In the brief period of silence, right after the clash between two strong blows, a hand twitched.
Despite everything that went down, someone was still able to stand.
As the sound of an alarm slowly began to fade, softer and softer, this man was the one to stand. He rubbed his jaw as he picked himself off the ground.
The person to stand after a fierce clash was none other than Mejiro.
"You sure packed a punch with your bloody bones, you bastard." he spat, rubbing his jaw as he straightened himself out. He took the time to look over at the other crazy duo.
"He...hehe...that was great!" the voice of a long haired masochist chuckled.
"Still kicking, are you?" the white eyed inmate grinned as Kuroishi began to rise up once more.
As Kuroishi stood tall, the black haired inmate that had knocked the giant down exhaled heavily. The same act shared with the giant as he stepped forward.
However, over where Gin was, right as Yubi's fingers fell onto his own face, the speechless man had a knife come down on him and it was only upon seeing the blade high in the air that he managed to kick the freak off.
"What the fuck?!" Gin shot up, shaking his head to remove all the fingers that fell onto him.
"Hehehe! HEHEHEHEHE!" Yubi giggled as many more fingers sprouted from his chest, digging into whatever they grabbed and launching the laughing madman forward.
Gin was prepared for battle, but Yubi just avoided him entirely...going back over to Kuroishi and Mejiro. "Hey! We're not done yet! You can't do this again!" he shouted after the fleeing man. Like hell he was going to just abandon the fight because he was bored again!
It wasn't long before both the grey skinned Gin and the shirtless Yubi arrived at the soon to be battle between Kuroishi and Mejiro, especially so when Yubi dropped right in the middle, halting his quirk simply by slashing and cutting any lingering fingers that were sprouted. Letting them hit the floor.
"Boring! Boring!" the blonde smirked, raising his shiv high in the air. "Swap!"
Slamming his foot down as he followed, Gin had only one response. "You just can't change fights on a bloody whim!"
Kuroishi shook his head, waving his hand around. "Doesn't matter. Let's get it over with." The quicker they were done with this, the faster they could attend the main event.
Yet, Mejiro raised an eyebrow as he looked to the floor where Yubi stood.
"Hey, Yubi. You cut your fingers off...yeah?" Mejiro gave the finger shortening fanatic a look.
"Yep!" an immediate response from such a large smile.
Mejiro's eyes looked back down to the ground. "Then where the hell are they?"
Looking down, any and all cut off fingers were...gone. "Eh?! Eh. Who cares!"
Gin huffed, "bloody freak."
"Now! We're all yubitsume budd-"
Yubi suddenly came to a halt, seeing someone from the corner of his eye. He quickly turned with a dozen extra fingers, ready to brawl.
The other three soon followed Yubi's line of sight, to whoever the new addition that decided to make themselves known was.
Just from their uniform alone, they could already tell it was a guard. A dead give away really. The man in the faded, lighter shade of green guard uniform walked closer with that same long military coat of similar pale colour worn solely on his shoulders like some sort of cape. Due to the lack of a cap, his slightly wavy beige hair was free while his electric blue eyes with silver sparks sent quite the impression.
"..Alexios..." Gin muttered as the guard arrived on the scene.
Alexios gave each of them a look. "Cease your fighting. We don't need this getting out of hand."
Just what they needed. Right when it was about to get good. "Getting caught right now...means I won't be able to punch Rhys' face in like a pinata!" Gin scoffed, stepping back into a stance. He wasn't going to let this go just yet.
A sigh came from the guard as three of them took a stance while Kuroishi just stood like he always did.
The tall guard wearing the military coat as a cape rolled up his sleeves. Raising his right forearm up, it showed a rather abstract tattoo of the three Fates from Greek mythology. It was a single thread with different actions of the three fates being shown. The thread of the Moirai with the spinning, the measuring and the cutting.
Yubi lunged forward, propelled by all the fingers that pushed him off the ground. Laughing like a madman, he outreached his hand to play with the new arrival.
Yet, the madman was stopped in his tracks as his eyes began to roll back up into his own skull, his body twitching in place.
The finger sprouting freak was caught in electricity. In front of Alexios was a barrier made of electricity. A barrier that Yubi had just crashed into and was being shocked!
The barrier vanished letting Yubi hit the floor, unconscious.
"One inmate down," he gave a smile to the other three. "Now, will you three stand down?"
Shock Barrier: Alexios can instantly create an electric barrier that will stun any person that enters contact with it! It can neutralize any target and can render them unconscious, though it is pretty draining.
Mejiro huffed as he gave a look to the other two. It was a hard situation right now, but maybe...
Popping multiple eyes out, he grabbed something from the air as he quickly reached out to Gin. "You want to punch that fucker too yeah?"
Taken slightly off from the sudden change in tone, Gin saw the outreached closed fist while dozens of floating eyes filled the area almost instantly. "If you somehow manage to get to him before me, give him this. A little present."
Looking at what it was, Gin could only smirk. "I see," he said, swiping it. "Very well, I'll let him experience your little present!"
Kuroishi was the first to leave in the sudden storm of eyeballs and Gin took off not that long afterwards.
As Alexios made his move, a figure jumped out of the blizzard of eyes. "Mejiro. It's odd to see you getting into fights like this," Alexios hummed. It was definitely odd from such a good, well behaving inmate with a rather normal crime record compared to some others. "Your sentence is almost up, yet you got into a nasty fight there."
"It's not like I had a choice."
"Self defence then?"
A scoff from the headband wearing inmate. "Not exactly." he muttered, going in with a kick.
That caused a raised eyebrow from the guard. "Then what exactly is it?" he asked as Mejiro suddenly jumped away thanks to one of the exploding eyes. Mejiro definitely didn't want to get zapped.
