Chapter 7: The echo of death

The Watchdog of the Old Lords, a fearsome beast burning with furious power, shivered.

The being before it, the Hunter, the monster, lit up with its own wrathful might. Before, the cloak was composed of viridescent arcs of lightning, illuminating even the depts of that ancient tomb with a hopeful, if haunted, glow.

Now what escaped the ruby veins of the Hunter was a storm of cerulean blue plasma that flew in all directions as if propelled by its host's fury.

The Hunter drew his gun in a blink, pulled the trigger, and started the second round of their battle with a brutal bang. The barrel spat the quicksilver in a burst of plasma, the pellets from the blunderbuss accelerating at match speed and digging deep in the beast's flesh with their blue light.

The Watchdog recoiled with a pained whine. Each projectile had such speed that they felt like spears drilling into it.

In a flash, the Hunter capitalized on the opening he had created by dashing at the beast and driving his sword between its ribs. He had abandoned the hammer's head beside the unconscious girl in favor of the faster weapon and wielded it with masterful and merciless efficiency.

The Watchdog opened its maw, intending to spill a wave of flames to destroy its enemy, only for a violent kick to close it shut and send its head snapping back. The accumulated fire didn't have where to go, making the pressure build up until violently exploding out.

The Hunter was but a blur in the arena, which had turned into a slaughterhouse. Flashes of cerulean were accompanied by the sound of air parted by a silver edge and followed by the frantic cries of a monster that found its natural predator. A man with a feral desire to end it slowly and painfully, playing with his prey, was what brought the Watchdog of the Old Lords to its knees.

The Hunter approached his foe slowly, dragging his sword's tip on the floor, the sound grating at the beast's ears, "Don't worry, mutt." The echo-y voice of the Hunter sounded as sharp as his blade, as furious as the power trashing over his form, "I'm sure that whatever hell you'll end up…."

The Hunter raised his blade, eyes glowing cerulean blue, and gazed with disgust at the Watchdog.

"Will be better than what I want to do with you."

The blade fell.

Izuku was drowning.

No, that would mean he could breathe in the first place.

Everything below his eyes was a numb void, bare of even the cold chill of death. He tried opening his eyes, but his vision was blurry, tears and blood making it impossible to discern what was in front of him.

A voice reached his ears. It was familiar not one he had heard before. He tried to turn his head to the source of the voice, but he couldn't. His neck hurt. Where was he? Izuku felt his eyelids turn heavy.

Another voice came from just ahead.

He hated the devil that voice belonged to.

The first voice broke through the fog in his mind.

"Wake up!"

Izuku's eyes flew open. He quickly looked from side to side, seeing he was in a desolate landscape; there was blood on the ground, and the sky was clouded by thick black clouds, making a picturesque image that perfectly depicted what Izuku imagined hell looked like.

Far ahead, someone waved frantically to Izuku, too far away for the boy to see their features clearly.

"You have to wake up, Little Nine! We can't hold him for long!" The figure's voice, masculine and youthful, serene and steady, had a tone of frantic panic to it, like an adult that didn't want to scare a child but needed them to obey for their own good.

Izuku blinked, his eyes the only part of his body that seemed to follow his orders. Who was that? Who are we? Who are they holding back, and why? And most important, what was behind him?

In the Hunt, Izuku faced many situations that made his heartbeat shoot up with all the fear, anger, and panic he felt, but for the first time in his short and painful life… It completely stopped from the absolute dread that filled him.

Something grasped Izuku, his whole body having the experience of being manhandled like a toy by a demented child firsthand. It hurt so much. Izuku could hear his bones creaking, the pressure too much for them to hold against the invisible hold that engulfed his body and squeezed.

Izuku woke up with a scream, sitting up and holding himself with bloodied hands. He frantically looked from side to side, moving his head exaggeratedly to make sure he could, that his neck still worked, that he was still alive.

Close to him, looking like an industrial blender had spat it after going to town on the poor thing, the Watchdog of the Old Lords laid motionless. Its head was chopped clean off.

The boy quickly put it out of his mind after seeing it was dead. Instead, he desperately searched for his partner in the accursed Hunt.

