My name is Izo. I was born in the small village of Greenvalley, on the western edge of the Kingdom of Colfire. I thought my life would be the same as my ancestors, farming and harvesting the fields in peace and quiet, until one day, something extraordinary happened. I stumbled upon the Blade of Heroes, the Sword of Mankind forged by the gods: One for All.
Now, as the wielder of the Sword, it is my duty to protect the world of Men from the armies of the treacherous Demon King and his servants and allies.
For the last five years, I've fought against monstrous creatures, made many friends, and even formed new alliances between the Humans and other beings.
I'm Izo of Greenvalley, Knight of the Kingdom of Colfire and tenth wielder of One for All.
And there is nothing I would rather be.
Izuku stared at the attacking force, trying to discern something about them, but he got nothing because of the distance. All he could tell was that they were humanoid, but that was mostly a given.
"Let me see." Izo said quickly, unsheathing One for All "Oh Heroine of the Blessed Sight, grant me your vision and allow me to see beyond the realm of man."
There was a light from the entire blade, and then Izo's eyes started to shine brightly as he looked at the walls.
"About fifty people. Beastmen, no, Gnoll. Shit." The man said "I'll go take care of it."
"We are coming with you." Izuku replied. Izo looked at them for a second, then nodded.
"Sure. Just watch out." He walked downstairs, where they found Itsumi already at the door.
"So what's a Gnoll anyway?" Izuku asked when they all joined.
"A kind of hyena humanoid." Izo shook his head "Most of them are pawns of the Demon King and his generals, though the Beastmen try to convince them to defect. It doesn't work usually, and even if it does, they aren't the most law abiding. Still, it is not normal for them to be here, if the Demon King is advancing in the north-east. This is likely just a marauding band that came out of the Greywood. Hopefully, there isn't a Demon's Fang."
As they marched closer, making their way through small dirt roads and around houses of stone and wood, they started to feel the heat of the fire and a mad, savage cackle. Izuku heard his counterpart murmur something about his luck being shit. He stopped when they reached the area where the fire had spread. "Right, we need to make sure this doesn't spread further. I can use a storm spell, but that will drain some of my power even before the fight."
"I can deal with this easily." Todoroki replied with a grin "That's what you wanted, right?"
"I guessed right then?"
Todoroki smiled back and put his hand on the ground. A wall of ice started to extend, quickly reaching the wall and stopping the fire in its track. "It will take me five minutes to surround the burning area. More if I try to snuff out the closest fires."
"Good, do that. Itsumi, go with him." Izo continued "Ojiro, Izuku, come with me. Kill everything that attacks us or looks like a Hyena, and…"
"Wait, did you just say kill?" Izuku looked at him.
"Yes."
"Shouldn't we just… capture them?"
"And then what? Either they are executed, or they escape and kill everyone."
"Yes but…"
"Izu. Their world, their rules." Todoroki said as he froze a building with a touch, completely snuffing out the fire while at the same time turning it into an extra wall against the spreading flames.
Izuku clenched his fist and shook his head "I can't."
"Knock them out then." Izo replied with an understanding expression "I'll take care of the rest. Let's go."
They took a single step in the burning part of the town, when a pair of arrows missed Izuku's neck by inches, the second leaving a bloodied cut on it. Izuku gulped and activated One for All, trying to figure out where it came from.
"Hunters…" Izo murmured, quickly picking up the arrows and observing them before nodding "Stay separated from each other, zig zag, and don't give them a clear target." He said. Izuku heard him chant something else and watched as what looked like a piece of armor made of some sort of energy glowed around him, then touch Ojiro and Deku, who looked in surprise as similar glowing armor covered them.
"Mage Armor." He explained, before dodging as two more arrows missed him. He pointed at a building that was only now starting to burn, thanks to its lower floor made of stone, and Izuku nodded, running forward and jumping. At the top of the building, behind a window, he found a creature that looked like someone with an Hyena-mutation quirk. The man – no, Beastman – discarded the bow and lunged for his lance, but Izuku kicked him in the face and sent him fly against a wall. He held his breath for a second, before seeing the Gnoll was unconscious but still breathing. He looked downstairs to see a fire slowly growing from the lower floor. He tried to think. If he left him there, he was going to die anyway, but if he brought him down, Izo was going to kill him. He shook his head. Best he could do was trying to convince Izo to spare him.