"Maybe you should question that Dignam bastard about that!" Mejiro landed, posing with his martial arts stance, palms at the ready.
As the eyes exploded around them, their purpose already fulfilled, Alexios' military coat fluttered in the bursts of air that followed the explosions. Yet, no matter the pressure, it stayed on. Refusing to fly off.
"Do you really want to fight, Mejiro?"
"Do I have a choice?"
Those electric blue eyes of the guard's scanned the door where Kuroishi and Gin ran out from. "There's always a choice. Besides, you're already injured. A drawn out fight will do nothing for you."
Standing, the martial artist huffed. "Those bastards already got away, so I at least want them to beat Rhys' face in, alright."
Silence filled the room for a hot minute, it was actually a few seconds but it sure did feel longer than what it really was.
In return to the convict's words, the guard smiled. "As a guard, my job is to prevent inmates from harming one another." Mejiro got ready to fight as the beige haired man continued, "but I know what Rhys' quirk entails and what it does to a person, I'm sorry that you were affected by it. So I'll give them a few minutes before I have to intervene and free you from his quirk."
Hit with the sudden surprise, Mejiro let out a sigh as he fell back. "Man."
Everything started to catch up with him now as he felt entirely drained from the interactions. All he had to do now was lay back for a while and then be released back into the world, returning back to the dojo and Shibagaki. He paused for a second as he gave a look at the guard as best he could from his position. "Soon."
Shaking his head, Alexios turned his electric blue eyes elsewhere for a brief second. "I hope things are going well over there. Arthur isn't in the best position over there. Ah, he might get pouty if we call him that again."
That would come later though as he bent down, putting a hand on Yubi. "Ah. Good, better get him to the infirmary soon."
Mejiro on the other hand huffed as he laid on the ground, staring off into another space. "I...see." He couldn't help but chuckle. It was almost time.
Rhys looked back where Mejiro and Yubi stood guard as the alarms rang through the ward. He was glad he was able to put his hands on the both of them, even if one of them was more than happy to 'feel good'.
And now he had Gousen. While not the best bodyguard he could get his dirty hands on, compared to the other more cautious and alert inmates (and of course the ones he couldn't reach like Vito) he was more than satisfied with his bodyguard.
Even if that did bring him unwanted trouble.
The man with bloodshot eyes who had admitted that grabbing Gousen while he could was more on a whim, a need to have some strength to protect him while he served his sentence quietly despite his best efforts to not stick and stay in the background.
Rhys didn't even have much of a game plan, it mostly consisted of whims and on the fly plans. But, if there was one thing he was interested in and kept him going, it was the effects and functions quirks had on human brains.
That's what landed him in Styx to begin with.
Born in Ireland, for the first fifteen years of his life, Rhys Dignam had a relatively normal childhood. To an extent that was.
You see, the young unbruised child grew up under a guise. This guise caused him a few problems, but nothing hazardous or outright mean towards him. There were occasions in the past about his cover story that brought trouble with a small minority of peers of course, but for the most part, it was standard. No troubles.
What was his cover story? Well.
Rhys...hid his quirk.
His parents had passed him off as quirkless, maybe due to the nature of his quirk being seen as villainous or that Rhys himself begged his parents to stay silent about it in fear of bullying the older he got due. With his quirk, it was easy to see why. It didn't really matter if Rhys was the one to hide it or if it was his parent's idea. All that mattered was that Rhys, regardless of who brought the idea to the table, hid his quirk from his peers as he grew up and decided to answer that he was quirkless instead.
The only problem was: no one could really hide their quirk if they had one.
Some people who noticed that their child didn't show a quirk went to see doctors, in case there were problems. Others didn't bother with it, whether accepting they were quirkless or lacked things like funds or transport to check or perhaps their lives were way too busy to get it checked out. Sometimes late bloomers were a thing.
While it is indeed possible to hide your quirk, sadly in this day and age it was something that was growing ever so harder to do so. Incredibly so. Only a tiny handful of people would have managed it in the past. Now though? You had to be really lucky...or be a late bloomer to your quirk.
Rhys knowing about his quirk and what it did entered school in silence, acting like he was quirkless, occasionally being made fun of for it but he still had a small group of friends. Pretending to be quirkless instead of a late bloomer, being made fun of for not having a quirk by the few high and mighty types, etc.
It was a really, really dumb decision on his part.
However, unluckily for Rhys, his high school had a quirk inspection.
The quirk inspection served a few purposes.
One such purpose was similar to that of a doctor's check-up. Making sure the person's quirk was healthy and not affecting the person who owned it negatively. Another was to check to see if changes occurred in the quirk or if new factors made themselves known such as updating quirk information from shooting water from your hand to gathering moisture to then shoot water out of your hand or perhaps having detachable hands being updated to being able to have the hands still move after being detached. For late bloomers, it was an inspection to check the quirk and why it might not have activated. There were other reasons of course, such as the mentioned quirk test that some might not be able to go through due to their current situations. Whatever the countless reasons for the inspection were, it would all come to light.
If you had a quirk, you couldn't hide it forever.
Whether he was forced to show it or the doctor in charge of the quirk inspection that came already had the information about his quirk, Rhys' Pavlov came to light.
Rhys did his best to hide it, especially for what it did to people, but in the end the truth came out. While his parents helped with the idea of passing him off quirkless, documentation remained officially about it and even if it didn't. The joint in his toe that was missing said it all as it all came out when he was called out. He was forced to reveal Pavlov and then, it happened.
"What a disgusting quirk."
"Did he use it on me? Gross!"
"I hope he didn't touch me. When did he touch me?!"
"No wonder he hid that quirk, disgusting pervert."
"I think he used it on me!"
Murmurs all around him as they learned of his quirk: a touch that could grant pain or pleasure.
