I'm going to apologize in advance. As I wrote this chapter, I found that I didn't quite have the voices down for a few characters that get introduced. If you were expecting the same quality of characterization you've previously seen from Izuku and Iida, I am sorry, it's probably going to take me some time to get there.
It was a relief that, despite his initial misgivings, Iida seemed quite pleased with Izuku over the first few days of their travel. Even having had a relatively sedentary life and a large, heavily loaded backpack, the green-haired Godling was keeping up quite well. Beside that, Iida had only needed to show him most tasks once before he was able to set and strike camp without any sort of supervision or assistance. It was something of a point of pride for Izuku, evidence that he wasn't going to be the burden he had initially been accused of.
The more difficult prospect was learning swordplay. When they stopped in the evening, he was made to drill through basic stances and movements over and over and over. Well after Izuku thought he had committed each to memory, well after he knew them each by name, Iida made him run through them again. Sometimes he had to adopt them in the order he was taught them, sometimes he had to demonstrate them as Iida called them out. It was grueling work, especially after a full day of travel.
He had made sure that both the sword and training blades he purchased were similar to his companion's own weapon. After all, he had reasoned, Iida would best be able to teach him with something he was familiar with. Even considering that, Izuku thought he was a fairly quick study. He had no illusions of greatness – the idea that he would be a masterful swordsman so quickly was ridiculous and would reek of arrogance. He would, however, be capable of defending himself soon. Maybe not enough to beat Kacchan in a fight, but he wouldn't be taken down so easily next time.
The thought of his former friend and their fight in Nighteye's ruined library made Izuku's stomach churn. It wasn't just because of his old master's death or the destruction of a place he had grown to love anymore, either. No, a much more sobering thought had occurred to him while traveling from Shizuoka. He had almost died, and his death carried more weight now than it had before his birthday. If Izuku were to die now, whatever killed him would become a Godling. He had known this since Lord Yagi had told him, but it took some time for it to really set in.
Kacchan was already a Godling, and he didn't seem to have people's best interests at heart. His powers were already prodigious, and adding the mantle of the All Mighty wouldn't have made that any better. If anything, it would likely have made him worse. The God of Strength's warning about untested people came to mind.
"Again!" barked Iida. Izuku felt like he must have jumped three feet into the air. "Pay attention to what you're doing, Midoriya! You're getting sloppy!"
Growing red with embarrassment, Izuku realized he didn't actually remember the last several instructions he had received. "I'm... Uh, I'm sorry, Iida, could you... repeat what you had told me to do?"
The nobleman frowned, but called out the instructions again. This time, they were obeyed quickly and cleanly. "That's much better," he said, voice still stern. "And probably a good place to stop for the night."
With a mighty sigh, Izuku returned the practice blade – still untested against its partner, to his chagrin – to his tent. His arms now joined his legs and shoulders in their intense aching; the former from his practice, the latter from the days of travel they had been put through. He didn't tend to feel it during the day, while they were moving, but something about stopping and setting up camp called up every nagging pain he'd gathered since they left Shizuoka.
He came back out of his tent with his waterskin and the dried meat that would serve as the bulk of his dinner. As had become the norm since they began traveling together, their backpacks were placed in the gap between their shelters. Iida already lounged on his, the tall bag supporting his neck and shoulders. Izuku took a deep pull of water and joined him.
"You need to stop falling into your mind," the other man said. "It's a dangerous habit to get into. A fight is very different from a drill, but if you give them the chance, the bad habits will follow the good ones into your battles."
He nodded. "I'll try. It's... I think it's going to be a hard habit to break. My mind's wandered whenever it feels like my whole life."
Despite the challenge indicated by Izuku's words, Iida seemed satisfied. "Regardless, you are doing quite well. I didn't doubt that your mind would soak up whatever I taught you, but your body is retaining the lessons much better than I expected. You've certainly picked up the basic forms and transitions much faster than I did when I was first learning."
The swell of pride in his chest was a welcome distraction from the vague throbbing. "Uh... Thank you! I..." He trailed off. Compliments were not his specialty. How did one even respond to that?
The Godling of Intellect allowed a moment for Izuku to try and figure out the rest of his sentence. When it was clear that was never going to happen, he continued speaking. "If you keep up the pace you've been making, we'll start sparring after our next stop. That will be particularly frustrating for you, I think, because I have been learning swordplay for over a decade. I say this to you not to boast, but because I do not want you to be disheartened when the progress you've made and the accomplishment you feel seems to wane."
Izuku swallowed. He had been looking forward to sparring, but he hadn't considered the level of proficiency his teacher possessed. To have been learning for over ten years, he had to be quite skilled. Izuku would be like a child before him. "That's... You must have started learning really young, then."
