Spiral Flames in Lugnica
Hello everyone and welcome to my first official crossover story! Yes I know I've kinda done a crossover chapter at one point earlier in my writing career but this one is a straight up, official crossover story and it comes to us upon request of fellow reader Steeler Steelix. This is also the first story I'll have that's been beta read so if the writing structure seems a bit different, that's why. But beta read or not, I think you'll all find the premise of this story interesting and hopefully quite entertaining. And, before I forget, don't forget to check out my book, Plains Riders, on Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited! Now then, with that little advertisement out of the way, let's get into this story!
The world of Lugnica was a fascinating world in many respects. It was a land teeming with monsters, magic, powerful knights and warriors ready to do battle against whatever evils happen to rise and threaten the innocents. This made it occasionally hard to be one of the Seven Witches of Sin, especially when trying to get an experiment done.
However, Pandora, the Witch of Vainglory, was still fairly confident she wouldn't have too many problems with this next project.
After all, the beauty of this particular experiment was for things to get chaotic to at least a small degree. The good news was that all of the preparations for her little trial were in place, save for one tiny little factor: she needed test subjects.
And not just two random villagers she could abduct at any time, either, but rather hardy subjects with a bit more resiliency than the average person.
'Although, if I get someone too resilient then they just might become a problem, so perhaps I could moderate that resiliency with ignorance,' Pandora mused to herself.
But where to find someone both powerful and ignorant? If she only had this world of Lugnica to look at, then she might had found herself a bit limited. Fortunately for the Witch of Vainglory, she had a way to peer into many worlds that are all full of possible candidates.
In fact, she had found a rather fascinating world recently that had people with all kinds of strange abilities they called "Quirks."
She did not know what magic was in play to give birth to these things called "Quirks" but it had created no shortage of interesting test subjects to choose from.
'And look there, it seems we have two very promising ones resting up right now,' Pandora thought as a slightly mischievous smile graced her lips, 'now let us see how they adapt to a world like Lugnica.'
Japan, Musutafu City: U.A. High School
To say the situation was bad was an understatement. In the last several days, the Pro Heroes of Japan had been engaged in battle with a practical army of villains known as the Paranormal Liberation Front. While the name itself certainly sounded ridiculous, the threat posed by them and their most recent leadership, the former League of Villains, was unparalleled. Adding on to that threat, their leader Tomura Shigaraki had been granted the power of the worst villain to ever walk the earth: All for One.
It had turned him into the most dangerous threat the world had ever seen, and the most recent battle had cost the lives of a number of heroes. Nejire Hado herself had nearly died at the hands of one of the main villain generals, Dabi, or as he had revealed himself to be Toya Todoroki.
That particular revelation had thrown everyone for a loop. A son of the current number one hero, Endeavor, becoming a villain because of what his father had done in his efforts to get him to outshine the previous number one hero, All Might.
'I understand why he would have wanted to become a villain,' Nejire thought as she stood on the roof and looked up at the night sky, 'but even so, his trouble with his father isn't near a good enough reason to cause death like this.'
She also had to admit a certain degree of bitterness for what he had done to her. She was still a lovely girl by most standards, having blue hair that reached down to her neck with two strands that spiraled upward behind her ears like a pair of horns.
Although, her blue hair once reached all the way down her back like a cascading waterfall that ended with two large strands crossing.
Thankfully, her outfit was still intact, albeit more weathered than usual. But the body suit was sturdy and its varying shades of blue and turquoise were still easy enough to make out. Her knee-high boots and yellow gauntlets still retained the turquoise wraps that had always been there, and she had gotten new pouches strapped around both of her thighs.
'I should consider talking to Hatsume and seeing if she could come up with a fire-retardant coating for this costume,' Nejire mused, her former thoughts already forgotten as she turned away from the night sky to head in.
U.A. had been turned into a shelter for numerous citizens seeking a safe haven from the villains still running amok in the city. She had been hearing word that the school wouldn't be safe for too much longer, though, and that they would need to evacuate soon.