As quickly as the truth came out, Rhys Dignam was quickly ostracised.
All around the world there were stories. Stories about how you shouldn't judge someone based on their quirk, physical or otherwise. Just because a person had a face that resembled an eldritch abomination didn't mean that they were a bad person, for example. However, that didn't stop people from judging anyway, after all, Rhys was one of those who had a villainous quirk.
"Hey, are you alright?" he asked once he saw one of his classmates fall, offering a helping hand, to get them back up on their feet.
They were probably about to until they saw who it was. "Hands off, fucking perv!" It completely took the brown haired teen off guard as they vanished almost instantly.
People just jumped to conclusions. His quirk was disgustingly a villain's...
"Hey, the teacher told me to give you this-"
Holding a small stack of papers, the person who he was supposed to give them too, backed away.
"Just...just drop it on the table. Please." the recipient kept a good eye on him as he dropped the papers and left. Until he was out of sight, the eyes were solely focused on watching him. He could feel it for the whole duration.
It wasn't just people that immediately jumped to conclusions on if he used his quirk in the past or even right now, but people who weren't as quick to blame or judge out right were still wary. They too didn't trust him.
All sides of the field were wary. Those who didn't hide how they felt about his quirk, those who tried to be polite. All of them didn't trust him. He was truly an outcast in every field.
The only thing he was glad about, was the fact that no one seemed to take advantage of his quirk's effects...yet. No accusations, but that could just be the fact that he 'could' get revenge in that same way if they tried. He didn't really know, but the loneliness was getting to him.
So he tried something else. Something to fill the void.
From this time from high school to college, he immersed himself in the books of psychology and language. Maybe it was really to fill the void, maybe it had something to do with the effects of his quirk working on a person...or maybe, he was in denial. Convincing himself that he was trying to fill a void as he sought some sort of vengeance? Using his quirk on them and making them pay in the ways they wanted him to use it.
He kept away from everyone, fading into the background regardless of his high school ostracization and even in college, he was kept to himself, experimenting, checking out what he could really do.
Seeing what his quirk did, what it could do and how far he could push it and the effects it brought to the table.
As he moved on from college, after twenty-six years of living in Ireland, the young man decided to move away, to a new country. After graduating, Rhys Dignam moved to Japan.
Settling down in Japan was alright for him, he even opened up his own little office after a while. He helped people suffering from addiction! A great help to the community! It was well received as well!
Or so it seemed.
However, it was just like his old classmates thought. Rhys was warped, he used his quirk. He was the scum they claimed him to be.
Using his quirk, he had his clients go out and KILL his business rivals. He had his clients RANSOM themselves for money. He didn't even help them in the end, those who kept coming back always had the same problem. They had pleasure when they came back and gave him money, they were in pain when they were away and not getting his help.
To Rhys, they were just little lab rats. Little lab rats that did what he told them. Murder, theft, kidnapping and ransom, impersonation, drug trafficking, etc. You name it!
He even sold them to gangs and other sorts of shady sources. Some of them were sent in as workers, fodder or a fresh set of clean organs to sell on the black market. Rhys had even sold a few into prostitution. It didn't matter who walked through his door, he used his quirk on them.
And thanks to them and his quirk. He made bank!
He tested it out, watched them squirm in pain or pleasure with sickening smiles or painful frowns. He watched them become obedient little dogs that wanted the pain to fade and to feel great. Breaking them down slowly, but surely. The brain was fascinating, wasn't it?
All of this was thanks to such a simple price. Human lives.
So what if people were harmed? So what if he sold a father of two with a gambling addiction who wanted to make things better for his family to some black market quack that wanted to get some nice, clean working organs?
So what if he turned an innocent person into a monster that only knew how to kill, killing their loved ones, Rhys' rival offices and then suddenly sold as an expendable pawn for some organized crime group that used them as a bullet sponge?
So what if he used his quirk on some nice lady that lived down the street that wanted to give up on smoking and sold her to some seedy men that then threw her into a prostitution ring never to see the light of day again?
It all came back to his pockets in cash and a lot of noted research on what his quirk could really do. What happened to those poor lab rats didn't matter to him.
He did this for six years until one day, he was caught.
"Forcing others into prostitution, having people murder business rivals, multiple thefts and drug trafficking?" someone sitting in his seat whistled. "You've been a very busy man, haven't you?"
"I'm sorry, what?" the tall lanky man named Rhys asked, double taking. "First off, why are you in here? I'm calling the polic-"
Rhys was suddenly slammed into a wall by some unknown pressure he couldn't even see.
"Now, now." the figure waggled their finger. "It's not nice to lie."
"Wha-"
"You...you're not good at covering your tracks, are you?"
Multiple thoughts ran through Rhys such as: who they hell are they? Did they know? Stupid question.
"Rhys Dignam, you've opened up an office meant to help people with their addictions, yet everyone who came to this office has shown signs of getting worse with their addictions or changing their addictions to come see YOU. You made them addicted to coming back to you." the person shook their head. "Those people who keep coming back have shown to give more and more money despite what they're supposed to pay AND those who came to visit you went missing...hm, sounds fishy, no?"
"Who...who are you?"
"Just a part-time vigilante." the person was laughing now. "Now, you have one option to consider. Confess your crimes."
"I did nothing wron-" again, Rhys was slammed into the wall as soon as he stepped forward.
The vigilante shook their head as they got comfortable on his nice little desk. "As I said, you haven't covered your tracks. You thought you wouldn't be caught. Did you really think I came all this way now without scoping things out first?"
"...what?"
Leaning forward, the vigilante asked, "did you really think you weren't being watched?"
There, Rhys sat in silence, eyes wide as the vigilante continued. All he could think and utter was a near silent, "no..."