Iida nodded. "My lessons began at the age of six. My lord father has very high expectations of his children. Our house has long placed its pride not in pedigree, but in the worth of its members. To be born into House Iida is to inherit responsibility for the lands we've been charged with and the people who live upon them." While the nobleman always tended towards more formal speech, his voice rang with pride as he waxed poetic about his family. "Therefore, each child is expected to be educated in all subjects relevant to our position. We are taught the way of the sword so that we may defend our people, economics so that we may guide our lands into prosperity, etiquette and diplomacy so that our relationships with other nobles may be fruitful, history so that we may learn of our heritage and place in the world, stewardship so that we may best help those we are responsible for, and music and art so that we may bring beauty to the world through performance and creation."
"That's... A lot of things to keep track of. I mean, I learned a lot reading through the books in, um..." His voice dropped as he thought about his former life. "Nighteye's library, but it was just reading. I never... I can't imagine having to learn all of that at once."
"To be honest, it was delightful. I learned all that and more. New things always seemed so fascinating to me. When I was a child, I fancied that I wanted to learn everything there was to know, just so that I could know it." He chuckled. "It seemed foolish as I grew older, but staring Godhood in the face, especially as the Godling of Intellect, it seems closer to me than ever. Once I pass through the Palace gates, I'll have three whole millennia to acquire that knowledge."
Learning for the sake of learning. Well, that made sense. It was a motivation Izuku could empathize with very well, since that was the reason he began systematically consuming his former master's library. "I can see why Lord Nezu would choose you, then. With a goal like that and, uh, the drive to actually pursue it..."
Iida nodded, but it was an odd and jerky nod. He suddenly sounded much less enthusiastic than he had before. "Indeed. Lord Nezu commented as such when he bestowed my mantle upon me."
Izuku frowned. "I... I'm sorry if I said something wrong?"
"Don't let it trouble you." His voice was still in that odd monotone he adopted after Izuku's previous comment.
An awkward silence settled between the two of them. Izuku ate his jerky while trying to figure out what he could have possibly said to cause such a reaction from his friend. It had been a compliment, hadn't it? He was praising Iida's dedication to the pursuit of knowledge. That was something that Nezu favored in his followers. It was a laudable quality by any standard, really. So what about it could cause offense? Maybe he had reminded Iida of his departure from his family? But he had been speaking of them so passionately just moments before, that couldn't be it. Did he think that Izuku was mocking him? There's no reason, nothing he had ever done that would indicate he would make fun of him. In fact, he couldn't think of a single thing he'd done that would point towards anything other than admiration of the Godling and his abilities.
That was the crystallizing thought. With a sudden start, he realized what must have caused the conversation to turn this way.
Iida thought that he was jealous.
It wasn't an entirely unreasonable line of thought. Anyone who had seen him at work could easily guess that the God of Intellect was his patron, and had been for many years. He had offered many a prayer to The Thirteenth before he had been told he hadn't a scrap of magical potential, and of course the other Gods had been given pleas and praise when appropriate, but none had ever really competed with Nezu since he'd properly begun his education under Nighteye. Iida knew about his own hunger for knowledge from how he had been spending his time at the library, and Izuku had enthusiastically complimented the nobleman's abilities as he learned about them. From there, it wasn't a leap to assume that Izuku had wished to be the one to inherit the legacy of that particular God. But how would one even bring that up? Was it as simple as just saying that he wasn't jealous? It –
"You're mumbling, Midoriya."
Izuku yelped and covered his mouth. He had nearly begun speculating about his own semi-divinity (nascent divinity, perhaps?), and if he had said that out loud, disaster would have followed. Best to change the subject entirely, this could be revisited at a later time. One where he wasn't half-panicked about accidentally revealing his greatest secret. "Uh, sorry. I... I really don't mean to do that, it's... just that I can't tell." He laughed awkwardly. "So, uh, you said music and art? What, uh, what did you do? Learn? Play?"
Iida looked at him for a moment. He shrank under the gaze for what felt like an eternity before the response finally came. "I first learned to play the harp. It remains my favorite instrument. I picked up the lyre as well, in more recent years, but I ultimately feel that it is a harp with less potential, superior only in its portability. As far as my art, I started with painting, though I never felt much connection with it. I tried calligraphy as well, but it was also unsatisfying. Interestingly enough, it was wood carving that I felt most in tune with. It's not something I practiced often, but I always greatly enjoyed it when I did."
"Really? Why... I mean, what was different about it?" He felt a little foolish after asking the question. There were a great many differences between wood carving and the other arts he mentioned. While Izuku had never attempted any of them himself, the answers came as soon as the question left his mouth.