Izuku let out a strangled yelp when his eyes found Himiko propped against a wall, motionless and covered in foul-smelling blood. He shot to his feet with a stumble and rushed to her side, fear gripping his heart and squeezing just like- don't think about it.

A logical and rational part of his mind reminded him that in the worst-case scenario, Himiko would appear beside the last lamp they found no worse for wear. The highly emotional part of him that almost burst into tears every time Nicola and Eri looked sad, that nearly broke down every time his mother seemed worried, and that nearly was crushed down by guilt every time Himiko got hurt in the hellish nightmare (all his damn fault!) kindly told it to shut up in a tone similar to a distressed animal.

In a second that took too long, Izuku slid beside Himiko and checked her pulse. To his absolute relief, she was peacefully sleeping, completely unhurt.

He permitted himself one second to cry, then Izuku grabbed both their things, picked Himiko in a bridal carry, and marched to the last door of the dungeon. Izuku could already see a new Chalice there, which meant that all that wasn't for nothing.

After snatching it, he kept going. His thoughts became more and more chaotic at each step, the cacophony of self-depreciation, guilt, fear, and despair reaching a crescendo, ultimately ending in burning hate.

The boy that wished nothing more than to be a hero and help others cursed all the mad and degenerated animals that crawled through Yharnam, be they the beasts that looked the part of the ones that pretended to be human. Be them the ones who enjoyed his current suffering or the ones who originated it by building that damned city.

Izuku barely realized when he tripped on his own hate and back to the merciful embrace of the sun.

"What the hell happened?!"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?!"

"I don't know! I just wanted to kill that thing so bad."

"You're not the only one, Chief. But you don't see us doing… whatever the fuck you did there."

"How did you even take the wheels like that?"

"Don't look at me! I have no idea how that's even possible!"

"Ya sure?"

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I'm not an omniscient, all-knowing guru!"

"Could've fooled me."

"Deep breaths, don't waste your time trying to murder them. We're already dead."

"And your scrawny ass would only get kicked for your troubles."

"Anyway! If someone feels a sudden and overwhelming urge to go on a homicidal rampage, then please, please tell us. Also, I'm not scrawny!"

"Keep telling yourself that. But you're right."

"I'm always right."

"Don't push it. We can't know what that thing did to him, and to it. Better not tempt fate."

"All in favor of contacting Little Nine to warn him then?"

"Aye!"

"Okay, so let's figure out how the hell we'll do that."

Toshinori couldn't stop pacing.

He knew, on a factual level, that sending Young Midoriya and Young Toga back to Yharnam was necessary to figure out how to not let that happen anymore. The man knew he had given Izuku an ace in case he ever found himself in a corner, having entrusted the boy One For All, and that the two teens would watch each other's backs.

Still, a part of him felt horrible sending them into hell while he could only stay back and wait. Toshinori couldn't even help David and Melissa with all the science stuff they were doing, as he didn't even know what exactly that was.

David was aggressively typing at a speed that would have given carpal tunnel to anyone with a different quirk while Melissa was working on a machine Toshinori couldn't even identify, much less name.

"If you keep pacing like that, you'll end up carving a trench on the floor," David called over his shoulder, never stopping his frantic typing.

Toshinori didn't stop pacing, "I should have gone with them."

"That wouldn't have solved anything, Uncle Might." Melissa followed her father's example and talked while somehow still doing whatever she was doing.

"She's right. You have your time limit, which would have already expired by now." David checked the computer's clock, and yes, it was already seven hours since Midoriya and Toga departed, much longer than Toshinori could keep his stronger form up.

Toshinori knew that just as he knew exactly how much time had passed. He already had to call Young Midoriya's mother and tell the poor woman that her son didn't have a set time to return home. He at least thanked his lucky stars for his clever idea of introducing himself as All Might's secretary to the woman when they had stopped by earlier that day. That led to some modicum of confidence on the woman's part, especially with David Shield there to assure the teens would be in good hands.

The woman had almost fainted, which was fair. Now she was probably home with two small children, wondering if her son and other ward were fine.