"I watched you for the past few days, weeks, a month. How you sold a kind old lady into prostitution thanks to your buyer thanking you in person, how you made a young man into a notorious killer because someone was offering genuinue help. I don't really need to go on, but thanks to that, I got more than enough evidence. So, turn yourself in..."
"Or what?" Rhys rushed in with his hand out. He got pretty close before he was sent up into the roof. "Augh!"
"So focused you didn't see my quirk, eh. You're really pathetically defenceless by yourself." the vigilante sighed. "I can see why you were ostracised."
Rhys froze as he landed on the ground. "Wait...you...do you mean…?"
"When I said I watched you, well, I dug deeper when I confirmed your crimes. So I had to look for everything. It'd be a shame if your folks find out about this." the vigilante stood now, walking to the window. "I bet your old classmates will be cheering if this news came out."
Rhys could see flashing lights in the distance. "And that's not even including the people you used your quirk on back in Ireland. I wonder, did you use it on your folks?" the vigilante mused, "whatever. It doesn't matter. It's time to confess, trash."
No matter what Rhys did, he was helpless. The vigilante's words striked hard like spikes into his heart. He couldn't bear it anymore. As the hours passed, the egg eventually cracked.
That night, Rhys Dignam would confess his crimes. Powerless against the vigilante that held him down with ease.
With an official police search with heroes, countless victims who were still alive and some already in prison due to him were found thanks to Rhys coming out with everyone that he used his quirk on.
Due to his actions, it made headlines for about a week or so. To Rhys, it all flashed before his eyes. Many were saved, re-trialed and were released from Rhys' grasp. The damage had already been dealt however and Rhys was sent to Styx for his crimes not that long after. He was truly scum.
He had already been in Styx for six years (hiding in the background) and while problems sprang up every now and then, he was finally in someone's sights. "Prepare yourself Gousen, you have a fight on your hands soon." the lanky man covered in bruises huffed.
Gousen didn't even say a word.
"Damn bastard," Gousen glared at the lankier man. "I'll grind your bones to dust!"
A sudden curse from Rhys caught his attention. "Here's your chance to kill those delusions of yours."
"They're not delusions, you filthy parasite host!" Gousen shouted back, raising his large fist but held back his intentions. Perhaps due to the effects of the rather obedient training quirk inflicted upon him.
The brown haired man smiled at this. "Good. It shows that it's working. You'll be a tamed dog soon." with the click of his fingers, he shooed Gousen to where they came from. "Go now, have some fun."
"You-" the 'parasite' hunter could barely finish as two familiar faces finally arrived in a hurry. "So they're finally here. Burning bastard and funny bones!"
Already approaching the two arrivals, Gousen only had one thing to say to the lanky creep. "When I'm done with them, watch your back."
"I highly doubt it at this rate, dog."
Deciding to ignore that bastard trash for now, Gousen instead decided to greet the new arrivals. "Look who turned up! Not only do I get to rid the world of one more parasite, I have two more to behead!"
Gin was the one to step forward with a rather bored looking expression. "Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say, now step aside. I wanna kick that creep!"
Stomping forward, the muscular Gousen Hikudo grinned. "Nah." Suddenly, Gin and Kuro watched as Gousen ran forward at the two. "You two are gonna die here and now!"
Going for a punch, Gousen's attack was slower than Gin's movements and while the grey skinned Shinoha easily dodged around the attacks, Kuroishi Yukimaru was the one to tank a hit.
It was then a thought popped into the bone giant's mind. "Compared to that Mejiro guy, they aren't that bad."
Still, Kuro left himself wide open because of course he did, it's what he liked after all. He was sent back a little as Gousen followed up. The bones in Kuroishi's body made him heavier to push back compared to most other inmates and as he tanked a few hits from Gousen, he decided that he had enough fun.
He swung back only to miss as the inmate killer charged Gin instead. Kuroishi would have cursed his added weight from his bones, but it didn't matter. He could catch up.
As the bald man quickly changed his opponent, Gousen was practically within a two on one fight. "I smash the more breakable one to pieces first!" the bald, soulless inmate sent his fist down onto the man with an onyx core within.
Gin responded in kind with a steaming fist straight to his face. He even landed on the outstretched, muscular arm and even kicked the man in the same spot before jumping away with increasing speed as cinders fell off his body.
Which left the bald inmate open to a sudden side swipe from Kuroishi's heavy arm, sending him down into the earth.
With a chillingly cold stare, Hikudo rose. Quickly at that. "Lucky hits, that's all. Fucking bugs!"
All he got in return was a grumble from one of the infected pieces of shit.
"This is taking too long! The guards will be here soon to lock us up," grumbled Gin as his hand missing a few bits formed something like a fist or what remained of one. "Let's just beat him up together quickly so we can enjoy the main event."
Bones soon started to pop out of Kuroishi's tall body, bones that soon covered his fists. "Fine..."
Gousen wiped his mouth as he watched Gin steam while Kuroishi's hands were covered in bones. Rage clear in that stoic look in his eyes. First he was put back into the ward one last time as some type of pawn by the guards and doctors before being isolated forever, then that Rhys bastard took control of him like some god damn dog and now two of these maggots didn't want to give him the time of day!
He was going to make them pay. All of them!
It was time to become more resistant to their attempts. He had activated his quirk.
"I'll rip your head off and let the other parasites eat it!" Gousen's delusions remained true as saliva flew from his mouth, he still saw those grey little worm-like parasites thriving and squirming in their skulls.
He would crush them all! Rip their heads off and stomp on their skulls until they were nothing but dust!
The one to attack first in this instance was none other than Gin! Using his Burn Out, he attacked hard and fast, only to watch the fingers on his left hand crumble before him.
Swatted away in an instant by Gousen, he landed on one of the nearby bolted down tables as cracks appeared on and over his body, even ones hidden under his rather unique prison outfit!