'If that's really the case then I'd best get some rest. I'll need the energy for when the villains decide to show up.'
Nejire wasn't abandoning her post because she was tired or anything, she was actually on schedule. She knew that another one of the U.A. students or Pro Heroes would be along to take over the watch for her in a minute.
As she was about to head down the stairs, a flash of platinum hair made her jump as she turned to see a young woman she didn't recognize.
"Good evening," the strange girl greeted with an innocent smile. "The night air is quite refreshing right now, wouldn't you agree?"
"Oh, uh, yeah it's great," Nejire replied, recovering her composure while also getting a look at the new arrival. She knew right away that this little girl had not come in with the other refugees of the city because she would have remembered someone like this.
The newcomer was stunningly beautiful with platinum hair that was almost translucent, reaching down to her ankles and a small, delicate looking body that was covered only by a large white cloth that was held onto her shoulders by a blue drawstring. The only other thing close to an article of clothing she had was a blue ribbon on her hair. Although, she didn't seem to mind the feel of the roof on her bare feet.
"But, you know, it's dangerous to be out right now. Do your parents know you're up here?" Nejire asked gently.
"You needn't worry about that." The little girl assured her with a smile. "I have actually came here for you."
"Me?" Nejire repeated in confusion. "If you would like me to help you, then I can spare a minute or two at best. What do you need?" The blue-haired girl didn't know why, but despite the beautiful features of the little girl, she still felt unnerved by her.
"Before I tell you that, I believe it would benefit us all to get acquainted first," the platinum-haired stranger replied. "So we'll meet right now in that abandoned building in the distance. All three of us."
Nejire was about to ask what she meant by that before blinking, and nearly jumping out of her skin in surprise.
The reason being: their surroundings had changed completely and without warning. One moment, they had been on the rooftops of U.A., but now they stood in an abandoned building's bottom floor that was covered in rubble. But even that was forgotten as Nejire got a look at the apparent third occupant.
"What in the world," came the voice of a white-haired man in a dark blue coat with purplish, burnt skin on his arms, neck and mouth. "How did I get…and what are you doing here!"
"That's my line!" The Big Three member declared as she immediately soared into the air, propelled by the yellow spiraling energy of her Quirk coming out of her feet. "How did you get in here, Dabi?! Is that girl working for you?!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Dabi shot back as blue flames formed in his hands. "But since you're here, I might as well finish what I sta—HUH!"
His words were cut off as the platinum-haired girl suddenly appeared above him, and put her hand on his head, shoving him into the ground all the way up to his shoulders.
"Please, Toya," the mysterious girl chided calmly as she moved her hand away from his head. "You're not here to fight each other."
"H-How did you do that," Nejire asked, unable to keep the surprise out of her voice as she slowly floated down to the ground. She hadn't even seen the girl move. It was as if she had just appeared out of thin air. "Is that your….Quirk?"
"I do not possess what you know as a Quirk," the stranger corrected. "I am Pandora, the Witch of Vainglory. And what you just witnessed was the power of one not of this world."
"Not of this world," Dabi repeated as he looked up in annoyance, trying to struggle out of the ground. "What are you some kind of alien?"
"Perhaps in a manner," Pandora replied as she proceeded forward a bit to stand between the two of them. Nejire did her best to disguise her shaking, but it was still difficult when she had no idea what this person was truly capable of. "You see, I came to this world in search of test subjects. I need people who are capable of not only combat, but are also possessed of a strong mental fortitude. Something you both have in common."
"Why can't you just take another one of the U.A. brats," The fire villain grunted as he used his flames under the ground. If his assumption was correct, the pressure build up would put him in a more favorable position.
"Another variable factor," Pandora explained, "you both have different approaches to solving problems, and that will help me better test my creation."
