeks growing red for some reason, "Please!"
"Then… I guess I'll be going."
[You can receive the following Rewards:]
- 1. +30 Stat Points
- 2. Armor Recipe: Dragon God Armor
- 3. Hidden Reward
"Accept Reward three!" Izuku shouted over the wind as he and Yaoyorozu stood atop Firnen's back. Izuku was once again using Dominator's touch to keep them secure to their ride.
[Hidden Rewards: Key to the Cartenon Temple has been revealed.]
Izuku's eyes widened as the key he had obtained inside the Heavenly Palace appeared, its distorted and unrefined form now a clear shape.
[Item: Key to the Cartenon Temple.]
Item Class: S
Item Type: Key
The Key to all of your questions. In {120:00:00} this Key will become fully usable.
"The Cartenon Temple… the source of everything." His thoughts instinctively shifted back to the smiling visage of that Statue of God. "This time around… things won't be so easy for him." In just five days, he would finally be within the grasp of what it meant to be chosen by Ashborn.
"Accept Reward one. Accept Reward two." Izuku quickly put all of his Stats into Intelligence as he looked over the recipe. If he was going to be taking on multiple Titans spread throughout the city at the same time, his Shadows needed to be as strong as possible.
[Recipe Learned!]
[Item: Dragon God Armor.]
Item Class: SSS
Item Type: Armor
Armor forged from the Heavenly Olympian Armor and the most Magic-Dense materials acquired from the Six Elemental Dragon Lords.
Ingredients:
Olympian Armor Pieces
Impenetrable Skin of Terra
Heat Resistant Scales of Vulcan
Wing Membrane of Aeolus
Magic-Rich Fangs of Neptune
Misty Cloak of Erebus
Blinding Essense of Aether
"It uses the Olympian Armor as a base? Well, I guess it would make sense. Combining an already strong armor with insanely powerful materials would give some pretty good results."
Izuku removed his armor, leaving his Stats looking quite a bit smaller than before.
[Olympian Armor Pieces]
[Impenetrable Skin of Terra]
[Heat Resistant Scales of Vulcan]
[Wing Membrane of Aeolus]
[Magic-Rich Fangs of Neptune]
[Misty Cloak of Erebus]
[Blinding Essense of Aether]
[Would you like to craft: Dragon God Armor?]
"Yes."
[Crafting Dragon God Armor.]
[The success rate will be dependent on the crafter's Intelligence Stat.]
"It didn't say the number of items this time… I guess that means I can only get one set of the armor… not like I'd need a second I suppose."
[10]
[9]
[8]
[7]
[6]
[5]
[4]
[3]
[2]
[1]
[Crafting successful!]
[Crafted Item: Dragon God Armor]
Item Class: SSS
Item Type: Armor
[Item: Dragon God Chestplate.]
Item Class: SSS
Item Type: Armor
+75 Strength
+75 Vitality
[Item: Dragon God Leggings.]
Item Class: SSS
Item Type: Armor
+50 Strength
+50 Agility
[Item: Dragon God Helm.]
Item Class: SSS
Item Type: Armor
+50 Vitality
+50 Strength
[Item: Dragon God Necklace.]
Item Class: SSS
Item Type: Accessory
+100 Intelligence
+100 Sense
[Item: Six Dragon God Rings.]
Item Class: SSS
Item Type: Accessory
+25 Intelligence
These Six rings reduce all types of Elemental damage by 75% but only one Element at a time and the wearer must specifically activate that ring.
[Item: Dragon God Boots.]
Item Class: SSS
Item Type: Armor
+75 Agility
[Item: Dragon God Gauntlets.]
