Todoroki dodged around the corner, blocking the incoming hammer and then melting a number of snakes. He quickly picked up one of the marbles with his right hand, then run. The sound of the Bell Witch laughter made it easy to follow her on paper, but there were clearly a number of hidden doors and other secret passages in the house, since at times he would follow her to a dead end only to be attacked from behind as she left a nearby room armed with anything she could send against him. The only luck seemed to be she was staying on the same floor.
He cringed as his swollen leg buckled under his weight, and that almost cost him his life when a gorilla charged at him from a nearby corridor. He quickly sent a wall of ice to block the fist and his fire to dissolve both, standing in the puddle and panting.
The strategy of his opponent was simple: drag him around and keep attacking until he was exhausted. There was something to say about her skills. She had the same ability to disappear from someone's view of Toga, and she was using it to her full advantage. He burned quickly a small drawer, revealing an opening that led in a nearby room, explaining how she had made it around him. Cursing, he burnt it and tried to follow the voice again while examining the small marble.
It seemed to be made of ice, but it didn't melt even when he put it in his left hand and activated his Quirk. Either it was such a low temperature that it required a stronger fire, or whatever power created it was making it fireproof.
"Search, search, search with your hitch. Come and look for the Bell Witch." She called from the corridor, and Todoroki cursed at the infantile taunt. Poetry clearly wasn't this Reiko's best skill, but she was strong. Her control of Poltergeist was superior to the one he knew, at least in terms of range.
An ice spider jumped down from above, but Todoroki melted it instantly. 'I really want to burn the whole damn mansion, but I would trap the others in the tunnel.' He thought for the tenth time, cursing. Maybe they could have found another way out, but if they were in real trouble making their way out here would probably be their only option.
He dodged the incoming attack from a wolf, melted it and caught the orb with his hand. He tried to step on it, but it didn't even budge, and he had to stop himself from falling. The best he could do was throw it out of a nearby window, hoping it would be out of range of whatever power the enemy was using.
That made him consider retreating. The only issue of that choice, beyond the fact Reiko could come after him, was that instead she could also go after the others, blocking them in a pincer attack. 'You can retreat my ass. If I do, the others are trapped anyway.' He thought, gritting his teeth. Freezing the mansion was an option, but it would do little good if she dodged the first attack, save from turning the place in a freezer, something the Bell Witch would probably manage to ignore.
'I can't believe I'm having so much trouble for this.' He looked at his leg, sighing 'How long has it been since I had a fight that wasn't to the death for both sides? Am I this rusty in live capture?'
The answer, of course, was yes. The Imprisoners had two people with capture Quirk because he needed a non-lethal option. Years spent fighting All for Deku had eroded his ability to think of ways to disarm, instead of killing. And now that he was back here, in a setting where he should have been at least on an even footing, he was losing.
"Unacceptable." Endeavor's voice thundered in his mind even after all those years, and Shoto stood tall once more. He was the Number 20 Hero when the system was brought down, and he wasn't going to lose to a Bell Witch and a Summoner that was nowhere to be seen, the only hints being the apparently indestructible ice marbles.
"Wait…" He thought, turning around as a suit of armor charged at him. He froze it solid and then melted it, the construct disappearing and drenching a carpet in water. He picked up the orb and waited. Nothing happened, the construct not reappearing. "It doesn't work without space, or it doesn't work for another reason?"
"Hey, hey, hey." Reiko's shout made him turn around, and he saw her peeking from the corner, surrounded by a veritable hail of weapons. He dropped the sphere, launching it away. "It's not nice to make a lady wait." She commented, firing the weapons. He quickly built another ice wall blocking the hail of various shapes and sizes, then turned around in time to see those that had missed the wall turn around and charge at him once more. The second ice wall caught them, then he once more froze them all solid. He cursed seeing the girl was gone once and turned around hearing a clang, as a now reanimated suit of armor with an ice body charged at him. He roared and once more fire melted it, only for the marble to roll on the ground.
'There has to be a trick for why it's so powerful. If they could always instantly regenerate like this, the Prince and Dekirn would have been defeated.'
He tried to think of the description of their four assailants. They had thought one of them was the ice user, and there had been nothing about someone with telekinesis. But what if Reiko was the one they had thought was the ice user…
He dodged another flying knife and started to walk away. He finally had an idea.