He grabbed the Gnoll and jumped down, landing in front of the knight. "You sure he was alone?" The man asked, and Deku nodded. "Good, means they are still fighting at the walls if they are still sending out lone Hunters." He walked toward the Gnoll, but Izuku stopped him.
"Wait, please."
"Out of the way kid. I will make it quick and painless." Izo didn't even wait for a response. He took out a knife and threw it, the blade lodging itself in the Gnoll's throat. The creature gurgled and sat still.
"Why?" Izuku asked.
"I already explained it. This is all we can do. Now let's go."
They run forward, moving further in the burning section of the city. In the distance they could sometime see the shape of a new ice wall appearing, before the burning houses covered their sight. Multiple times they had to change road, finding a way around burning rubble, while others Izuku simply carried Izo and Ojiro both beyond them with a jump powered by One for All.
After a while, they started to meet more Gnoll. The creatures emerged from the side roads, bloodied and frenzied, scraps of clothes covering them as they charged the three with lances, attacking them with bows and arrows, or even just trying to bite them, all while cackling wildly.
Izuku could not help but feel his stomach turn when he saw Izo decapitate one with a swing of One for All. He managed to still dodge the incoming spear, but right after kicking with enough strength to feel the opponent's ribs shatter, he turned and puked. 'How can he do it so easily?' He asked himself. He turned to Ojiro, just to see him punch a Gnoll in the throat, the creature falling to the ground and desperately breathing for air despite his crushed windpipe.
"Ojiro…" He said. "You too?"
Ojiro looked back with an expression Deku found difficult to read. Shame? Guilt? Pity? "Izu, I'm not a saint. Fighting All for Deku was not something we could do without making some choices. Not after the embers faded." An arrow hit him, only to bounce off against the magic armor, but he just ignored it "Come on, we need to continue." He said, before rushing away behind Izo. Izuku turned in time to see Izo plant a dagger in the Gnoll he had just defeated. He beat back a shout and continued.
-
Itsumi watched as Todoroki's hand closed around the Gnoll's arm. The creature pulled it back. Big mistake. With a sickening crunch, the arm stayed in Todoroki's hand, while a frozen stump flailed. The Gnoll tried to take a step back, only to realize his legs were frozen by a trail of ice extending from the Hero's feet.
"I wouldn't move, if I were you." Todoroki said with a grin "Unless you want to see how far you can go without legs."
The Gnoll's eyes changed. His frenzied expression faded, and fear crept in. "What… do you… want?" The creature asked, the words grunted and almost unintelligible.
"Ah, so you can speak." Todoroki replied "Good." He put his hand around the Gnoll's remaining hand, and the arm quickly froze. "Why are you here?"
"Treasure… Meat… Want that…" The Gnoll said, flinching in pain. Todoroki smirked.
"How many of you are there?"
"About… A hundred…"
Todoroki sighed "Well, now it's about ninety-nine."
He pushed, and the creature screamed for a moment before the ice covered him completely. Once it hit the ground, it shattered.
"Why did you do that?" Itsumi asked "He wasn't going anywhere!"
"I had to." Todoroki simply replied "What is necessary is not always enjoyable. You heard Izo. No prisoners." He sighed "I guess under the splendor all worlds are the same."
"Did you kill people before?" Itsumi asked, almost at a loss of words.
The Hero nodded "At first, we were trying to not do it. But after a while, what were we supposed to do, run a prison on our own? Or just let the Hero Suppressors go? Most of the Heroes that did that ended up hunted down and killed by the same people they had spared." He looked off to somewhere else "My team… we called ourselves the Imprisoners, but after a while that name just became darkly ironic, didn't it? After a while, the point stopped being imprisoning." He looked at Itsumi "Don't let your world end up like mine, Itsumi. Whatever you do, protect One for All."
Itsumi bit her lip "Did I make a mistake?"
"Doing what? Coming with us? No, if you didn't I'm fairly sure both you and your piece of One for All would be a red smear on the pavement outside your house." He sighed, freezing another house "Don't start doubting your own choices, that way only leads to damning yourself for every mistake you made. I know something about it."