Item Class: SSS
Item Type: Armor/Weapons
+500 Attack
Equipped with claws that can cut through nearly anything and can become red-hot with Dragon Fire, increasing their damage output by 50%
Level: 140
Strength: 389
Vitality: 286
Agility: 317
Intelligence: 425
Sense: 293
[Mana: 46498/46498]
[HP: 65239/65239]
[Shadows able to be extracted: 2562]
[Shadows able to be saved: 1514/2095]
[Set Bonus 1: Skill: Dragon Wings. By consuming 50 Mana a minute, the user can fly freely. By using up more Mana, the user may increase the speed of their flight.]
[Set Bonus 2: Skill: Draconic Fusion. By spending 5000 Mana for each Dragon targeted by the Skill, the user may fuse together any mixture of the Six Dragon Lords, creating new beings of immense power. The fusions do not require any extra mana to maintain.]
Izuku felt like a total badass as he reveled in the new power of his dark and scaly armor. "With something like this… I could fight a Monarch!" He looked over the second Set Bonus, "And if I combined all Six Dragon Lords… they could probably fight a Monarch too!"
The second he finished that thought, his Sense Stat picked up on the nearest Titan. It seemed this one had made a beeline for the coast. Much like the one currently swimming to China it headed to the opposite side of Korea, making it to the city of Andong. "These things can run between Seoul and Andong within a couple hours, while trashing buildings?!" Yaoyorozu exclaimed in shock.
"All the more reason to split up and stop them as soon as possible. Glaedr! Take the Earth Hydras one Basilisk and one Amphitian! Let me know if their paralysis and/or poison are enough to stop these things!"
Glaedr's Shadow appeared mid-air, hundreds of feet above the ground, but he didn't mind the fall. In fact, mid free fall, he said, "I shall not fail you lord!" His impact on the earth was loud enough to grab the attention of the Stone Titan who turned his humanoid glare onto the Earth Dragon. The two forces roared and charged each other, but Izuku didn't stick around to witness the results, instead instructing Firnen to continue West along South Korea. All of the Titans had been turned away from the North and only two Titans decided to take to the coast, and even still only one of those Villains made it to the ocean. So since all of them were heading South, Izuku's current plan was to set up a line of Shadow Soldiers in the middle of Korea and slowly move them up, taking out any Titans they ran into and slowly boxing in the ones that were closer to the Gate. He would still have to send a few parties of Shadows up North, where some Titans were still rampaging, but it wouldn't be that much of an issue.
As Izuku continued on to Cheongju, where the next closest Titan was, he dropped squads of Shadow Soldiers in frequent intervals. There were some pretty huge gaps in distance between the squads considering how small they were as individuals trying to create a line across a country, but they would be enough to advance and catch Titans in their net.
Yaoyorozu tilted her head as Izuku's eyes narrowed, "What is it?"
"I- I'm not sure… The Titan in Cheongju… it's dead…"
"Someone killed it?"
Izuku nodded, "But… it was reported that no Titans were killed upon exiting the Gate."
"Which means that it's not one of the S-Ranks! So then, who killed it?"
"Well, I guess we're about to find-"
"HOLD ON!" Firnen shouted as she went into a steep nosedive, a massive shape just barely grazing her tail. Upon Firnen's evening out and hovering, Yaoyorozu looked back.
"Was… Was that the Titan's body?"
"I think so," Izuku said in disbelief, turning his attention to where the body came from, a small figure standing in front of a hospital. Using his Sense Stat, Izuku's vision magnified. The young man had jet-black hair, gray eyes, and a healthy chunk of Mana hovering around him.
"Get us closer," Izuku commanded, pulling out the Scythe of Light that Aether had dropped.
[Item: Slashing Scythe of Light.]
Item Class: SSS
Item Type: Scythe
+500 Attack
Capable of pulling directly from the user's Mana in order to enhance its attack power.
Once they were close enough for Izuku to see the man clearly without his Stat, he turned to Yaoyorozu, "For now, stay here. We don't know what this guy is." And with that, he leaped off of Firnen's back, dropping seventy feet to the ground. Landing just fifty feet away from the man, Izuku asked, "Did you purposely aim for us?"