"Shit..." the thrown Gin cursed out as he moved his cracked body off the bolted down table as Kuroishi dealt with the more muscular man. Kuro didn't even question the gap of speed between them, he was slower and found himself on the defensive, that's if he even bothered to block in the first place.
The now more resilient Gousen began his comeback, striking hard at the heavier and taller Kuroishi! It was clear that Gousen managed to take the lead in the fight for the first couple of minutes. Swatting the faster fly away and keeping the slower snail pinned under his attacks.
Kuro didn't even have much time as he was once again pummelled by Gousen. It didn't last long however as Gin made his appearance again with incredible speed.
When Gin appeared again, trying to waste Gousen's time and stamina, Gousen grabbed him by the leg and threw him into the long haired giant. "Is that all you two got?!"
Frowning, Gin leapt off the fallen giant back to the fray, getting faster and faster while said giant grew more and more bones on his body. The muscular wall that was Hikudo found himself dealing with the offensive pressure of two inmates at once, surprisingly well coordinated in their rushes and barrages.
One being much faster and constantly losing body mass, the other slower and constantly gaining more and more weight and power from the protruding bones.
While his quirk lessened the damage, it was still difficult to keep up with due to the sheer difference between the two.
Gousen did well to keep the two down after managing to gain the upper hand throughout their battle though, but he was on borrowed time. He had to end things quickly as he soon realised something as the two inmates kept their attacks up.
What Gousen realised was: time's up!
The bones that connected suddenly cracked and broke upon contact with the bald muscular man's skin which only highlighted one thing to his opponents.
He would be free to hurt as much as they'd like soon.
Kuroishi kept up his attacks for a while as he shot out his projectile bones. Eventually one would have to hit the resistant man. Quickly taking advantage of the boost in defence, Gousen knocked Kuroishi to the ground with powerful punches and kicks. He kept kicking the downed horned man even when the giant grabbed hold of his leg.
Only for pain to register in his body.
With widening eyes, multiple bones pierced the bottom of his leg where Kuroishi grabbed, long bones that popped out of the other side to boot. Recoiling a bit from the sudden pain that was all gathered up with his disobedience, a flying grey bolt flew through the air covered in steam right as a leg kicked him right in the face! Silencing any type of scream he could have uttered out during that time!
Stumbling back a bit, the steaming form of Gin Shinoha looked much slimmer after having burned more of his mass as he followed up a flurry of punches to the bald man's face.
"Heh," Kuroishi rolled his shoulder as he sat back up. Taking less than a second for a breather, he jumped back up, shedding some of those heavy bones.
"Fuck! FUCK!" Gousen cursed in his mind, unable to voice his raw feelings. If there was one part of his quirk he hated, it was when the time limit ran out. With a sudden sharp increase in his resistance when it ran out, it left him weaker when it did finally run out.
Making this all the more painful for him.
Dealing with Gin was one thing, but kicked away into Kuroishi, he was soon caught in between the two as some sort of pummelling bag. Between bones and cinders.
He tried to fight back the best he could, but everything was catching up to him now. The powerful strikes of Kuroishi and the speeding blows of Gin. Soon...he was defeated, arms going limp as the duo of sadists continued despite their victory.
"When I get out of that solitary confinement cell, I'll kill both of you!" It was Gousen's last declaration as he lost the fight, dropping to the ground.
However, the fight was being watched. Watched by the bloodshot eyed Rhys himself as sweat formed on his forehead. He was in a bad situation.
Rhys knew from the start that Gousen wasn't able to fight for too long. The pain added from constant disobedience from his Pavlov quirk and now with the two on one battle...
"You were a easily obtained pawn, yet it seems the ones that come by easily are the ones to fall first in the end." Rhys only had one plan left before they were done toying with Gousen.
Escape.
Amidst the riot, a vampire roared. "HGJAOHW!" roared complete gibberish!
He had lunged forward, tongue hanging out as he tried to get a nice bite on the mute guard, but the Sarugaku sibling was able to handle it. Grabbing a hold of the vampire's face, doing his best to avoid the vampire's sharp fangs.
He tossed him aside at the last minute and didn't waste any time in a follow up once the black haired Rin hit the ground. Iwazaru was already on the attack, kicking the inmate. He had hoped that it would have winded him.
"SJAJOOUBWHGDT..." red eyed Yonaga groaned out, getting back up. Blood really kept him going.
Iwazaru didn't think that he would need his quirk any further. A quick glance at the inmates around him already showed that many of the inmates were already being taken care of.
Mizaru had slapped down any inmates with his own bokken and one of the wardens was also cutting down any lingering inmates at a fast rate and that wasn't even including the other guards taking care of the inmates!
The riot was basically contained...but, the cause of the riot still needed to be taken down. That would destroy the remnants...that's if any survived while Rin still stood.
"Blood! Blood!" Rin never noticed that he was able to talk once more as he rushed at another inmate.
As to say 'no you don't', Iwazaru jumped forth, managing to barely grab hold of the inmate's straitjacket. Rin had immediately changed targets at that point.
The sudden change in targets took the mute guard by surprise. Rin had leaned over real close, snapping his fangs like some ghost-eating sphere with sharp teeth.
As Rin tried his best to clamp his fangs around the masked guard's covered neck, Iwazaru kneed him. The brief hit made a small little opening, enough for Iwazaru to toss the inmate to the side while he got off the floor.
But the vampire was faster!
The vampire slammed head first into the mute guard, both rolling on the ground while one tried to bite the other. The fact that Rin's new straitjacket kept his arms bound tightly really helped.