"You want to test something," Dabi said as he put more power into his flames. "TEST THIS!" A pillar of fire sprouted from the ground beneath the villain and sent him flying through the air. "NOW BURN-OOOFFF!"
He had just gotten his flames lit in midair before being blasted back by a yellow spiral shot from Nejire who was more than a little alert right now.
"Damn nuisance!" Dabi cursed.
The villain rapidly shot off a few fireballs which Nejire bounced and weaved around in midair before moving low to charge at her opponent. Both her and the fire user then launched an attack at the same time.
To their surprise, however, Pandora suddenly appeared in the middle of the attacks with a seeming lack of concern on her face.
"Get out of there!" The U.A. student yelled as she tried rushing to save the smaller woman.
But the blasts collided and tore the girl apart, leaving nothing but scorched remains. The Big Three member tried to stifle a cry of anguish at the sight while Dabi laughed in triumph.
"Guess you're not so great after all you platinum-haired—" He was quickly silenced and surprised when he felt a foot hit the back of his head and drove him face-down into the ground.
"I can forgive you interrupting me and even attacking me," Pandora stated as she held Dabi down with her foot on his head. "But please refrain from doing so any further. It will only result in delaying my explanation."
"What the fu—GUH!" Dabi started to say before Pandora pressed her foot down harder. As for Nejire, she was again staring wide-eyed at the mysterious girl.
"But how did you..." Nejire dared to ask. "I just…I thought I saw you die."
"You are mistaken," Pandora replied with a small smile. "It was likely that your eyes were playing tricks on you. But this experiment, and what I have to offer as a reward, are not tricks."
"Reward?" The white-haired man beneath her foot repeated, his interest finally piqued. "You plan on giving us something for all this weirdness?"
"Of course," The Witch of Vainglory assured as she lessened the pressure on her captive's head. "My Authority allows me to grant many things. And judging by the looks of this city, at least one of you would benefit from what I have to offer."
"Wait, are you actually saying you can give us power? More than we have now?" The pyrokinetic questioned skeptically.
"In my world, there exist powers known as Divine Blessings or Protections," Pandora revealed, "much like your Quirks, people who possess Divine Blessings are usually born with them. I, however, can grant them to you, provided you fulfill my wishes first."
"What exactly do you want us to do," Nejire asked cautiously. "You said you wanted to experiment on us."
"I said I desired to use you both 'in' an experiment," the Witch of Vainglory corrected. "There is only one alteration I plan to make to the both of you. But first, we must journey to my world."
"Wait, you're taking us back with you?" Dabi almost yelled as he tried to get up with flames erupting from his palms and burning the ground. "We're not going anywhere until you explain this whole deal!"
"But we have already arrived," Pandora announced, "we have been in my world the whole time I've been explaining."
In the blink of an eye, the scenery changed once again. What was once the inside of a ruined building had shifted to that of a European-style town with several buildings surrounding them that were between two to three stories high.
"This is your 'Authority' again, isn't it," The U.A. student stated more than asked as she looked around, quickly determining they were in some kind of square due to the presence of a large fountain and a circular path surrounding it where several streets met.
"It is," the platinum-haired witch affirmed with a nod. She was no longer standing on Dabi, who had gotten to his feet, but was sitting on the edge of the fountain now. "And I have already implemented the 'change' in both of you. Nothing will feel out of the ordinary for the time being, but depending on your actions you shall soon discover the abnormality within you."
"What in the world is that supposed to mean?" Dabi demanded in annoyance. "Just tell us what's going on now so we can get this over with and you can give me that power you promised!"
"Alas, I feel revealing the trigger for the ability I have given you two would make you both too reluctant to use it," Pandora replied as she began to float up into the air. "But fear not, the land of Lugnica and its surrounding countries are filled with more than enough dangers to occupy you both. So farewell for now, but before I depart, I'll grant you both a direction: seek out the silver-haired half-elf, and from there your journey shall begin."
And as before, the platinum-haired witch disappeared in the blink of an eye, and with her departure came the sudden sounds of the city.