"It was the medium. Each piece of wood has qualities about it that differentiate it from others, even if they are from the same tree. Imperfections that guide the blade in certain directions, a slight curve that creates a unique shape, a blemish that alters the color in specific places. Every time you carve, you work with a different piece, much unlike a canvas. Painting, to me, was monotonous. Certainly, to paint requires talent, and each artist may have his own style, but a blank canvas has never been something I understood. My teacher said that he could look at one and see what it was he wanted to paint on it before he ever dipped his brush in paint." He shook his head. "I've never seen that, but sometimes, when I see the shape of a piece of wood, I can think of what I might be able to carve it into."
Izuku looked around, taking in the scattered trees around them. Their branches... just looked like branches to him. Maybe they had to be in very specific shapes? Or maybe you had to actually be a wood carver to see it. A thought occurred to him, and he grinned. "Just, uh... I imagine that you'd... With your precognition, you might be able to find those pieces a bit better, now."
Iida looked at him for a moment before laughing. "I will say, I never considered that application of my mantle. I'm not certain how well that'd work, but you have me curious to try."
He relaxed back into his bag. Social interaction wasn't something he was particularly good at, but he was thankful that he had managed to dispel the awkward energy surrounding them. This journey was going to have enough things making it difficult; the last thing that he needed was to make their relationship uncomfortable.
"What about you, Midoriya?"
The sense of relief he had just settled into flew away like a startled bird. "What?"
"I've been sitting here talking about my past at length, and you've hardly gotten a word in. I apologize for being so rude. What hobbies did you pursue?"
Izuku slid down until his back was almost entirely onto the ground. He looked into the red sky for a long moment before saying, "I... I didn't really have any hobbies. I mean, when I was a kid, I played, but... I never really did anything. Until I started working for Wizard Nighteye, we were poor, so anything that would require money to do wasn't an option, and nothing I could have done really caught my interest. Once I turned thirteen, I went to try to become his apprentice, but... I didn't have any magical potential. He thought I was smart, though, so he taught me how to read and write and gave me a job. After that... I spent pretty much every day in the library. Sunup to sundown, I just read. I didn't have any really close friends, and all of the other kids I had played with before were getting apprenticed to tradesmen, so we didn't really see each other. So, uh, my time was pretty much spent either working, reading, or helping out my mother."
That awkward energy was back. He could feel it in the air. It wasn't like it could have been avoided, though. He didn't have to lie about this, so he was absolutely not going to, and not answering would have created much the same effect.
After a brief silence, Iida asked, "Was it fulfilling?"
Izuku blinked. "Huh? I... I guess so?" He turned to look at his companion, who wore a downcast expression.
"I am acutely aware of my privilege to have been born a noble. My entire life, it has been impressed upon me that it was my responsibility to make sure the lives of..." He glanced over to Izuku, wincing. "...Forgive me, but of the peasants were safe and happy. However, I have never spent much time among them. It was something I planned to do once I assumed an actual position within my lord father's court, so that I could better know how to serve them, but I was given my mantle before that happened." He hesitated before continuing. "I'm glad you found your life fulfilling. It sounds... hard. You've not said anything of your father to me, but I can surmise from my brief interaction with your mother that he is, for whatever reason, absent. Between that and financial troubles... I do not have the proper context to understand what it must have been like."
He had to say something, but would could he say? What could anyone say to that? It was such a strange thing to hear, especially considering the source. Izuku had always preferred 'common-born' to 'peasant,' but regardless of the phrasing, Iida was right. There were worlds of difference between them. How could either of them even begin to comprehend the other's upbringing? Moreover, the nobleman seemed genuinely upset that Izuku's life had been so difficult in comparison. Why would he need to console someone else about the struggles he faced growing up?
Regardless of why he would, he knew he needed to. "Listen... Don't worry about it. It's... definitely been harder than it could have been, but I was happy, for most of it. Sure, it would have been better with more money, or if dad hadn't died... But nobody could have changed that. And... I made it. So did my mom. And... Now I have a real chance to make the world a better place." He offered an uneasy smile. "There's really nothing to complain about with an opportunity like that, right? I mean... How many people get that chance?"
Something in that rambling thought brought a smile back to the other Godling's face. "Not many, that much is certain. You're right, Midoriya, there is no use in worrying over such matters. Thank you."
The energy wasn't awkward this time. They spent the remainder of the evening speaking amicably of things that didn't matter before night pulled its shroud over the sky .
Their next stop was a city called Musutafu. It was much larger than Izuku's hometown, though Iida assured him that it paled in comparison to the capital, or any of the major northern cities. Their time there would be just long enough to restock the supplies they had spent thus far on the journey, sleep in a bed for the first time in almost a week, and locate a leather breastplate for Izuku. While Shizuoka had yielded most of what he had been instructed to purchase, armor had eluded him.
He was grateful that his friend was experienced in the art of purchasing lodging for the night. It was something he hadn't the faintest idea how to approach, but turned out to be a simple enough affair. Iida had just approached the innkeeper, informed him that they needed two beds for tonight only, and paid the requested amount. Izuku was handed a small iron key and that was the end of it, besides some brief sputtered questions about whether Iida wanted any repayment for the room. Those were immediately dismissed, however.