-x-
Over the years, Izo had fought many things, from giants to dragons to an uncountable amount of other monsters. Few, however, had proven as resilient as the giant of a man standing before him. He ducked under a fist that could have shattered stone and sliced at it with One for All, aiming at the wrist in a hit that should have chopped off the hand cleanly. Instead, the weapon seemed to hit some incredibly hard material and only managed to cut the skin before grinding against what seemed to be metal.
'Is he a metal construct?' He wondered for a moment, before looking at the blood that gushed out of the wounds for a few seconds, suddenly stopping. The skin remained sliced, but no more blood came out. 'No, he has a mostly human body, but for some reason I can't pierce his muscles. I can't beat him like this.' He decided, dodging a kick that would have probably shattered his armor and the ribs below if he hadn't, and quickly jumped back, making distance between them. Dekirn was on the defensive as well, dealing with the swordsman. He looked as the man's blade shrunk, making Dekirn overextend. He luckily pulled back in time, but a piece of cloth fell to the ground, sliced away by the man's weapon.
Izo had to turn his attention back to Muscular quickly, and rose One for All to stop the incoming fist. He felt a sickening sound as the enemy's skin tore, but once more it never made it past the muscle. He was instead pushed back, landing on his feet but at least five meters away. 'Very well.'
"Oh, Hero of the Storm and Thunder, third wielder of the Sword of Mankind, lend me your power and through your grace give me the magic to slay my foe." He chanted quickly, and he felt the magic and skills of the man that was once known as the Cloud Slayer run in his mind. He changed his hold of the blade, holding it with one hand like a rapier, and then he attacked.
Quickstep.
His body rushed forward, faster than he had been before, and the blonde giant was unable to so much as react, and started a rush of thrusts that came down on the man's chest as numerous as the rain. He turned around quickly, sidestepping when the fist came down, and cast another spell.
Thunderclap.
The boom of sound from the blade made blood gush from his opponent's hears, resonating in the entire room, and Muscular grunted before turning around and launching a right hook. Izo blocked it with the blade, though he felt his bones tremble at the impact, and the green haired man moved his hand forward, touching the chest of his opponent.
Lightning Touch.
Muscular jumped back, recoiling as electricity coursed through his body, and for the first time there was actual pain in the man's eyes. 'Electricity works then.' He thought with a wry smile, rushing forward.
"Izo!" A voice shouted, and Izo turned to the source just in time to see one of the black coated swordsman's blades head towards him. He blocked in time thanks to his heightened speed, but the attack still grazed his side. He pulled back a bit, and the blade shrunk back. He heard a grunt and noticed the attack had cost the warrior, since Dekirn had hit him with a thrust in the arm.
Returning his attention to Muscular, he counted the time. One minute and a half down. He grunted and prepared his blade, but stopped. Muscular's red eye now looked different, turning to a pitch black.
"MSK-R Armor…" He grunted "Combat mode."
There was a rush of what appeared metal from Muscular's wounds. Minuscule particles of steel that coated his body in dark red armor with white and black details, the colors looking sickeningly similar to an exposed muscle. His face and head were entirely covered by a bone-white mask, with six yellow dots over the face. Izo rushed in, but by the time he slammed down on him, the attack merely impacted the armor. He quickly jumped away in time to dodge a fist but saw his coat turn to shred as the pieces fell on the floor. He stared at Muscular's fist, seeing the knuckles armored cover having reshaped as three large moving blades before going back to adhere tightly to his body.
Lightning.
A bolt of electricity flew from Izo's sword to the body of his opponent, but instead of doing any damage, it dissipated. "Sorry kid." The man commented, gloating "Seems nanomachines beat magic."
-x-
Izuku ran. According to Kikora, they were actually catching up, and would most likely succeed in reaching the enemy. At this point, they had gone down and forward enough they had probably reached the depths of the hill under the castle, and yet they were still running through a maze.
"Stay close or we might really get lost." The elf said "I think…" She stopped, frowning.
"Wha…"
"Quiet. Listen." She replied. For a moment they didn't hear anything in particular, then the sound started. In the silence of the tunnels, the ticking of what seemed to be rocks on the stones of the wall, right behind them. They turned slowly, and looked up. Izuku's eyes widened.