"What is going on?" Nejire mused aloud as she looked at the fountain before sweeping her eyes over the rest of the area. "She said she has given us a new power, but she won't explain what it is or how it works. At least a name might have been—HEY!"
The blue-haired girl jumped backwards just in time to avoid a fireball that surely would've burnt off a good bit of her skin, if not more.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
"That should be obvious," Dabi replied with a sinister grin as he shot more fireballs at her. "Eliminating the competition!"
The wave motion wielder gritted her teeth in annoyance as she dodged the next couple of attacks before taking to the air.
"Is this about the power that Pandora promised us?!" The U.A. student asked incredulously as she fired a blast of yellow spiral energy from her palm.
Dabi quickly rolled out of the way as the ground was torn up where he had been before retaliating with a stream of flame from his right hand. Nejire dove and flew right above the ground to avoid the intense attack while aiming her own attack at the villain.
But he anticipated such a move, and fired a blast from his other hand right where the student was headed.
Nejire reacted almost on instinct by putting her hands to the ground, and flipping forward before using blasts from her hands to leap over the blue flames.
Dabi turned and readied a flame from his other hand as the blue-haired girl landed and fired a blast of her own.
She gritted her teeth against the pain as she felt some of the flames burn her side, but still got the satisfaction of her opponent being flung down an alley by her own attack.
"Damn school girl!" the fire user cursed as he shot more flames in multiple directions in front of him.
Nejire skillfully dodged around the flames as she flew towards her opponent only to feel a sudden hit in her left shoulder.
'He was aiming for the alley walls with some of those attacks,' the U.A. student realized as she just stopped herself from hitting the ground.
"Now burn to a crisp!" Dabi roared.
The villain unleashed a torrent of flames, filling up the entire alley and quickly advancing towards Nejire, who flew upwards and to the other side of the two buildings. She felt the heat baking her feet and scorching her boots as she did so.
Despite that, she responded by firing her own yellow spiral blasts down into the alley below, albeit blindly.
The blue-haired girl then landed on the other side, quickly noting that not all of the citizens were running away from the site of the battle.
"Everyone, get away from this area now!" She ordered with the type of authoritative voice she had learned to use during rescue operations. It seemed to do the trick in getting the rest of the crowd moving.
"Guess being sent to another world didn't do anything to reduce that goody-two-shoes attitude of yours," Dabi sneered as he came walking out of the flames. "Still worrying about a bunch of random bystanders you've never met."
"Saving lives is what heroes do," Nejire retorted as she charged up her own Quirk. "At this point, it shouldn't be a mystery to you for why we do it."
"I know all the fancy words and sayings about it," Dabi said with a shrug as flames formed in his hand once more. "Too bad so many wearing the title of 'hero' aren't so good at it. Why don't we find out how good you are?"
He sent several fireballs flying in multiple directions which Nejire then contained with the large spiraling waves of her Quirk. But some of the inferno got past her, and headed right for a couple who had tripped and fallen over in all the panic.
"NOOOOOO!" The hero-in-training exclaimed as she tried to reach them in time. But just as it was about to hit its target, the fireball suddenly veered off course when a blur of white landed in front of the civilians.
"What in the world," the villain said, dumbfounded at what just happened. His fireball had just moved out of the way as if it had a mind of its own.
"That will be quite enough of that, villain," declared a man dressed in a large white coat with white pants and red hair. Although, the most notable feature about him was the large sword on his hip which had an ornate, dragon-like handle that was black and gold. "If you surrender peacefully, then the penalty will not be too severe. However, continue to reap destruction and your journey shall end here."
Nejire looked back and forth between the two, still trying to wrap her head around what was happening. She had hardly seen the man move when he showed up, but was certain she had seen the fireball veer off course when he landed in front of the two civilians.
"Thank you, Sir Knight," the couple said before hurrying away from the site of the battle.