Coming to a stop again and the same scenario played out, but unlike the vampire on top trying to rip out Sarugaku's jugular. The gibberish quirk owner switched things up as he now gripped the red eyed inmate's neck, holding him down on the ground. There was no time to let him react, so he started pummelling.
When he finally finished after the thirteenth punch, standing tall, Iwazaru realised...
Rin was still raring to go.
"..." Giving a look that just made him want to roll his eyes, he prepared himself once more.
"Need more! More for blood!" he cackled, shaking where he stood. "I'm gonna get paid a lot of blood!"
Only one thing went through the guard shaking his head: to think this guy wanted to be a hero.
Before Rin became the blood thirsty vampire that most people knew in the prison Styx, Rin was just like every other child.
Enamoured by heroes.
"I wanna be a hero!" the young child that was Rin Yonaga cheered, arms raised as his father ruffled his hair. It was something he said every single time he saw the heroes win!
"I'm sure you'll be a wonderful hero, one day." his father gave a warm smile as he went into another room.
Rin hummed as he looked back at the TV, now switched to something else thanks to his older brother. As he the channel switched, briefly lingering on a dark enough screen to see his reflection, the young fanged child touched his teeth.
"Hm?" his elder brother looked over his shoulder. "Rin...are you thinking about your quirk again?"
"Uh...no?"
His brother laughed, shaking his head. Rin Yonaga was the middle child of the family. His mum, dad and two siblings, one older and the other younger.
"Remember, there are people out there that have villainous looking quirks. It didn't stop them from being heroes."
These were words that he took to heart and then some. While life was rather average, especially for one having a quirk like his, having some (small few) people immediately think of the villainous acts you'd do, Rin kept strong as the years went by. He was immensely grateful for his supportive parents and siblings.
The kindest people you'd ever meet!
"Rin, your brother and I will be back soon. We're just going to drop these off at that new orphanage that opened up here recently." His father gave the now fourteen year old a wave and all Rin could do was say goodbye. Rin didn't know much about it, aside from it being well known and yet another location in Japan, but whatever. He still waved goodbye.
His last goodbye.
Only a few hours later, did he learn WHY they were late that day. His mother fell to the floor as he learned the truth, from the police, the news...and his own eyes.
"A recent villain attack near the station occurred today. While the local heroes were able to apprehend the villain, it has been noted that the surprise attack has injured seven and killed three." the recounting voice reminded him once more.
Two.
Two of the three, Rin knew them well.
His father...and his brother.
"Why?" his fingers failed to grip the floor, so he punched it instead. "Wh...y? They...why? The kindest souls...why?!" he punched the floor again, baring his fangs as hard as he could. He could feel it grind against one another.
"THOSE BASTARDS! WHY DO THOSE SCUM GET AWAY WITH THIS SHIT?!" he slammed his fist into the ground again and again.
The only good thing about this was that he was alone, so he didn't have his younger sibling and mother bare witness to the damage he caused. More so on himself than anything else.
"I'LL MAKE THEM PAY! MAKE THEM FEEL THE SAME WAY AS WE DO! THEY DON'T DESERVE IT!"
Rin Yonaga...snapped for the first time.
Armed with a strong, ever-growing hate for criminals and villains, Rin managed to do the impossible. He put himself through the ringer right until the entrance exam came along and he entered the biggest hero school in Japan. He had done it.
He joined a hero course.
He waited in the shadows, luring exam robots over to him and with the boost of the darkness of the alleyway, he smashed through the robots and managed to get just enough points to join the course.
The way he ripped them to shreds, spending way too long wrecking them instead of getting points was one big red flag noted by the staff watching the exam.
Sadly, his anger remained even though he let it all out on those weak robots. He got more and more violent to those around him.
In the end, he barely stayed a month in the hero course.
He got in trouble again and again, but of course, he went too far. Way too far. He crossed the line to the point where he was thrown out into the streets.
"Rin Yonaga!" a voice called out and Rin found himself pinned against the wall.
"The fuck is your problem?!" Rin shouted, struggling to break free from some hero he didn't even know.
"My problem is that YOU severely injured a student!" the hero shouted, pointing over to another hero course student already getting medical aid from another teacher. The other student, just a mere child, was bleeding profusely. "You went far beyond what the training exercise was meant to be for! This was a spar between students! WHAT YOU DID WAS ATTEMPTED MURDER YONAGA!"
Still squirming, Rin could only utter with disgust. "Then that means he was too weak to be a hero! He wouldn't be able to defeat a shitty villain at that rate!"
"He made a much better hero than you, Yonaga! Do you even understand what you did?!" the hero lifted Rin higher. "We have no need for a VILLAIN like you in our school."
That one little word was enough to cause Rin to stop, staring out into empty space. A villain? Him? Bullshit! He wasn't like those scum!
He soon found himself outside the school gates.
Rin was expelled.
...
"Fuck them then!"
If he couldn't be a hero for hurting someone so fragile, then he would just do things his own way! Yet, the violent tendencies only grew. Now out of his dream school for his dream job and a violent record on his name, it was hard for him to get into a new school, but somehow, he was able to land one. Sadly, it was just a regular high school.
To Rin, his life was just a staircase going down and down as the weeks went on, hearing villain this, hero that. The world kept moving no matter how Rin kept falling down and he was falling deeper each time as another dam was about to burst.
"What?" his clenched fists began to draw blood. "WHAT?!"
As he looked in front of him, a doctor sighed out. "Apparently it was a villain attack in the markets. She's...stable for now."
Rin looked before him, his mother stuck in a hospital bed unable to open her eyes as the beeps and boops of the machine were pumping out a stable rhythm. His hands, now with his own blood, Rin ran out not that long after.
Watching footage, checking the news. Rin acted. Fuck it!
"Get back here!" he screeched, chasing some lanky fucker who ran, but thanks to time of day. Rin had easily caught up. "YOU FUCKER! HOW DARE YOU?! WHY?!"