For a moment, the individual clinging at the wall didn't look human as it advanced with the arms bent, the elbows pointed downward with a large membrane extending from them to its mid torso. The hair and ears protruding from it were bright orange striped with black like the pelt of a tiger, as was the tail. But when the creature looked at them, it did so with the face of Himiko Toga.
The creature grinned and jumped down, landing on all fours before standing up, grinning widely and showing a collection of sharp incisive and canines. When she stood up, she started looking more human, and Izuku noticed that most of her body was virtually identical to the Toga he knew. The only differences being the long bat wings in place of her arms, terminating in sharp claws, the ears and tail of a tiger, and her feet, with five sharp claws instead of the normal nails. It was like someone had looked at Toga once and decided that she needed to be a better predator. In his shocked mind, Izuku found himself heavily disagreeing.
The creature chuckled. "Preys…" She said "I'm so… hungry…" She lunged forward, aiming at Kikora, but Ojiro jumped between them and hit the girl with a roundhouse kick, sending her back. It did little, however, as the monstrous Toga turned around and roared a challenge.
"Go, I'll stop her." Ojiro said calmly.
"Ojiro…"
"I said go." He clenched his fists "We met when you saved me from dying at Toga's hands Izu. It's time I pay you back." He moved forward before the young man could reply, and Kikora grabbed him, nodding understandingly towards Ojiro.
"Wait, Kikora, we need to help him. We can win easily together. It's probably just a mutant Quirk of some kind."
"I don't know what a Quirk is, but that thing took a kick to the face and didn't even stutter." The elf replied "It would take some time to take it down, and we can't slow down. You probably haven't realized, but there is no more than a minute or two before we reach the end of the hill if we keep going like this!"
Izuku gulped, and he gritted his teeth. "Promise we'll come back as soon as possible."
She winked "I don't leave behind someone I can help. Especially against a monster like that."
-x-
Ojiro glanced the group of three run away, then turned to the monster he was facing. The girl stared back at him, her eyes having the same red irises of the Toga he knew. He took a defensive posture and murmured something, casting Magic Armor on his own body with a quick movement of his wrists and a light touch. The girl let him, strangely, pacing like a predator as she slowly moved to his left.
He knew that he should have tried to attack first, but there was something about this Toga that told him she was different. The one from his world was out for his blood specifically, but this one was the true predator. This one would probably eat him whole and then burp out the bones.
He tried to figure out what tricks she could have. Mutant Quirks were often hard to truly grasp when they gave animal traits, because far too often people stopped at the surface details. Frogs jump high, seals swim fast, orcas are strong. That kind of thinking was way mutant types could become Heroes so often: because it was a lot easier to blindside your opponent if they don't watch documentaries all the time. And Ojiro didn't.
He could tell this Toga had parts of a bat and parts of a tiger, but did that imply both? Could she use both echolocation like a bat and night vision like a cat? And what else could she do? Fly, probably, and crawling on walls was apparently easy.
"You are not starting?" She suddenly asked, and he gulped. The tone of her voice was cold and methodical, so much different from the one she had used just a second before. She had gone from a frenzy to complete quiet. She was a predator preparing to pounce on his prey now, a tiger sizing the deer. "I guess I will then."
Her arms went down and hit the ground, and she used them to jump. Ojiro had a split second to notice just how big her shoulder muscles were, noticeable even under the schoolgirl outfit she was wearing, before he had to jump to the side or die. The claws scraped against his side, thankfully stopped by his Mage Armor, but he could tell that a direct hit from those would have pierced through. 'Tiger claws? Bat claws? Which is stronger?' He wondered, before moving back and trying to cast Lightning. However, the reaction from her was too fast. He pulled back his hand just in time, before the fangs closed like a bear trap on them. He could tell that if he ever got them caught into that mouth, he was never getting them back.
'Toga' spun around and her bare feet entered the picture, her claws grazing his face. Blood gushed from his cheek and he cursed, realizing Mage Armor was pierced already. The beast didn't stop, turning around nimbly before hitting with her hand claws. Ojiro back stepped. Big mistake. He had underestimated the length of the limbs when fully stretched. Just like any flying animal has wings that tend to be longer the bigger they are, the wingspan needed to make her fly was large enough her arms were easily over a meter and a half long each. He had grossly misjudged it, since she had kept them folded until then, and paid the price when the claws opened a wound in his torso. Blood gushed out, quickly sprawling on the floor.