Nothing in that situation was fine, but damn if it didn't keep getting worse.

Toshinori had made sure any blip of the Yakuza or its associates that popped on the radar would be brought to his attention immediately. He didn't like to throw his weight around like that, but the criminal organization had its sights on Young Midoriya and Eri, so Toshinori had his conscious clear on that one. Even then, he had a big nothing to show for his troubles.

At least he got Nicola refugee citizenship and both her and Eri on the protection service of his agency. The little girls would have financial support, something he was sure would help the Midoriyas' finances, and were legally put under him, even if Toshinori doubted he could take them away from Young Midoriya even if he wanted to.

The boy made him proud, even while politely threatening Toshinori. He hadn't called it that, but Toshinori knew when someone was willing to throw hands with him, and the boy was both willing and capable.

Was that a sign of separation anxiety? Maybe. Guilt for his actions? Probably. He would try to get all the kids therapy after they were done with all the "abducted to a nightmarish dimension" shebang.

"I got it!" Melissa's sudden exclamation snapped Toshinori out of his thoughts. Both he and David quickly joined the girl beside the machine she had been working on. It was a cylindrical thing with a terminal at the side that was taller than Toshinori, with a glass in the center of what appeared to be a containment chamber. In it, a glob of mist that hurt his brain to just look at floated lazily.

"What is that?"

The one to answer him was David, "That is a sample of the exotic matter, or should we call it exotic energy? Forget it. It's the thing that the passage from here to Yharnam is made of."

That made sense. If they needed a way to block the stuff, the Shields would need some of it to mess around with first. Even then, Toshinori found it distressing.

"Is that thing safe?"

Melissa turned to him, and Toshinori finally saw how worn out she looked. Her bloodshot eyes tiredly glared at him, "I spent the last hours making sure that, yes, it is safe, Uncle Might."

The hero shrunk into himself in embarrassment, "Sorry."

She sighed, "It's okay." She perked up a little, "Finally, some good news, huh?"

Just as he was about to respond, Toshinori's phone rang. He checked the caller, and a smile graced his emaciated face, "You can say that again. Young Midoriya is calling, so they got back." Which was a massive relief.

"See? Told you the boy could handle it." David patted Toshinori's shoulder as the blonde accepted the call.

"Young Midoriya! Good to hear from you-" Toshinori's happy greeting was cut short by his successor's distressed and frantic words. The boy was tripping over himself while simultaneously sounding panicked and furious, the latter was something Toshinori had never heard in his voice. "Slow down. What happened?"

The shift in his tone, from the man Toshinori to the hero All Might, made the Shields stop in their tracks and look at him worriedly. Toshinori listened patiently as Young Midoriya took a deep breath and summarized what led to his current foul mood.

He had to give the boy that; it was a good reason if nothing else.

"Listen. Stay home, rest, and wait for me. I'm on my way." He waited for the boy's acceptance and parting words before hanging up and start making his way out, "Don't wait for me." He yelled back to the Shields, already halfway out of the room.

"Wait!" Melissa rushed to his side, "I should go too. If something bad happened on the other side, it'd be better for someone with enough math to help be there."

"But what about-"

David cut his protest short, "I'll hold the fort. Go."

Toshinori nodded, half to his honorary niece and half to his friend, "Okay then, let's go."

Himiko had a strange lot in life. When she was with her old family (which she only called that for reference's sake), Himiko had what was considered a normal and safe life, but she was miserable.

Now, while she had just come out from a special kind of hell with a Victorian theme to it, after fighting, dying, and suffering a whole lot, Himiko was happy. Not for what she had to deal with in Yharnam but because she had a home to return to. And that was not in the sense of a place to stay, but one where there were people to come back to, people that liked her for her.

Izuku, the ray of sunshine, had carried her back after her, honestly disastrous, attempt at using her quirk, and after they got off their dirty clothes, the duo was smothered with motherly love from Inko. That woman was also a ray of sunshine.

Now here Himiko was, sitting on the couch with Eri and Nicola on her lap, half leaning, half laying on Izuku, and watching a magical girl anime with them. Or, at least, she and the girls were. Izuku had been on the phone with All Might earlier, and now he was angrily writing in his notebook.