It did require some effort on his part not to be overwhelmed at the market. Izuku wasn't exactly a stranger to crowds, as he'd done his share of the shopping back home, but the scale of Musutafu presented a new challenge in the sheer press of bodies that came with it. He knew it was an exaggeration, but it felt like the entire population of Shizuoka was crammed into the sprawling square. Permanent stores defined its outer borders while tents and stalls littered the space between, and he couldn't take a single step without having to twist and turn to avoid running into someone else. He was grateful for his decision to put his money in his satchel, which was clutched firmly to his chest as he jostled and squeezed his way through the crowd. This was the perfect place for someone to start swiping purses, and Izuku didn't feel he'd be alert enough to notice before it was too late and all of his gold was gone forever.
By the time they had purchased everything they needed and moved to less crowded streets, the sun was low in the sky. The traveling they had done earlier in the day, combined with the ordeal of shopping at such a busy time, had intensified Izuku's now familiar aches into a full throbbing soreness. His body screamed for the bed waiting for him back at the inn, protesting the heavy backpack newly filled with food and even the gentle weight of the boiled leather under his arm.
"I'm..." he swallowed, his mouth dry as a bone. "I'm generally not one to complain... But is it normal to just constantly hurt when you're traveling?"
"You've lived a very sedentary life until now. Your body isn't used to such sustained activity. Travel by itself would likely be difficult for you, but adding the training aggravates it further."
"But it stops, right? There's a point where I'll stop hurting all the time?"
Iida smiled. "Yes, it stops eventually. It takes effort to get there, but you've shown already that you're more than willing to give it."
The corners of his mouth twitched up. Smiling was something he was hesitant to do, lest his face begin to join the chorus the rest of his body was singing. He opened his mouth to speak, but hesitated as the sounds of yelling reached his ears. He might have otherwise ignored it, but the word 'murderer' was called out several times. Before he realized what was happening, he was running ahead to find the source of the disturbance.
After cutting through an alley to get to a neighboring street, he found himself at the edge of what must have been the temple district of Musutafu. Several grand buildings emblazoned with Godly sigils and decorated with grand statues loomed over the street. There was a crowd gathered outside of one such building, which Izuku recognized as being the Temple of Neya. As he pushed his way through the ring of people, muttering apologies all the way, he began to pick up what was being said more clearly.
"...sister! And then you dare to show your face in front of this temple? All of the Neyan priesthood knows you for your deeds! Our Lady has told Her faithful of your treachery, kinslayer!"
He was close enough to hear that there was a response, but it was so softly spoken that he couldn't make it out. When Izuku finally breached the crowd, he saw a collection of nine men in white and blue robes in various levels of decoration – clearly the Neyan priests being referred to. Notably, there was one elderly man in the front. He had a cane for walking, but stood straight up to look the target of his ire in the eyes. His silvered jewelry and the similarly colored trim on his robes made it clear that he was the high priest of Neya in the city.
The man that stood opposite him was young, maybe a little older than Izuku. He had a striking physical appearance – his hair was split in half, white on one side and a deep red on the other. Standing on the man's left, Izuku could see a dark purple, or perhaps almost black, scar over one of his eyes. He wore a very fine blue shirt and tailored tan pants, and his expression was one of complete dispassion.
Whatever he had said in response, it caused the old priest's face to twist up in rage. "I don't care whose will it is! This temple will never accept you!" He spit on the ground, right between the supposed kinslayer's feet.
The split-haired man's eyes narrowed and he began to lift his right hand.
"STOP!"
The entire crowd turned to look at Izuku. He hadn't realized it had been him that yelled, and his face quickly matched the darker side of the stranger's hair. The priests seemed surprised, and their foe confused. He did, however, lower his hand, which caused Izuku to breathe a sigh of relief. He stepped forward before speaking again. "T-there's no reason to be violent –"
The high priest recovered from his surprise in an instant. "There is all the reason to be violent!" He brandished his cane at the man across from him. "Shoto Todoroki is kinslayer and anathema! Had I the ability, I'd take his head from his shoulders myself!"
Todoroki did not protest these claims at all. He just looked at Izuku. It was unnerving, like his eyes pierced right through him. They were different colors, he realized. After gathering his composure further, he continued. "And... I'm not saying that's excusable... But if he did kill someone, shouldn't he be turned in to the guard? Rather than trying to bait him into attacking you?"
The priest scoffed. "I'm not baiting him into anything. If he decides to use his powers to kill me, then I will pass into the afterlife with the approval of Lady Neya. Death is nothing compared to vindication."
"You should go," Todoroki said flatly. "This does not concern you."
