Revenant spent a minute examining his gear one final time. With all the work Hatsume had put into it, it was only fair to make sure it was in perfect condition.
He buckled Blight-Killer properly to his side, the sword feeling light as a feather, and strapped his reinforced boots one final time. Helmet ready, arsenal prepared. The final touch were the new weapons Deku had prepared for him. A successful test run that promised some great long-term results. 'If he was back home, I would definitely ask him often. That Quirk- that ability of his is really useful.' He mused, before the green light on top of the entrance lighted up, telling him it was time to move through the entrance.
His eyes darted up and down the dark corridor, the ceiling and the floor included, an old habit that would, thankfully, never die. He stepped forward, making his way through the passage and listening to both the cheering of the crowd and the words of the Announcer.
"And next, our fourth A-Lister for the day! A unique fighter who made his way through hell to bring himself back to life! He faced the terrors of solitude, oppression, and even died over and over to achieve his ultimate goal! He is the Conqueror of Mount Massive, the Burner of Fazbear, the Destroyer of Sevastopol, the Murderer of Rapture, the Chosen Undead! Make way for the Necro-Stomper! Make way for the Blight-Killer! Make way for Revenant!"
It was telling, in Revenant's opinion, that they weren't mentioning anything he had done after escaping the simulation. They saw him as spectacle, just like a portion of his audience did back when he was still trapped. To them, he was entertainment, and what he went through in the simulation was a lot more entertaining than anything he might have done outside. 'Really making it hard for me to feel bad about going behind their backs.' He thought calmly as he stepped in the arena.
To the resounding sound of violins.
'Oh, those fuckers…' He thought. Welcome to Rapture playing from all the speakers around was fitting, he supposed, but his anger was now growing to full on despising those people. Did they want to play the Rapture Massacre on the screen too, while they were at it? He took a deep breath. 'Let's just do this and call it a day.' He decided.
He examined the Arena. As he had requested, it had been built to resemble a ruined urban area. He looked around to make sure the map had been respected, and smiled seeing everything was ready, from the high tower that was dangerously tilted to one side, to the various walls that were constructed to look like ruined houses.
Except of course those bastards had designed the buildings to also remind people of the places he had been through. A ruined hotel read 'Sevastopol' on the broken-down insignia. The tower was shaped like the Undead Church's Bell Tower, complete with a cracked and broken gargoyle sitting on top. Another building was a burnt down pizzeria he recognized far too well. Sure, all of them were smaller, replicas of the original or merely referencing the location, but it was still another reason why Revenant wasn't going to deal with taking part in this Tournament at all, if he could find a way around it.
He shook his head and focused again, running through is mental map of the area, through all of the pathways and passages of the arena, that he had personally designed.
The Hunting Grounds, he had scribbled at the top. A fitting name, and it seemed they had respected his design precisely.
"And now, the traveler that came back a hero of legends! The musician of lightnings, the hammer of the gods of the north! Wielding the Hammer of Thor and the Drums of Raijin, his symphony of electricity plays at the rhythm of the storm! Behold, the mighty Denki Kaminari! Behold the God of Thunder!"
Kaminari's entrance was accompanied by a different theme, one that Revenant didn't recognize, nor cared about. All that mattered was checking his opponent for new or unexpected features. The drums were still floating behind his back, and he had the hammer ready in his right hand. Revenant listened to the faint buzzing sound emanating from the drums and grinned. 'So I was right.'
"Begin!" The Announcer shouted, and Izuku grinned, pulling out his new weapon while slipping away, moving through the maze of ruined buildings. He climbed a wall, turned left and right, jumped through a broken window, slipped under the remainders of a wall, through a garden of messy grass and up the garden's walls overrun by ivy. He made sure to land in a large plaza with a fountain in the middle, grimacing only slightly as he noticed the statue standing in the center of the fountain was Solaire of Astora, an arm broken off and fallen on the ground somewhere.
'Now they are just trying to piss me off.' He decided.
Then the buzzing arrived.
He turned around to see one of the drums floating above him. He shoot his first attack, watching the drum dodge it and the projectile slam in the fountain instead, destroying it. He sent a mental apology to the man and took three more shots, apparently all missing the target as the large metal bars he was shooting lodged themselves in the wall of a crumbling building and near the roof of another. With a quick nod, he switched weapons, pushing his new one on his back and pulling out Samurai Edge. The gun shifted into his left hand, and he took a shot aimed perfectly in the center of the drum, but all that did was make the projectile bounce off. It scraped on the side of his helmet and landed somewhere else on the ground, while the drum resounded deeply. 'Not enough.' He thought, pulling out Blight-Killer with his right hand and slashing upwards. The drum was sent upward at the vertical slash, but despite the strength put into it, Revenant could tell he had done no damage. 'It floated upwards with the slice, so I can't get an accurate read of it, but I think I could cut the drums in half if I pin them down.' He thought, before an arc of lightning appeared from the roof above. Landing in front of him in a spectacle of light, hammer hitting the ground first, followed by the body, Kaminari, the God of Thunder, looked at him with a bemused expression.