The Toga panted madly and darted forward, rushing to him using the same weird posture she had on the roof, her arms pulling her rather than her feet pushing her. Ojiro moved on the offensive. Melee combat had him at a disadvantage, but he wasn't going to just sit quiet and let her kill him.
He ducked under her left arm, sidestepping to the left of her, and turned around. Once, this was an attack made with his tail, but now it was a roundhouse kick with the heel to the temple. Fatal in many cases, but the creature's arm snapped up and she used her wing membrane to cushion the impact completely, making Ojiro feel like he was kicking a tent. The impact still travelled through, but it didn't deter her at all.
Instead, she lurched forward and bit him in the shoulder. Ojiro cried in pain as the teeth of the girl pierced through Mage Armor, cloth and the shoulder itself, blood starting to flow out. He felt the tongue of the girl move up and down over his wound, saw her eyes grow ecstatic as she gripped even firmer, her claws planting themselves in his arm.
He grimaced and tried desperately to think. Lightning so close would hurt him like it would her. He couldn't do martial arts with her clinging to his shoulder like that, unless he wanted her to take away a piece of it. So…
He brought his hands together three times, and the third time, as he chanted a single word, Thunderclap came. The soundwave made his ears ring a bit, even if the magic protected them, but to his opponent it was far worse. She roared and instinctively brought her hands to the ears, recoiling. Ojiro didn't miss his chance to bring a kick up to her jaw, sending her back and for the first time watching her rise up slowly, blood gushing from her ears.
He touched his shoulder. The blood was still flowing, and he worried how deep the wound was. It didn't look like arterial blood, but it was still a lot. He pressed his bloodied shirt on the shoulder. Whatever infection came of it was better than the alternative of dying of blood loss. It didn't seem to be slowing down though.
"That hurt, prey!" The Toga shouted, the back of her hair rising like a cat's fur would when they were angry, her tail puffing up until it looked like it was double the size. It would have been comical if she wasn't so terrifying.
Ojiro took his stance once more. "I certainly hope it did." He replied. He sounded way more confident than he actually was. Certainly more than the still growing red on his shirt made him feel.
-x-
Izuku and the girls rushed forward. At this point Izuku was starting to notice they hadn't ran into any traps in a while. He pointed it out to Kikora, who nodded.
"It's probably because this part is older and the traps all sprung long ago." She replied "Either that or someone sprung them all on purpose for some reason." She thought a moment before looking down at the ground and smiling "We will catch up in a minute or so at this rate." Kikora excitedly shouted as she stared at the prints.
Izuku and Itsumi both looked ahead, noticing a large door coming forward. In the dim lighting of the old tunnels, the light of the room it led to was far brighter, though in reality it was probably nothing extraordinary. Still, it was a welcome change after the endless set of tunnels. The three rushed out, Izuku placing himself forward in case any nasty surprise was waiting inside.
Bang. A thundering explosion echoing in the room.
Splurch. A searing pain in his left arm.
Izuku stared in disbelief at his right shoulder as the green fabric started to turn red, gripping it a moment later when the realization hit. Behind her, Kikora screamed, grasping her forearm. The bullet had pierced through Deku's arm and into hers.
Trying his best to ignore the pain, Izuku looked up in time to see a second bullet fly their way, missing him by a mere inch.
They dove to cover. The room was large, with many benches lined one after another, so they could just move behind the closest wooden bench. The place looked like a temple, and on the opposite end of the room was what appeared to be an altar. Upon it was the depiction of a horned head with a stilted scale in its mouth, almost entirely angled to its left.
"A Demon King's temple." Kikora muttered, disgust and disbelief equal in her tone, even surpassing the pain as she grasped the wounded limb. "And who's that?"