Itsumi shook her head. That wasn't what she wanted. She looked around, but saw no one. That was when she realized something.
"Where are all the corpses?"
"What?"
"The civilians, I mean. Those Goll, or whatever they are called, have been attacking us non-stop, and I doubt they would have missed all the people of this side of town. Sure, some probably escaped, but all of them seems unreasonable. So where are all the bodies?"
"That's a good question." Todoroki muttered, barely audible over the crackling of fire and the distant sounds of shouts from wherever the guards were fighting the monsters. "Let's finish this wall. It's the only way to find out."
-
Izuku winced as Izo flawlessly stabbed an enemy before moving with a quick movement to slash at another. The Gnolls were attacking in larger groups now, as they made it closer to the combat they could still hear. However, Deku could tell that his other self was getting more and more worried. "Is something wrong?" He finally asked.
"They are too well organized. This isn't just an average warband." He gritted his teeth "I think we have a Flind. This close to the Greywoods, what is going on?"
"What's a Flind?" Izuku asked. Izo was about to reply when they entered a larger plaza. The houses, either burnt down or burning, formed a square around what used to be a fountain of some kind, but was now completely covered in a pile of corpses. Many Gnoll prepared themselves for a fight when the three entered, Izuku counted at least a dozen, but then his attention shifted to the creature in the center.
Over two meters tall, with brown-grey fur covering the entire body from the head to the long tail. Naked except for a few shreds of clothing around his pelvis, and with a face that reminded Izuku of a weird fusion of a bat and a hyena.
"Oh, that's a Flind." Ojiro deadpanned.
"Yes. A dangerous kind of Beastman, and a true lover of bloodshed. What is one doing here, especially leading such a puny warband?" Izo wondered out loud, and many of the surrounding hyenas, hearing him, started to growl.
That was, until the Flind raised his great hand. The square went quiet, and Izuku could count about two dozen of eyes on them. The creature started to talk, but his language was one Izuku couldn't understand. Izo, on the other hand, whispered something, and his sword lit for a moment, the blood of his latest victim shining crimson against the white emanated by the blade. Then, the swordsman responded. "I believe, Warchief Yrrazz, that we can come to an agreement."
Another response, one Izuku once again could not understand. That at least proved jumping universes didn't make him understand every language, something he had wondered when he had found out that Izo spoke something he could understand. He had to stop himself from rambling about it, which for once wasn't particularly difficult considering the situation.
"I wouldn't say that's acceptable." Izo sudden response made him stop "I can't just let you kill more people."
A laugh, deep, calm. There was no joy in it, it was the sound of a predator that makes fun of the prey. Izuku was reminded of All for One's taunting back in Kamino towards All Might, or before that, Shigaraki's smug tone while Nomu planted Professor Aizawa's face into the ground. The creature spoke again. There was no trace of any of that in his tone, but Izuku could tell he was already preparing for combat. He noticed the right hand clench around three long black ropes. The other end of what Izuku assumed was his weapon was hidden behind a fountain.
'I'm probably faster than he is. I can hit long before he moves.' He decided, preparing to activate his Full Cowling the moment things got violent.
"You killed more men than I killed Gnolls, Warchief. Don't try to pretend otherwise." Izo in that moment moved slightly, and Izuku noticed his straightened back, his confidence in the voice, and the seriousness in his eyes. This was Izo the Knight of the Kingdom, not Izo the adventurer they had met before. "I just wish to avoid more bloodshed."
Another series of noises Izuku thought were unintelligible, and Izo flinched.
"You ask a lot of me. At the very least, I need to know you are going away from the Kingdom. What are you doing here anyway?"
The Warchief growled.
"That is my business. I'm a Knight of Colfire, it's my duty to ensure the Kingdom is safe. I'm already giving you a lot with my offer. An explanation for a presence of your warband would merely be a start."
Yrrazz chuckled, then answered something. Izo sighed.
"I can't just let you go then."
The Flind nodded, and pulled the ropes. That was when Izuku realized his weapon was a large flail, with the ends shaped… no, made with a human skull covered in spikes, the eyes shining. The Knight took a step forward, preparing his sword in a frontal stance, the tip pointing towards the large Gnoll.