"Wha-"
Rin had no intention of letting the man speak, his fist crashed into the criminal's face. How dare this scum lay a hand on his mother! HOW DARE HE!
Again and again, he punched, kicked, bit, clawed, slammed.
The man before him received it all. Rin had no idea why the man before him did what he did, all he knew was that he was a true piece of trash that deserved to die. As red and blue lights made themselves known, Rin let the man fall, beaten to an inch...or at least what Rin assumed it was.
The vampire fled the scene, snapping for the second time in his life.
As a pro accompanied by two police officers arrived, seeing the man bleeding profusely, they couldn't even find the one responsible right away. Rin managed to get away, somehow.
The only thing the man could tell them.
"He...had the fangs...of a vampire..."
And soon, was taken away.
It was about a week or so later that Rin watched the news, vigilantly to see what that fucker's punishment was...but...
That man who hospitalised his mother...was given a light sentence for his crimes. "WHAT THE FUCK?!" sure, Rin had no clue what really happened and he didn't bother to listen to whatever reason was brought up. "AFTER WHAT HE DID, HE'S GETTING AWAY?! THIS SHITTY SYSTEM?!"
It was that night, Rin swore he would change things. Fuelled by rage alone, Rin became a vigilante.
He took to the streets, hunting down the criminals to give them the correct punishment they deserved! It was only small robberies, beating them up way too much for their actual crime and leaving them for the police.
A small, tiny rumour began to spread about Rin, but it was just like everything else that was spread by mouth.
Compared to the bigger names of the world, the vampire's name barely took off. He was drowned out by bigger names, threats and more.
Rin was still just a small, insignificant little part of the world. A shadow that was talked about for a day and passed without a second thought.
It didn't bother Rin however as the time he turned eighteen, he crossed yet another line.
The red eyed teen would slowly give up on the vigilante business but right now, he chose to track down a man, a murderer. Rin had managed to track him down and it was a tough fight.
Rin was tossed aside so easily. He was clearly outmatched if it wasn't for what laid around the teen with some quick wits.
Grabbing a sharp piece of metal, Rin managed to stab the man! He licked off some blood to give himself a boost to react faster than his opponent on some instinctual whim alone. The piece of metal stabbed the larger, muscular man in the neck, raining blood down on the young teen.
Yet, Rin froze as he struggled to push the taller man off him. "I...I..." he couldn't even get the words out.
Rin had taken his first life.
His first reaction was: run!
Managing to get the man off him, he ran and ran. Took the rooftops covered in blood before stopping at some random rooftop in the middle of the night, ignoring the sirens rushing the streets.
"I took...that...bastard's life!"
Looking down at his hands, coated with the blood of the murderer he had just killed, the words of the hero echoed back.
"We have no need for a VILLAIN like you in our school!"
"He...hehe...I'm just like those bastards that killed dad and big bro! Hehe..."
Rin didn't realise until now that...it was so easy to pluck someone's life away. Just like that.
He ran his hands through his hair, coating the spiky black hair red, using it like some odd hair gel. "That fucker was a murderer, wasn't it? So this was just his deserved punishment right? Right? Eye for an eye! Hehe! Yeah!"
Of course, how stupid of him. It was justified.
It was barely a few nights later than he made his second and third kill. Unlike the first, this time the dead victims had signs of their blood being drained. Learning more and more of his quirk's power! The first time, he didn't even realise due to the fight, but now, now he knew.
Yonaga started showing up less and less at home as more and more bodies started to turn up, leaving his precious little sibling all alone. He kept drinking and drinking, the power was amazing!
"I want MORE!"
Rin had truly abandoned his vigilante justice, focusing on drinking more and more to the point he attacked civilians. People just walking by that happened to be preyed on by the vampire.
He was uncontrollable! He fell to the allure of blood like a true vampire! He became the very thing he hated and he loved it so much.
At this point, he would have sunk his fangs into his remaining family, that's how tempting it was! It was such a good feeling to taste the blood on his tongue, sampling it like some fine aged vintage wine. Delicious.
Rin had truly snapped, any semblance of that innocent child or that angry, violent and angsty teen were no more. Just a young man addicted to blood was all that remained.
He was soon caught by police and the vampire was brought to Styx like some villain of the week and he had spent a year and a half within the prison until the day he was offered a red cup of blood, throwing away all the counselling he was given.
Blood was blood.
Iwazaru's fist soared through the air, smashing right into the vampire's open mouth. Teeth biting in be damned. If he clinged like that, the only direction would be straight down.
"Iwa! Are you okay?" Mizaru came running over, hearing the sound of someone slamming into the ground.
Mizaru let out a sigh of relief when he heard a click from the mute's fingers.
Sadly for them both, Rin's fangs were still biting down on Iwa's clenched fist, something that was quickly put to a stop once Mizaru's bokken came down on the spiky haired man.
"How much blood did he drink? Out of all of the inmates, he didn't go down from what I heard," huffed Mizaru as his brother crossed his arms, now free of the vampire's itchy chompers.
"Restrain the target, immediately." the voice of Yukiko called out. "Sorry I arrived late, I was busy dealing with the other group."
Iwazaru quickly got to work, flipping the inmate around and holding his neck firmly.
Shaking his head, the blindfolded guard simply gave her a warm smile. "I heard your quirk go off multiple times. It really helped cull the numbers."
Iwa nodded along with his brother's words. Sending a look back to the pinned down Rin Yonaga, a former hero course dropout.
Really, how one fell down so...tragically...
Shaking his head, he decided it didn't matter now. After all, Rin put up one hell of a fight. If he was able to drink more blood AND act in the darkness of night, it would have been hellish for him to deal with it.