For the most fleeting moment, Izuku desperately wanted to. Something nagged at him to stay, however. "No. I'm not letting this situation escalate any further."
"Do not defy me. If need be, I will sweep you aside."
He stood straight in response, staring the man in the eye.
"Neya bless you, young man," the priest said. "Your courage does you credit. You see, Shoto?! Nobody here will bend before you!" He rapped the base of the cane against the ground. Approval both cheered and muttered arose from the eight priests gathered behind him.
After a long moment of intense eye contact, Izuku broke it to turn around. He swept his gaze across the crowd, spotting a head of blue hair. "Iida! Go find some guards."
A new voice called out as his companion nodded and began to turn. "Best you should bow down and quake in fear instead." Rounding to locate its owner, he found a middle aged man dressed in the garb of the Temple of Hellfire standing at the front of the crowd on the other side of Todoroki. "There isn't a man in this city strong enough to lay Lord Todoroki low, nor a prison strong enough to hold him."
The priest's words, along with his look of superiority, indicated well enough what he meant to those in the know. Izuku's stomach sank, but he did not flinch. "I don't care if he is Hellfire's Godling," Izuku said confidently. "That doesn't give him license to murder."
Todoroki's eyes darkened, but he remained otherwise impassive as he tried to bore through Izuku's skull with his stare. The priest of Hellfire laughed, while the priests of Neya cast their eyes down or back to the split-haired Godling. "Our Lord is so much more than Hellfire's Godling! Why don't you tell him, Kaoru? Someone should impress upon him the meaninglessness of his defiance, and I would rather like to hear it from you, myself!"
The Neyan high priest scowled at the newcomer. "Mind yourself, Minato! We may be at odds, but I have still known your superiors for longer than you've been alive!"
"This is a waste of my time," Todoroki said. He turned to leave.
This brought High Priest Kaoru's attention immediately back to the Godling. He raised his cane to bar his path. "Oh, no! You aren't going –"
The second the cane came in front of Todoroki, his right hand shot up. Ice flew up from the ground, capturing the priest and lifting him more than ten feet into the air. He was almost entirely encased, with only his head, upper shoulders, and cane free. Izuku's brain slowed to a stop as the various potential scenarios all fought for dominance in his thoughts.
Minato looked delighted with the turn of events. The other Neyan priests scrambled back, away from the sudden protrusion of ice. Kaoru, on the other hand, was eminently calm. "Go ahead, Shoto. Kill me, just like you killed Lady Fuyumi. Just like her, I'll enter into the afterlife and the waiting arms of your mother."
Todoroki's eyes narrowed. Before he could take further action, however, his arm was wrenched down by someone.
Izuku belatedly realized it was him.
He really needed to get a better handle on that.
"Don't," he said. "I don't know what's going on with your family, but... there's no reason to kill anyone here."
"Get off of me," Todoroki warned. He tried to jerk his arm away. He was much stronger than Izuku expected, but his grip did not waver.
"Killing people doesn't fix your problems. It just makes more problems for more people."
"You know nothing of being a Godling." Suddenly, his arm became blisteringly cold. Izuku let go by reflex.
"Well, I know that being a Godling doesn't mean you can do whatever you want."
Izuku blinked. Iida hadn't said that, and he definitely hadn't said that. The voice was distinctly feminine. He sought out the origin of the voice and found a somewhat short girl in faded red dress. She had short hair and a round face, but his eyes were mostly drawn to the staff in her right hand. Anybody could have had a staff for any number of reasons, and a particularly wealthy person could afford to place a decorative gem in it. Hers was no prop, though. Izuku could tell it was a proper wizard's staff. There was no way that the sphere at its head was natural. Not when it looked like it contained the night sky within its bounds.
With the attention of the relevant players in this brewing conflict on her, she continued. "I'm The Thirteenth's Godling, but that doesn't mean I get to use my magic to terrorize people." She had a fierce look on her face as she boldly clapped the heel of her staff on the ground in front of her, the globe pointed towards Todoroki. "So let the priest go."
"And as the Godling of Lord Nezu, I will also stand against this senseless violence."
"I..." Izuku swallowed. He could taste the lie already, but he forced the discomfort down. "I may not be a Godling, but if you're going to insist on this..." He stood between the aggressor and Kaoru's frozen prison. "You're going to have to kill me, too."
Iida took another step forward. "I would advise against that. I will not allow you to lay a hand on Midoriya." His hand gripped the hilt of his sheathed sword.
The surrounded Godling looked at each of his potential opponents in turn.
"Please don't do this, Todoroki," Izuku said, just loud enough for the man to hear him.
He let out an irritated sigh. "This is a waste of my time," he repeated before turning and leaving. All three of them watched him until he reached the edge of the crowd, which parted before him with great speed. Minato, who did not seem at all pleased with the conclusion of this conflict, departed as well.