The man clenched his right fist, his left grip tightening around a sword that looked very familiar to Izuku, "Yes."
Izuku squinted, "Are you a Human Villain? Or did you come from a Gate?"
"The only Villain I see here… is you!" The man blurred forwards, his legs filling with enough Mana to surpass even Miruko's kicks with ease. He covered the distance between the two and swung the sword from his left side in an upwards diagonal slash. It would be hard for Izuku to block a strike like it with a scythe.
But Izuku didn't use the scythe. Instead, he removed his left hand from the scythe's shaft and stopped the blade with his palm along, surprising the man. After all, Izuku had turned off the visual feature of the armor, so it appeared that he was just wearing a hoodie and jeans.
"You're stronger than basically any other S-Rank Human I've met before." After thinking about it for a few milliseconds, Izuku realized that Gate Villains only had the directive to kill all humans. This man had killed a Titan, seemingly defending the hospital behind him in the process. "And you look Korean. Did you not participate in the initial Gate break?"
This question only seemed to enrage the man more, his glare becoming radiant. "Bastard!" He kicked at Izuku's legs, but they remained firmly stationed in place, "You're the reason I wasn't there at all!"
This managed to stun Izuku even more than realizing this man was strong enough to hurl a skyscraper-sized Titan at him, "I… How?"
"Monarch or Ruler, I don't care! You deserve to be killed!"
"Monarch? Ruler? What do you k-" Izuku felt the wind knocked out of him as the man gathered energy in his left arm and jabbed his open palm against Izuku's stomach. He followed it up by swinging the sword straight for his neck, right where the gap in the scale armor would be.
But Izuku was not defenseless. Even with minimal oxygen entering his lungs, he was able to spin the scythe in his hand, catching the sword with its curved blade and hooking against its hilt. With one swift motion, Izuku yanked, pulling the sword right out of the man's hand. He then leveled Erebus's Corrupted Blade, which he had pulled from his Inventory, at the man's throat.
[Item: Corrupted Blade.]
Item Class: SSS
Item Type: Longsword
+500 Attack
Capable of pulling directly from the user's Mana in order to enhance its attack power.
"I'm not a Monarch, or a Ruler," Izuku shouted in the man's face, "Which is technically true. I haven't been taken over… yet. And in addition, Ashborn is neither a Monarch or Ruler by this point." He saw the light dim a tiny bit in the man's eyes, "I've been gifted the powers of a Higher Being, but I am Human."
"I can feel their mark on your body…" The man insisted, "You may be human now, but you won't be for long. If you care about humanity, you'll allow yourself to be killed to save the world from another God that is just using us."
Izuku pursed his lips for a moment before saying, "I've remained in control for several months now, I don't think that I'm somehow going to suddenly turn."
"You don't know that."
Izuku sighed and lowered the blade, "I won't let you kill me, but I also don't want to kill you. You seem to be on the side of Humanity, and you're pretty damn strong." He stored the scythe, but kept out his sword, he was more used to this sort of weapon, "Maybe we got off on the wrong foot, I'm Izuku Midoriya." He didn't hold out his hand to shake, Izuku wasn't that dumb enough to give his opponent a grapple point.
"I'm Sung Jin-Woo," The man said somewhat reluctantly.
Then… the two remained silent for a moment, staring at each other with a blank intent. Suddenly, they could not comprehend the other's existence, as if… they were the same person, in different positions. It was an illogical thought, but it assailed their brain without the ability to ignore it. But a minute slowly passed and they returned to themselves, stricken with an odd sense of Deja Vu.
"Um… excuse me?" A small feminine voice asked, "If you two are done, could I have some help here?"
Izuku and Jin-Woo looked over, shocked to see Hae-In standing there, her hospital gown flapping around in the winds of Firnen's wings. She desperately attempted to hold it down with her one arm, but it was flailing too much, eventually, it would rip off altogether and she didn't have anything underneath.