Speaking of the girls, Himiko was glad that they accepted her after she told her story of how Izuku saved her. The three of them instantly bonded with the common ground of their green hero, forming what was practically an unofficial fan club. Oh! Himiko should get them matching shirts!

She knew she was trying to distract herself from the memory of drowning on her own quirk, but she was completely fine with that. Himiko was home, and she was safe. Izuku would make sure of that.

The blonde patted the two heads of white on her lap and smiled. Everything was fine. Everything was better than before. She could handle a little pain if it meant she had a home to come back to.

David scratched his head in complete bewilderment. He was a knowledgeable man, his PhDs could attest so, but he had no illusion of being all-knowing. Even then, he knew enough to, at least, not be lost on a subject for long. That wasn't the case here.

The matter, energy, thing that was the byproduct of whatever Midoriya did to connect their dimension with the other one he periodically got trapped in was impossible to understand. Scratch that; it was impossible to exist.

It didn't work on the normal rules of matter even while functioning as such. The same could be said for energy; it emitted a form of radiation that was a pain and a half to capitate on his sensors but somehow could interfere with them to the point he had to switch melted cables more than once.

And that wasn't the worst part, not by far. David was used to violations of conventional laws of physics, he worked with quirks, but that thing was something else. It had its own set of rules, and it only cared for its own rules. The Mist, which was as good a name as any, could interact with reality, but reality couldn't interact with it.

That wasn't how things worked, but David decided to roll with it after breaking down and screaming for five minutes straight. With that settled, David decided to break out the big guns, which bore fruit.

Dark matter could somewhat interact with it, which also wasn't how things worked, but he would take what he could get. The incredible results he had were more Mist. That was it. The Mist could somehow turn dark matter into more Mist, and David had no idea how.

First, that dark matter was hell to work with in the first place, as it didn't interact with normal matter or itself, so he had to bring the gravity locks all the way from I-Island and bring some sensors that were the result of multiple quirks being used to create a piece of technology that bordered on witchery. Even then, Mist ignored all of that and just did its own thing.

It wasn't any identifiable process, for starters. There was no liberation of energy, dregs, or anything a normal alteration process caused. When the two entered into contact, then instantly, there was Mist, whereas before, there was dark matter. Did that answer any questions? No, it just created more. However, it was a start, and David had done more with less.

The man glared at the blob of Mist on the dimensional lock (another thing from I-Island that was a pain on the neck to bring over), "Just you wait. I'm gonna crack you open and learn your secrets, you little rascal. When, not if, when I do, I'll free the kids from whatever cosmic tomfuckery you like to pull." David didn't like to swear, but he made a special exception for the Mist.

It could play hard to get, but the future of the next Symbol of Peace was on the line, and David swore not to let his friend's life work crumble. First, it had been his idea of a quirk enhancer, but that idea was long dead and buried.

He had thought that the world wasn't ready to lose All Might, and it wasn't, but it didn't have to. Midoriya had shown David he and Toshi were cut from the same cloth; he could be a pillar like All Might was.

But for that, he couldn't go dying in an other-dimensional hell, so David had a duty to his friend and the world to ensure their pillar wouldn't crumble.

David downed a mug of coffee in one go and cracked his neck. There was much to do and very little time, but David welcomed the challenge. After all, he did more with less.

Eri glanced at Nicola, who met Eri's ruby eyes with her own. Both girls didn't know how to speak with each other, Izuku had explained that it was because they didn't speak the same language, but they could make do with drawings and looks. The one they traded told the other how worried they were.

Izuku was angry. Not at them or at Toshinori and the girl that came with him, but he was. They tried to ask, but he shook himself and said he was fine. Neither Eri nor Nicola believed him. They knew angry men, bad men, and their good Hunter wasn't like that; he never hurt them, never yelled at them, and tried his hardest to be there for them.

Even then, even when he was their hero, he was still a man. Eri and Nicola knew he made mistakes, and they could see how scared he was, even if Eri didn't know why. Nicola had tried to explain, but that didn't help. Still, Eri knew Izuku felt down from time to time, but she had never seen him angry.