Izuku released a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. There were a hundred things he wanted to do and say and ask, but he shoved them to the side. Facing the entombed man behind him, he said, "Don't worry, uh, High Priest Kaoru, sir, we'll... we'll get you down from there!"
"Wait!" the wizard said. "Let me." She ran forward, stopping next to him and holding her staff in both hands. She closed her eyes and began speaking quietly under her breath. Izuku could only barely make out some of the words, but the order they were in seemed nonsensical. He had never heard Nighteye make such incantations when casting, but perhaps that was a result of his level of mastery?
Before he could consider this further, she thrust the staff out towards the priest. The air distorted as a pulse of something shot from its head. A large ring raced through the air and collided with an audible crunching and cracking in the area around Kaoru. The protruding prison shattered into much smaller pieces, with large chunks still bunched up around various parts of his robes.
Izuku cried out as the priest fell freely from the top. While a twelve-ish foot fall could be survived, he was an old man and the ground was paved stone. He jumped forward, arms outstretched, to catch the falling priest, but the Thirteenth's Godling called, "It's okay, I've got him!"
Kaoru's fall never reached the pace it should have. He fell slowly, as though descending through water instead of open air. Izuku still caught him, having not quite registered everything about the situation before he was in position to do so.
"Thank you, young ones," he said as he shakily climbed out of Izuku's arms. The priest batted at the remaining clusters of ice with his cane until each in turn was dislodged from him and shattered upon the ground. His subordinates ran forward, assaulting him with a barrage of questions and attempting to help him stand. He waved them off and beckoned Iida forward to join Izuku and the wizard. "It is a rare and blessed thing to encounter such fine people. Come, come with me." Without waiting for a response from any of them, he turned and began walking towards the temple doors. "I think for such bravery, a meal and an explanation are due. Come! Bring out the wine and three extra portions of whatever Brother Akihiro is cooking tonight!"
"I... But –!" Izuku called after him.
"Come!" he repeated, cutting off any further argument as he passed through the doors.
"It would be rude to refuse at this point," Iida commented.
This sentiment was echoed by a loud growling from Izuku's left. The wizard's face was the shade that he imagined her dress was originally. "Sorry," she said meekly. "I skipped lunch today." She started heading up the steps, hiding her face from them.
Izuku grabbed his armor, dropped and forgotten for the duration of the standoff, and leaped forward to keep pace with her. He heard Iida following behind him at a more measured pace. "Uh, d-don't worry about it. Thanks for your help there, I wasn't sure how I was going to get him down safely."
She smiled in return. "It's no problem, I couldn't just leave him up there!" She gave him a quick look up and down. "It was really brave of you to stand up to a Godling like that, though. You're not even armed!"
He felt his face burn at the compliment, though he didn't quite understand why. Before he could say anything, Iida interjected: "That makes the second Godling he's aligned himself against. I am beginning to question whether you experience fear, Midoriya."
"H-hey, it's not like that! I just... I can't just ignore people who are causing problems, is all!" The anxiety these compliments were giving him was entirely unfamiliar, and he found himself frantically waving his arms to dispel any misapprehensions they may cause.
"Oh yeah! I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself, that's really rude! I'm Ochako Uraraka."
"I am Tenya Iida, and this is my companion Izuku Midoriya."
"I can introduce myself..." he muttered, bothered by this for unknown reasons. "So, uh, you're not Wizard Uraraka?"
She shook her head. "Nope! I never earned the title before I became –" She abruptly stopped talking as the stars and inky blackness surrounding them within the globe of her staff began to swirl. Her eyes widened as it settled into a milky white fog. "Oh! Oh my Gods!" Uraraka stopped and spun to wholly face them. Her smile threatened to split her face in half. "It's so good to finally meet you two! Aaah!" She squealed as she cradled her staff tight against her body with both arms.
Izuku was confused, but Iida looked somewhat taken aback by this outburst. "I'm sorry, what is happening?"
"I, um, I get these, I guess you'd call them portents? I get them in my staff sometimes. They're hard to read, because it's just arrangements of stars, and sometimes I don't get enough context so I have to find where the stars are in the actual sky, and they give me little clues when I'm not sure what I should be doing! It's been happening ever since I became a Godling. This one... well, it's only my second one, but it was really hard to figure out compared to the first one. It just said 'friends,' and it took me a week to find the stars, and I could see the word Musutafu as well, so I figured I needed to come here and find those friends, and when we all introduced ourselves, the portent went away! Which means that it's come to pass! I've been here for almost two weeks waiting for... well, you!"
Their group was entirely stopped near the door to the temple. Several of the priests were looking out and watching them expectantly, but they seemed too apprehensive to actually come out and beckon them in further. It was understandable, considering they knew of two Godlings between the three people. Izuku shared that emotion as he watched Iida to see how he'd react to Uraraka's revelation.