"Land Firnen!" Izuku shouted as he turned his attention back to Jin-Woo, ignoring Hae-In, "I want to trust you, and I want you to continue helping Humanity, but if you continue to pursue this killing intent of yours, I will kill you." With his free hand, Izuku used Dominator's Touch to bring Hae-In's sword to his grasp, finally recognizing it as she made her presence known.
Jin-Woo sneered at the act, but said nothing.
"I can understand wanting to kill Monarchs," Izuku continued as Yaoyorozu hopped off Firnen after Izuku gestured her over to help Cha, "After all, they just want all of us dead. But Rulers… I just can't guess any reason you'd want them dead."
"They may be on the side of life," Jin-Woo answered, "But they are by no means, benevolent. You're a Ruler, so I'll leave you for now, after all, someone needs to defeat the Titans… But one day, when the Monarchs are dead and gone, I will come for you and take my revenge."
Izuku just shrugged and ignored the revenge part, instead focusing on, "How do you know I'm a Ruler?"
Jin-Woo gestured to the sword, "Telekinesis is one of the big signs of a Ruler. Monarchs can't do that stuff."
"So, are you two… good now?" Cha asked in rough Japanese. Yaoyorozu had quickly created some clothes for her and helped her dress behind some nearby rubble that the Titan has apparently thrown at Jin-Woo
Izuku raised his palm to chest height and wiggled it side to side in the universal message of so-so. During his discourse with Jin-Woo, he totally forgot there was supposed to be a language barrier. The guy spoke Japanese with perfect understanding.
He offered her sword back to her remaining hand, "I'm sorry to hear about your arm… but it is good to see that you're still alive."
Jin-Woo translated, suddenly becoming the intermediary for them.
"Thank you… I wish the same could be said about the others."
"They're… all dead?" Izuku asked.
"Choi ran, Ma was kicked away much like I was slapped away, but… his was worse. I could tell just before he got launched that the kick smashed his chest inwards. Unless he was found and healed immediately, he's likely dead. Lim and Baek… I'm not sure. I was knocked away before I could see their fate. But neither of them could outrun those things or beat them, even in a one-on-one."
"Damn," Izuku muttered as Igis popped up next to him.
"My Liege, the Titans continue to advance further South. If we wait any longer, it will be difficult to set up a defensive line and stop them."
Izuku nodded and began yelling out squads he had already given designations. "I'm heading up the middle of the defensive line, so Squads Igris, Tusk, Hyo, and the remaining three Dragons, continue on West and spread yourselves out. You know the formation."
"Yes, my Liege!" Seven voices cried out at once. These were Izuku's remaining Commander and General Grade Shadows. Glaedr, Uramoth, and Saphira were currently occupying most of the Eastern border, alongside Pektra and Ifrit as well as plenty of other Lower-Grade Soldiers. Tusk, Hyo, Karkinos, Thorn, and Firnen would take the West border. Meanwhile, Igris, Izuku, Yaoyorozu, and Shruikan would fill the gap between those two sides. They were only four compared to the hundreds on either side, but Izuku's Sense Stat allowed him to reach much farther and ensure no Titans slipped through the cracks.
"You're Summons… There's more since Jeju Island."
Jin-Woo squinted, "Jeju Island? What happened to Jeju Island?"
As the Shadows moved out, the three humans stared at the stranger.
"Are you kidding?" Izuku asked.
"How could you not hear about an S-Rank Gate break?"
Jin-Woo scratched at his cheek awkwardly. "I've… been stuck inside a Gate for ten years."
"...What?"
"Ten years ago, when Awakenings first appeared, I got mine. E-Rank, I was one of the weakest Heroes in the world."
"So then… are you a host?" Izuku asked, refusing to believe that someone that could grow this far without a Higher Being granting them power.