"Hello, kids." The man said, stepping out from the shadow of a column. He stood over one hundred and ninety centimeters tall, most of his face covered by a dark green hat and a red bandana. Only his eyes were visible, green iris studying them all. A gun was in his hand, a beautiful, clean weapon engraved with a line Izuku couldn't see clearly from where he was, but written in western alphabet. The smoke coming from the mouth of the weapon made it abundantly clear it was he who had shot them. "A pleasure to meet you."
"Who's that?" Itsumi asked.
"Maybe an evil Snipe? It wouldn't surprise me." Izuku replied, trying to figure out a way for them to continue. He could see the door on the left of the altar, wide open and leading in what he assumed was the rest of the tunnel. If he could get Kikora and Itsumi to pass through, they could continue the chase.
Of course, that was ignoring the man with a gun that could have easily filled them all with bullets the moment they made the mistake of rushing for the exit together. Izuku looked at the others. Kikora was wounded at the arm, but the bleeding was slowing down, and she was still moving the limb. Itsumi was still unscathed. He looked at his shoulder, where the bullet had passed cleanly through. Trying to raise his left arm, he found he could only go about half way with the movement before the pain became too much. He nodded.
"I'll draw his fire." He said, preparing his gloves to use Air Force, "You two go ahead."
"Shouldn't I do it?" Itsumi asked. "You are stronger."
"We need someone quicker, and you have that new magic that makes you move faster. Not to mention, I've been shot already. You are strong Itsumi, and the guy will probably have at least one person left to defend him, if not more. We need you there to defeat them."
Itsumi looked at him in disbelief for a second, like she was trying to come up for an argument, but then nodded. "Fine then."
Kikora nodded "Right. Let's go."
Izuku nodded, and dared to move slightly over the fence to look at the man, who aimed his gun at them. The mouth, Izuku noticed, seemed to be bending slightly, though maybe it was just the result of the light. "Well, I gave you some time. You better dodge this." He fired.
The bullet tore through the air, and Izuku and Itsumi jumped in opposite directions, the girl dragging with her the injured elf. Whether the man wanted it or not, his words had been a warning for all of them. A moment later, the bullet hit the ground and exploded, like he had just fired a grenade. The closest bench was obliterated, but Izuku and Itsumi managed to get all three to safety. 'Alright, he has explosive bullets.' Izuku thought, rolling to the side as another bullet, a normal one this time, dented the bench, he had hidden behind, barely stopped but thankfully not exploding. He dared look out from behind the bench, only for a fourth bullet to miss him by inches, tearing away a few hairs as it passed uncomfortably close to his head. He fired Air Force reflexively, but the man took cover behind the altar. Izuku felt his mouth bend in a grin as he gave the signal and rushed forward, jumping over the bench behind the next one, Air Force ready. He saw the man poke from behind the Altar and they both fired. A bullet grazed his neck, and Izuku felt a trickle of blood, but he watched in satisfaction as Air Force struck the gunslinger's chest.
Itsumi fired her own power, and it hit the man on the side, though the impact didn't do much except for distracting him. Izuku didn't miss a bit firing his own Air Force, that struck the opponent just above the head, his hat flying away as he ducked behind the altar once more.
The man grunted. As Kikora and Itsumi rushed to the passage, Izuku thought he would shoot, and reacted reflexively. Firing Air Force once more, he saw no movement from behind the altar, no sudden gunshot that would have otherwise been expected, and watched satisfied as the two made their way down the tunnel, Itsumi sending him a last silent nod that he read as a 'don't die' before disappearing.
The Gunslinger emerged once more from his hiding spot and fired once more. "Nice aim, kid. I guess we really are alike."
Izuku's question died on his lips as he watched the face of the figure. Green hair. Green eyes. Freckles.
His alter ego aimed the gun at him and fired.
(xx)
A/N: Armor!Muscular is the second villain I ever designed for the fic, so I'm glad he finally makes his appearance. Original from the Armorverse, he is a glimpse in one of the three facets of the multiverse power-system: Quirks, Magic and Science-
Tora Himikomori is instead from the Chimeraverse. It's a fun universe, but I bet the name gives a clue on what it's based on. Tigers and the specific kind of bat I used for her creation are actually a good mix. I was considering as an alternative using half-chameleon half-bat, but in the end I decided that using a tiger fit well and it also allowed for the name change to work.
And congratulations to the reviewer that guessed our gunslinger is indeed an Izuku from another world!