Speaking of which, the vampire licked his lips. "Hehehe, all done!"
"Good work you three," the remaining warden walked over, given them all a nod as small drones flew through the air. "Now's not the time to take a breather just yet. Let's toss these inmates back into their cells."
"Yes sir!" two voices responded immediately as all three guards gave their own salute.
Gousen fell to the floor, down for the count. It was done.
The battle was over and that meant one thing: Rhys was a free target to beat the everloving shit out of in the same way one uses a punching bag at a gym or in the case of the two sadists, a toy on the shelf.
Sadly for them, Rhys was already two steps ahead of them!
"Hey, where are you going?!" shouted Gin as he spied the running Rhys. "Get back here!"
As the bruised man ran, he suddenly froze. His body went cold as he fell to the ground. It was less frozen and more...stunned.
"What?" Rhys' eyes glanced up to see two figures. One with sandpaper skin and the other with snake-like eyes. He instantly knew what happened thanks to their arrival.
Arai and Juro were on the scene.
"Juro used their quirk! How dare they!" No matter what he could do, his body refused to move. At least for the time being thanks to Juro's Basilisk.
Acting like he had his hands in his pockets, the sandpaper skinned Arai kicked the man over onto his back. "Seems like you guys had a lot of fun, huh?"
"...what are you two doing here?" the bone horned Kuro asked the new arrivals as he looked down at Rhys. Gin and him had already arrived.
Juro didn't even blink. "I had some surprise business put on me in the co-ed ward, don't think too hard about it."
"Well whatever," Gin huffed with his broken body. "I came out here to beat the shit out of his face, so let's fucking go!"
Without a second word, Gin stomped down on the piece of human trash. "ARGH!" What a wonderful noise he made! It made Gin do it again and again and again!
It wasn't just Gin that joined in when he really got going, the sadistic nature of Kuroishi also joined in. Kicking and stomping the everloving shit out of the man on the floor. A sick grin plastered the horned man's face while Arai and Juro just kept back.
"Hm..."
"Any problems, Juro?"
The stoic and indifferent looking Juro just shrugged their shoulders. "It's nothing." they paused to look over their shoulder, only to see nothing. A rather odd feeling started to grow. "Doesn't even matter, I've done my part."
"And thank you for joining in," the sandpaper man laughed, "it's real nice to watch live entertainment like this, you know."
Juro gave a little nod, not really caring. "Our deal is done."
Arai quickly raised his hand, bringing Juro's attention to the scene they just nonchalantly ignored.
Looking back to the downed man on the floor, he was even more bruised than he was before! The two sadists had really roughed him up. He was more blue from the many new bruises he received than he was naturally pale, not to mention the slight bits of blood that came out, especially his busted up face.
As soon as the pain filled screams echoed out longer and longer, Gin coldly grinned.
"Arai, open his mouth."
The sunglasses-wearing sandy haired man shrugged as he did just that.
"WHA?" the lanky weakling had no time to consider as Gin held something out.
"One of the people you touched wanted to give you a farewell gift. So, bottoms up! Don't spit out your food now." Held in Gin's fingers, plain for anyone to see was a white eye.
A white eye that stared directly at the downed Rhys on the floor.
Beginning to squirm, the bloodshot eyed man couldn't break free thanks to that snake-eyed Juro and their quirk. All the while the eye slowly came closer and closer.
"Stop."
The eye kept coming. He struggled harder to no avail. Fate was looming in, slowly, tauntingly.
"Stop!"
It was really close to his face now.
"Stop it, Mejiro!"
Having his mouth held wide open, Gin inserted the white eye into the man's mouth. Right now, he could only hope that the pain that the martial arts bastard was feeling was enough to do something to save him right now.
"Ironic," came the sudden voice of Juro, their stoic look sent a chill down the scum's spine. "Acting so high and mighty and now silently begging for your life, like you didn't know you committed heinous crimes."
Kuroishi moved his long hair out of the way, "make it a good show for us, Rhys."
Gin gave a signal to Arai to close the bastard's mouth. "Now, I wonder what will happen. You better swallow it fast, but that might not even be enough~!"
Trying to scream, but failing miserably once Juro gave him another look with their quirk after a nudge from the sandpaper skinned man, Rhys had just enough strength to kick...he would have gotten up if it wasn't for the fact that his arms were pinned by the feet of Gin and Kuro or the fact he was suffering temporary paralysis from the quirk belonging to snake eyes over there.
Rhys could feel the eye grow, it was...warmer now. It only served for him to flail more. Anything but this! Anything! Watching Juro leave while Arai took a couple of steps back to a reasonable distance. He had to get out of this!
Yet his body was failing him. A curious Kuroishi and a grinning Gin looked down at him as he struggled to open his damn mouth of all things. He couldn't get it out. Swallowing it wasn't an option either.
He had to keep fighting...but...
"Look at him sweating," Gin smirked with crossed arms, slowly but surely repairing themselves. "Here it comes! A nice drawn out BANG for ya!"
He couldn't hold on as he tried to spit the darn thing out.
He simply couldn't fight it any longer. These cold bastards, they had no reason. None at all, they simply did this for shits and giggles, bloody sadists! He was just a toy in their pen! It pissed him off to no end, but that feeling was drowned out by dread, the fear of what comes next knowing the eye in his mouth and who it belonged to.
This was it. Struggle after struggle. He couldn't spit the growing eye out.
There was no longer any point in kicking or struggling.
"That's enough," the voice of a guard made themselves known, a voice belonging to Alexios. The tone was strong enough to get both Gin and Kuroishi to turn around completely within seconds.
The guard quickly rushed in as Rhys saw an opportunity. He managed to open his mouth a little, focusing ever so hard to spit the eye out as it slowly began to return to the world, but...
A small echoing bang followed silence.