"No… It was my Quirk that both gave me this power and got me locked inside a Gate." He sighed, "At an incredibly slow rate, I can absorb and store power from Gates. In fact, the rate was so slow that I didn't even know what my Quirk was. The Rulers saw me as a potential ultimate weapon. So, knowing my Quirk, they stuck me inside an S-Rank Gate and I was forced to live there as a prisoner. None of the Villains ever attacked me, but for some time, I was unaware that I was protected and lived in fear for two years, just barely scavenging enough to survive."
Izuku was speechless. Yaoyorozu was not, "So then, they let you out to deal with this?"
Jin-Woo once more shook his head, "I alone am not enough to stop this. I build up energy slow, but spend it fast. I could kill maybe two more… three if I'm efficient. The Rulers let me out because as I built up more energy, the rate at which I built it up also slowed. So after ten years, it was virtually worthless to try and let me build up anymore. Their hopes of an ultimate weapon were dashed and I…" He trailed off, "Nevermind. For today, Izuku Midoriya, I leave Korea in your hands." He began walking back towards the hospital, making sure Cha was walking alongside him.
She looked back, fixing Izuku with a hopeful gaze, "Have… safe!" She shouted back at him.
"Uhhh…" Izuku waved back, doing his best not to laugh while she was giving him such a serious stare.
"My Liege, I believe she meant to say, "Stay safe!""
"Yeah… I kinda figured that already, Shruikan."
Izuku, Yaoyorozu, and Igris rode on Shruikan's back for a good hour before making contact with their first Titan. As it trashed office building after office building and stomped over homes where people had built their lives, Shruikan set down his three passengers.
"My Liege, would it be correct for me to assume that you want to see me in action against this foul beast?"
The "foul beast" in question swiveled towards Shruikan, hate obvious in its all too human eyes. It leapt forwards, catapulting its body through a building like it wasn't even there as it charged towards the pure black Dragon.
"You would be correct," Izuku responded.
The second those words left his mouth, Shruikan pushed forwards with his powerful legs, running to meet the creature halfway. The two, almost Kaiju-like, creatures covered the miles between them within seconds.
The Stone Titan reared back its fist, preparing to bash Shruikan's skull in. It seemed like it would be a devastating attack, he was far bigger and likely had more weight to him, but Shruikan wasn't about to let himself be outclassed by such a disgusting brute.
[Dragon God of Darkness Shruikan has activated Skill: Hades' Infernal Cloak.]
Shruikan could've used his massive wing arms to catch the punch, or fly up and over the Titan, completely avoiding the strike. He did neither of those things, instead choosing to show off his overwhelming power.
Completely and instantly, his body dissolved into an inky black cloud of misty particles traveling as fast as a bullet.
As the Titan's punch dove into the cloud, it was eaten alive, reduced to nothing. But the cloud didn't stop there, it continued on past his arm, slamming into his gut and coming out the other end, reforming itself as Shruikan.
The Titan's remaining arm twitched as it reached for the building sized hole now in its chest before he fell over, his heart no longer part of existence.
[You have killed a Stone Titan.]
[You have killed a Stone Titan.]
[You have killed a Stone Titan.]
Izuku smiled to himself as the System messages continued to arrive and as his Shadows continued to tear apart the Stone Titans that had seemed like such a threat mere hours ago.
[You have Leveled-Up!]
Hey everyone I'd really appreciate if you took the time to read this! As of this chapter being posted I'm going live on Twitch at Project_Armament! Today is going to be a bit different though! I figured I'd set up a bit of a reward system, so everytime we reach a donation goal, you guys get to vote on a poll, with the ideas proposed by the donators, for one-shot chapters! This can happen as many times as we hit that donation goal, so you guys could have the option to vote on any number of one-shots that you guys, the readers, get to decide on, plot and all! These one-shots can be anything you guys want, and will be posted as special chapters here! Anyways, hope you enjoyed the chapter! Last I checked, Fanfiction finally fixed the bug where chapters weren't showing up, so hopefully you all got to see this!