The man frowned and straightened his glasses. "What is your design, then?"
Her face fell. "My design? Why are you saying that like it's a bad thing?"
"You must realize that a Godling coming out of the blue and claiming to have been waiting for us is highly suspect. I can only imagine what you intend to do now that we're before you."
While not a social creature by any means, even Izuku was able to plot the course of this conversation. "Iida is, uh, pretty serious about becoming the next King of the Gods. I think what he's trying to say is that... Um. He's concerned you're here to... take advantage of him." Like he was. That thought was promptly pushed to the back of his mind.
Uraraka looked down. "Oh." After a beat, she said, "Well... I could tell you I'm not, but you have no reason to believe me. I'm really not interested in being the Queen. I don't think I'd be very good at it, you know?"
"You're right in that I have no reason to believe you. While your assistance in preventing a murder is appreciated, I have no way of knowing that you are sincere in your intentions or that your portent said what you claim."
Izuku didn't let the thought crawl back to the forefront. "Iida, if... if she's serious... I mean, we could use the help. You said yourself that your powers don't lend themselves to combat. She's a wizard. Not to mention that the more precognition we have, the faster we'll find the Palace."
Iida gave him a harsh look. "I would appreciate if you didn't disclose our assets to the competition, Midoriya."
He wilted slightly under that gaze. "Well... I just..." He turned to Uraraka. "Do you have anything that can prove what you're saying, maybe?"
She shook her head. "No, not really. I don't know what I could say to make you believe me. I just... didn't know what to do after getting my mantle. I mean, how could I find the Palace by myself, right? So when I got that portent, I thought that I could find people who could help me, and I could help them, and... I don't know. I never really thought much about the stakes of the Great Game, since they didn't mean anything to me." She sighed. "I'm not here to try and steal it out from under you, I promise!"
There was a tense silence. Uraraka was looking up at Iida hopefully, and he looked back with considerable doubt. Izuku quashed the sickly feeling in his gut at her last sentence.
Finally, Iida shut his eyes. "It will be some time before proper progress is made, as I have a commitment to uphold before I can pursue the Palace. If you prove untrustworthy at any point, we will have a reckoning."
Her face split in a smile. "Don't worry! There won't be any need for that."
Izuku sighed in relief. "We, uh... should probably go in, though." He gestured towards the increasingly anxious priests waiting for them.
The temple's dining room was spacious enough to accommodate a long table and the chairs accompanying it, but that was about it. The three Godlings were seated close to the head of the table, next to High Priest Kaoru and the fireplace. Before each of them was a cup of wine, a bowl filled with a plain salad decorated only with strips of chicken, and a small plate with a chunk of bread.
After a brief prayer over the meal and thanks being passed around from the guests, Kaoru began to speak. "With the two of you being Godlings yourselves, you must understand the dangers inherent to this... unconventional form of succession. Shoto represents the most present of these dangers: that you will be hunted and killed for your powers."
"So... his sister was a Godling, too?" Izuku asked.
Kaoru nodded. "The story begins before that, however. Those heading significant enough temples of either Neya or Hellfire have been aware, in a very general manner, of the Great Game for almost twenty years now. This knowledge came from an investigation into a claim of Demigodhood made at about that time. It was unconventional, as it came from another Neyan high priest from the city of Kiyashi. I received a letter from the Hierophant herself, asking me to meet her in Kiyashi with several others to verify the claim."
"That doesn't seem normal," Iida commented. "From what I remember, most investigations into potential Demigods are done by a single priest, maybe with an aide or two."
"That's right, normally it would be handled as such. However, the claim must be verified by a ranking priest. Since the claim was made by a high priest, the only person with the authority to investigate it was the Hierophant. It was a very intentional decision, we would come to find.
"The priest explained that he had received a vision from Lady Neya herself, revealing that the time of the Gods we know was coming to an end, and there would be a succession in the future to bring about new Gods. The Lady of Frost had spoken with Lord Hellfire and revealed a pact made between them." At the mention of Hellfire, every priest in the room spat on the floor beside them. Kaoru followed suit at the end of his sentence.
Izuku shifted in his seat uncomfortably. He had never before witnessed such blatant disrespect to a God, and to see it done by men and women of the cloth – albeit from another temple – was unnerving. He might have wondered what could cause such ire, but he was a few steps ahead of this story already and was reasonably sure he knew.
"The idea was Lord Hellfire's. The two of them would have a pair of children together, each to be one of their Godlings. The first would belong to the Lady, as a show of good faith. With her child being born sooner, she would have a more experienced Godling when the Game began. The two children could even be raised in proximity to each other, he suggested, to forge a bond of kinship between them and have several of the new Gods already familiar with each other upon their ascension."