"So be it. Can I at least hope for a fair fight, or will you unleash your entire warband on three men?"
The Flind studied them, then barked something. Two large Gnoll walked forward from the sides of the square, while the others moved further away. One of them placed itself in front of Izuku, the other in front of Ojiro, keeping about ten steps between them.
"Don't defeat them in a single blow." Izo whispered in Deku's direction "If you look too powerful, they will attack all at once, and that's going to make the fight a lot harder. Ideally, pretend you are struggling for a bit, until I've killed him."
Izuku nodded, looking at his opponent. The larger hyena-man readied his lance and snapped his teeth.
Then they charged.
Izuku darted forward, using eight percent of One for All in Full Cowl before dodging the tip of the spear. The creature snarled as the weapon passed right above his head, but Izuku was fast in pivoting on the left foot and using the right to smash through the wood of the weapon with his iron soles. However, the opponent used that opening to bite him in the leg he was using to pivot.
Izuku flinched in pain, holding his balance by quickly bringing down his feet, the Gnoll dodging it by mere inches, before turning around and unleashing another kick with his wounded leg. The beastman winced in pain as Izuku felt his ribs crack, but surprisingly it did not stop, just biting again. The teeth should have closed around Deku's left arm, but the Mage Armor stopped them. Izuku grinned before unleashing a Delaware Smash. The snap of his finger sent the Gnoll flying backward, rolling on the ground and hitting one of the spectators.
Izuku used that pause to look at the others. Izo was dodging the three sets of heads of the flail with ease, responding with quick thrusts that were only doing marginal damage to the opponent. Surprisingly, he still wasn't using magic.
On the other hand, Ojiro was fighting a heated fight with the opponent. Izuku noticed how he sometimes would shift his balance awkwardly, like he was trying to hit with a… 'Oh, of course.' He was using movement meant to hit with a tail he didn't have anymore, of course it looked awkward.
An howl made him return his focus on his own fight, just as the wounded Gnoll charged forward, biting his arm. This time the Mage Armor didn't manage to stop the blow, apparently cracking under the strength of the creature's jaws. Izuku managed to not scream in pain, instead focusing on throwing a kick upwards, hitting the Gnoll in the mouth of the stomach. The creature made a horrible sound, and Izuku realized in horror he had probably ruptured something, judging by the amount of blood the beastman puked all over his clothes. Izuku felt sick, but decided to focus on the last attacks of the cornered creature.
The Gnoll lunged forward again, desperately biting and slashing with his claws, missing Izuku's face both times thanks to his reflexes heightened by One for All, before getting hit in the face by another punch. Izuku felt the cheekbone crack and could not help but feel bad for it. However, a quick look at the corpses near the fountain made him feel a lot less guilty. 'They are no different from the Villains from my world.' He told himself as he watched the Gnoll fall to the ground, passing out from the pain.
"Duck!" A voice shouted, and Izuku reflexively did so, just in time to feel something pass at high speed right above his head, his hair rustling. Izuku looked to see one of the three heads of the Flind's flail. The creature had expertly bent the black rope to make it pass just where his head would have been.
Izuku's response was rushing forward, but something grabbed him by the leg. Izuku looked back astonished to see the Gnoll holding him by the leg, a grin on his face and mad eyes burning with anger. He looked back just in time to see the second head come his way and hit him straight in the stomach.
For a second, the pain was nothing special, like a strong punch. Izuku had taken worse. Then, his head started to ring, louder and louder. He brought his hands to his head, feeling as if it was exploding. He heard Izo barely, shouting something about a Flail of Pain, but he ignored him, focusing on the sudden, splitting headache, falling on one knee before it finally, finally disappeared. Izuku looked up, just in time to see another Flail come his way. He reflexively extended Blackwhip, stopping it, but that caught the creature's attention.
Izuku chose to charge forward. Once he looked at the Flind, he realized how much of an advantage he had. The three Flails were fast, but he had dodged Overhaul's spikes before. He activated One for All at Twenty percent, and jumped. From his position above, he came down with an axe kick. The Manchester Smash impacted on the Flind's head… and then the creature just ignored the pain, if he felt it, and just grabbed him by the leg, before smashing him into the ground. Izuku gasped loudly, but managed to get himself out of the way in time to avoid a head of the flail, that crashed loudly into the ground.