It wasn't like with the bird man, where he hurt her when he was angry. No, Izuku hurt himself.

Nicola saw when he clenched his hand so hard it bled, and Eri didn't tell anyone, but she saw Izuku punching his leg while he was searching for something in his bedroom (more like their bedroom as only Nicola and her used it).

Eri wanted it to stop; she didn't like to see Izuku hurting himself. She didn't like to see him angry.

Izuku wasn't angry. No, he went beyond that already; he was furious.

It was his idea to dive into the tombs under Yharnam. After all, why not go spelunking on a hellhole in a place that was already a hellhole? And what did he get for that? Himiko hurt herself using her quirk to save him from being chewed by a house-sized dog.

It was his mistake, and she was the one who paid for it.

Of course, there was also the little episode he had, but Izuku didn't know what, why, and how, so he would shelf that for later. Preferably never. He had enough problems on his plate.

And now he had to try to appear like he wasn't about to keel over or murder someone. Now he got why Himiko said she liked to stab people she didn't like; Izuku had half a mind to run himself through his sword a couple of times.

A hand landed on his shoulder, "Young Midoriya?" Izuku looked up at All Might and realized he was spacing out again.

"Sorry, just thinking about some things." He tried to brush off All Might's concern (he didn't deserve it) for all the good it did.

Himiko unknowingly came to his rescue, poking his cheek with a pout, "If that is about the church guy, the answer is no."

"Church guy?" Melissa asked with a head tilt, looking away from her PDA for the first time since she started to note down everything they could recall from their latest tenure in Yharnam.

Himiko's pout intensified, "This weirdo from the Healing Church we found. He kept going on and on about the 'Vile Bloods' and how they were a plague as if there weren't beasts crawling around everywhere." She crossed her arms and looked aside, "If it weren't because we needed help with the goop dog, then we would have stayed as far away from him as we could."

Izuku felt the need to at least try to defend the man who assisted them in their time of crisis, "Alfred wasn't that bad. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have beaten the Blood-starved Beast." He didn't notice how the name sent a shiver down all the blondes' spines.

Himiko growled under her breath, "Stupid goop." She turned to him and put a finger directly on his face, "And he didn't even help that much! You ended up breaking your bones again."

Izuku put his hands up in surrender, "I still need to get the hang of my technique."

"You better!"

All Might interrupted their bickering with a cough, which made him spit a little blood, "Speaking of, you should come up with a name for it." The demonstration they got showed how awe-inspiring Izuku's manifestation of One For All us was, and Toshinori felt it deserved a proper name.

"He has a point." Himiko held her chin and tilted her head from side to side, "I can't keep calling it 'lightning thingy' in my head all the time. It's lame."

"We can brainstorm some ideas later. How're things going on this side? Did you guys have a way of stopping the transition from here to there?" Izuku's voice was close to cracking by the end of his sentence. Himiko also perked up, turning to Melissa.

The girl took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, "We got a safe sample of the substance the dimensional transitions produces, or that causes it in the first place, and my dad is looking at it right now. I can't promise you anything yet, but we are working on it."

Himiko slumped on Izuku's side, not afraid of throwing all her weight on him, "I didn't get half of that, but thanks?"

Izuku nodded, "Yes, thank you for all the help you're offering us."

Melissa smiled, "Hey, it's why I became a scientist and support technician in the first place, to save the ones that save others." The two young hunters responded with their own smiles.

A sniff broke the trio's little moment. They turned to All Might to see the man drying his tears with a handkerchief.

"They grow up so fast."

The teens shared glances before breaking down laughing. The merry atmosphere helped Izuku to push the cloud of anger that clung to his skin like sludge away. He wasn't enough, but he also wasn't alone, so Izuku only needed to hang on a little more, and everything would be fine.

As if he could believe that. A Hunter must Hunt, and this one was far from over.


D O N E! Another amazing chapter brought to you by me and Silverbits! And would you look at that? This one didn't end in a cliffhanger, just some foreshadowing.

Which is worse? Yes.

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