This statement was met with curses upon Hellfire's name and priesthood both muttered and shouted. "Peace, brothers and sisters. I can't very well tell the story over such a din, can I?" His voice was soft, despite him nearly yelling to heard over the ruckus. Awkward apologies were made, and when the room had quieted down, Kaoru continued. "He then presented an infant child, who he said was in a basket outside of his room when he awoke. This was Lady Fuyumi, child of our Goddess and Lord Hellfire. Since only a first name was decreed by the Goddess, it was agreed that she would take the last name of the priest who would raise her, Todoroki."
"Did he raise her brother, too?" Uraraka asked.
Kaoru shook his head. "No. I heard tell two years later, when Shoto was born, that the priest of Lord Hellfire that would raise him had decided to give him the same last name, since they were siblings." He sighed wistfully. "Nowadays, I long for those times. It was the closest our temples had ever been, and the future was bright with their potential, even tempered with the coming death of their parents. The purpose of their birth was kept from the priesthood at large, but the knowledge of them was permitted to any wearing the cloth. To speak of them to any who were not initiated was forbidden, as it was agreed that they would be protected until their parents bestowed their divinity upon them."
A somber silence filled the room for a moment. None of the guests dared break it.
"The very day that happened," Kaoru finally said, "Shoto killed Lady Fuyumi and stole her mantle for his own. We all saw it that night when we slept. He attacked her, unprovoked, and she begged for him to stop. She was a good and kind woman, and didn't wish to harm him. He ruthlessly exploited her love for him and declared it their father's will that she die by his hand." He placed his hand over his left eye. "That scar you saw on him was her final act."
Izuku found himself with a sudden lack of appetite. He had known how the story would end, of course, since it was near the first thing he had heard of the matter. As he learned more of the situation, he felt progressively more sick to his stomach. He had been an only child, and had often wondered what having a sibling would be like. Even without that person ever having existed, he couldn't imagine harming them for any reason. "I'm... I'm so sorry," he managed.
"That's just horrible." Uraraka stabbed at her salad, shaking her head.
The high priest smiled. "It certainly isn't your faults. That is, however, the end of the story as I know it. Lady Neya has told every last priest of the treachery of her son and consort, and made it clear the full extent of their crimes. I suspect Lord Hellfire may have made some declaration of his own, because his priests have been antagonizing us at every turn. It's all I can do some days to keep it from coming to blows." His gaze settled past them, on a particular priest who had the good sense to look abashed.
"So, today... If you're concerned with keeping the peace, why antagonize Todoroki?" Izuku asked. "I mean... It's not that I don't understand why you're upset at him. I would be, too. I mean... I guess I am. But I don't understand why you'd do that?"
"I happened to be near the doors when I saw him passing by. I knew him immediately, of course. His appearance has been burned into my mind since I dreamed of Lady Fuyumi's murder." The other priests murmured in anger and agreement. "As for why... Well, I suppose I saw red. That dream may have been the first I'd seen of Lady Fuyumi since she was a baby, but I feel her loss deeply. You see... Our temple has no future. There's not one among us that will follow Shoto when he ascends for what he did. We eagerly awaited her ascension, and now all we have ahead of us is a murderer. A kinslayer. What we'll do when Lady Neya passes is a mystery. Perhaps if we're lucky, someone will kill Shoto and there will be someone the Neyans can rally behind, but he's no mean opponent. I do hope you can keep clear from him in the future, though. As a Demigod with two separate mantles that his natural aptitudes likely make him well suited for, the amount of power he wields is likely far beyond what any of us could even dream. I'd hate for something to happen to any of you."
The meal concluded in silence. What else could be said to that?
Fun fact: This chapter came out to about sixteen thousand words, which is why it was so delayed. I decided to break it (again) into two chapters since they came out to about 7.5-8k apiece, and it gives a better focus on the major events of each half. The good news is, this means the next chapter is done, so you guys get it as soon as my lovely wife finishes reviewing it. This is just taking a little longer than normal because she's been sick and unable to beta.
I will again apologize for Uraraka and Todoroki, as I don't quite have their voices yet. We'll get there folks, don't worry.
We're just getting a mini lore corner today, unfortunately. I've got many more planned out, but most of them are being introduced at specific points so as not to clue you guys in on some of my twists and whatnot early. Since this was unexpectedly split into another chapter, I didn't have another one prepared.
The Great Game
The first death among the Gods was entirely unexpected. The original pantheon wasn't even aware that they could die. With their brother's mantle fizzling out of existence, the then-King designed the Great Game as a way to ensure that no other mantles would meet the same fate. He suspected that it would one day return, as they had been born out of primordial nothingness. How long that would take, however, was unknown to him. The risk of leaving the world without a guiding hand for untold ages was unacceptable to him, and thus it was decided and codified into divine Law that a competition would be held to ensure that the new Gods were worthy of their titles and that the mantles they held would not be lost.