"Get away, fast, at least ten meters!" Izo shouted to both him and an Ojiro that had just won his own fight "I guess I have to do this after all."
Izuku chose to not ask, and just jumped back, as the swordsman charged forward, shouting the incantation as he ran dodging the mad dance of the three flail, coming back and forth like a rain of skulls and black smoke, while downing what seemed to be a bottle of some yellow liquid, dropping it on the ground.
"O first wielder of One for All, Hero of the Kingdom of Men, grant me the power of the greatest Fire, and by your blessing grant me the ability to incinerate my enemy."
The sword pierced the Flind in the shoulder, then it started to turn red. The creature shouted, and Izo just clenched his teeth. Then a veritable storm of fire exploded from the sword, burning to cinders everything in about six meters around the monster, burning all the corpses in the fountain instantly. The Flind shouted in pain, desperately swinging his mace, but Izo, who gritted his teeth as the fire burned his skin. Finally, the flames subsided, almost looking like they were reabsorbed by One for All.
Izo stumbled back on the red hot rocks of the plaza, and Izuku noticed he didn't look nearly as burned as he should have been. On the other hand, the Flind was laying on the ground, a charred corpse burned to a crisp.
Izo shook his head and aimed the sword towards the surrounding Gnoll.
"Leave." He said, a mere hint of pain in his voice, the sword starting to turn red. The creatures didn't need further incentive to start to run… and many were instantly encased in a rush of ice.
"Let them go Todoroki!" Izo shouted, before snapping another potion open and downing it, the red liquid disappearing in his gut as Izuku watched his skin noticeably healing. "Tch, a Healing Potion, a Potion of Fire Resistance and one of my strongest spells. I still have a long way to go to become a good wielder of One for All."
"Couldn't you just do that from the start?" Ojiro asked, a confused expression on his face.
"It's a dangerous spell. It will ignite anything. I could have turned the square in an inferno, but that would have also started another, stronger fire. Maybe they would have set each other out, but I didn't want to run the risk. Also, One for All doesn't offer just advantages. It cuts considerably the range of the spells while amplifying the damage and area of effect. Very good for spells that hit in a direction, or affect me, but for the more destructive ones… I tend to be a bit hesitant at using them."
Izuku nodded. So there was a weakness in the sword. He almost felt relieved in a weird way. Up until now, the sword seemed to offer only advantages, so it was… reassuring to know there were limits. It meant even magic couldn't do everything. 'Wait, was I jealous?' He asked himself, before shaking his head. He wouldn't exchange his powers for the blade, of that he was sure. It was more of a comparison with Quirks. Spells seemed a lot more powerful.
He sighed and sat down, as Todoroki and Itsumi entered the area, moving around the ice the ice-fire user had created around a few Gnolls.
He sighed in relief as the last beastman scaled the walls and rushed away. "Is it safe to let them go?"
"We killed all the leaders." He said, before looking at the one Izuku had defeated "Well, killed or captured them. The survivors are going to disperse and hopefully return home. They certainly won't mount an attack to any village any time soon. If we reach the capital, I can ask the Knights to send some reinforcements here to protect the farms. I think you did good at taking that one alive. We can get information out of him and figure out what they were doing so far from the Demon army." The Knight suddenly relaxed, stopping the sudden outburst of words, falling to the ground and sitting with a loud sigh "Gods, master Sorak would scold me until dawn if he saw me like this. Nice hero I am, having to go all out against a single Flind."
"Hey, that thing was strong." Ojiro said.
Izuku nodded "That was great, Izo, sir. I hit it with twenty percent of my power, and barely inconvenienced it, judging by his reaction."
"Most Beastmen have high pain tolerance, and that's doubly true for one like a Flind, that get their power directly from a Demon Lord." He suddenly seemed to realize something. "Speaking of which…"
He walked toward the body and looked around until he found the remains of the flail, the three skulls blackened. Without hesitation, he took up the sword and smashed all three. There was a sudden, dark laughter as smoke emerged from the skull, before coalescing into a single shape, the head of some creature that looked like a twisted, cruel hyena. Then a gust of wind caught it, making it dissolve in the wind.
Izuku could only think of how far he was from home as he looked at the scene.