"Knight," Dabi repeated with a scoff. "What in the world kind of place is this? Are you really running around calling yourself a knight?"
"Of course," the man replied as he ran a hand through his red hair. "I am Reinhard van Astrea, a member of the royal guard and a knight of Lugnica."
"Heh, look more like a pretty boy to me," the flame wielder quipped before summoning much larger flames to his hands. "And I don't know what you did just a second ago, but it definitely won't work on this!"
A powerful stream of blue flame was emitted from Dabi's hands, and it was so intense that Nejire had to take to the air to avoid it.
"Hah, not so tough now are you?!" He continued.
"I would advise you to stop doing that," came the voice of Reinhard who Dabi now realized was standing right behind him.
He reacted by moving to shoot more flames at him, but the knight stomped his foot on the ground, creating some kind of shockwave that knocked the villain off balance before punching him in the gut.
Dabi winced in pain, nearly vomiting as the blow sent him flying into a nearby food stall.
"Wow," Nejire couldn't help but said in awe. "Is your Quirk super speed? Or is it super strength? Or do you have some type of enhancement Quirk?!" It appeared this world was going to bring out her curious nature just as much as her own.
"You'll have to slow down a bit," Reinhard said as he put a hand up while rubbing the back of his head. "Although, it's understandable that you might be inquisitive. You're not from around here, are you?"
"Nope," the blue-haired girl replied before levitating back to the ground. "I'm not even entirely sure where 'here' is."
She would have said more, but at that moment, the food stall where Dabi had been flung exploded, catching fire as the now aggravated villain walked out of the debris.
"Pretty good trick with that enhancement Quirk of yours," he dryly complimented. "But let's see if you can dodge this!" He began gathering flames in both of his hands and held them up above his head, forming a massive burning blue orb. "And I feel I should mention, even if you run off now, this is gonna take out a few blocks. So what's it gonna be hero?!"
A dark look suddenly crossed the red-haired knight's face upon hearing such a declaration. "You would be willing to destroy that much and even endanger other people's lives merely to best me?" He asked simply.
"In case you haven't heard, I'm a villain," Dabi taunted, "so come and stop me if you ca—"
'Slash.'
The Pyrokinetic didn't know what happened at first. One moment, he was talking and the next he felt cold and weightless as his vision suddenly went wide.
He wasn't moving under his own power anymore as he felt himself flying through the air, turning as he did.
And what he saw after turning around stunned him beyond words. He saw his own body, without a head! Then, he saw the cause:
The red-haired knight had closed the distance in a blink of an eye, and had cut his head off with his fucking hand!
'This can't seriously be,' Dabi thought as he felt his consciousness going. 'After everything I did for my revenge, this is how I die?'
He had enough time to regret underestimating the knight, having assumed he would be like the rest of the heroes who didn't kill people.
The rest of his thoughts went to cursing his father for all the pain he had been put through, and hoped that Shigaraki would finish what he started.
Lastly, he cursed that seemingly all powerful little witch, Pandora, for sending him to a whacked-out place like this.
'What an anti-climactic way to go,' he thought finally as everything went black.
The Kingdom of Lugnica: The Fountain
Dabi gasped as fresh air filled his lungs and he grabbed for his throat, relief flooding him when he found that his head was still attached to his body.
"What the hell," he said while working to calm his nerves. "For a second there, I thought I'd actually…" His words trailed off as he looked around. This place was familiar, very familiar. 'This is the place where that Pandora girl dropped us earlier,' he realized.
With that revelation came something else.
"What in the world?" Nejire, who was also present, said as she looked around in confusion. "How did we get back here?"
For once, the two of them were on the same page: something strange was going on, and they had no idea what.
And that does it for chapter one of our crossover story! Hope you all liked it and look forward to more chapters in the future. In the meantime, feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. And once again don't forget to check out my book, Plains Riders. Stop in next time as we see Dabi and Nejire try to come to grips with their situation and figure out just what in the heck is going on! 'Til then.