"Running away is not much of a plan." He commented, "I expected more from someone that sought me out."
In response, Izuku shot at his chest two times, only for the hammer to come up and block the bullets, showing the man wasn't all talk but had an excellent reaction speed. "Woah there, that could have killed me."
"We both know that's not true." Revenant replied, "They wouldn't be letting me use bullets otherwise."
The God of Thunder hummed, without going further into an explanation, but Revenant had watched his past matches thanks to Zuzu-9. This version of Kaminari had already fought people with live fire before, including a successful match with Arsenal, the Lady Nagant the AI had pointed out the night before.
Revenant glanced around. Two more drums had arrived, while the others were still missing, probably having fluttered in other directions to find him. Those three were trying to put themselves in his way, while Kaminari stepped forward, moving into close quarters.
The hammer took an upward swing that Revenant dodged, before wincing as a streak of weak electricity arched from the hammer to his body. His armor dampened the effect of the electricity, and it probably wasn't part of the attack but more of an after effect, but it still stung. Then again, he had died to electrocution his fair share of times. Compared to that, this was a massage.
From his leaned back position Revenant took three more shots with Samurai Edge, but one of the drums put itself in the way, allowing Kaminari to focus on bringing back down the hammer. Revenant blocked with Blight-Killer, the blade interlocking with the hammer right at the point where the handle met the head, a spark of electricity moving all over the shining steel of his sword. He started to slide down the blade along the handle, to try and cut the God of Thunder's fingers, but the man noticed, let go off the hammer, moved the limb to safety and opened it, letting the weapon move back into his hand. Using the opening, Revenant took two more shots, still to no effect thanks to the drums, using the moment instead to open more distance between them, before pushing Blight Killer back in its sheet and throwing out a grenade.
The God of Thunder lazily knocked it aside with the hammer. "Sorry, flashbangs won't work on me."
"I know."
The bomb exploded, and smoke filled the entire area, blocking completely the eyesight of both opponents. Revenant quickly tapped his helmet, the thermal vision turning on as he prowled through the smoke and pulled out his new weapon once more, shooting a test shot toward Kaminari.
A drum threw itself in the way and got pierced through by the flying metal spear, though it managed to stop the momentum of the weapon and both objects clattered to the ground. Izuku grinned and without stopping charged the next shot.
Then he heard the drums being beaten in a fast rhythm, and gritted his teeth. 'Come on, prove me I'm right…'
A lightning shot down from the sky.
And it hit the fountain, discharging on another one of the metal lances.
Revenant smiled with a feral grin that promised murder, darting forward.
His plan to deal with the God of Thunder was to take out his ranged options and then deal with him in melee – or ideally by shooting him into unconsciousness, but unless he wasted time and energy taking care of each drum, that was most likely not an option. To do the former he could have just requested lightning rods on the buildings, but he was sure Kaminari would have noticed, so he had needed Deku to build the perfect weapon for the job.
The Lance Gun was one of the main weapons of the Big Daddies of Rapture. He would know that since a couple times he had been on the wrong end of those. They were slow, and far from his favorite armament to wield, but were ideal for what Revenant wanted: makeshift lightning rods planted around. More importantly, it served to test one of his theories: that the Nanomachines could read blueprints. He had spent a day designing in detail a version of the Lance Gun that was right for him, and then submitted it to Deku. Lo and behold, it worked. Blueprints were perfectly fine.
That was giving him a lot of ideas, but for now, what mattered was the Lance Gun and the seven lances Deku had built for Revenant over the course of three days.
All it took was shooting around a few of the lances to high places and then goad the God of Thunder into fighting in that spot, to ensure that his power to call down a thunder from the heavens was completely neutralized.
He emerged from the smoke, Blight-Killer's blade coming out of the sheet and the blunt of the sword aimed for the God of Thunder's temple. The closest drum made to move in the way, but he shot it with Samurai Edge, forcing it to stay back. Aimed right, the bullet recoiled toward Kaminari, forcing a second hammer to get in the way of it and letting Revenant hit. The sound of the shot made Kaminari turn, but the man was too slow to react, and instead of hitting the temple Blight-Killer's flat slammed in his face, accompanied by a sickening crunch as the nose and most likely both cheek bones broke. The larger man brought the hammer down in a disoriented sweep, electricity crackling around it. The termal vision flared up forcing Revenant to turn it off, but he was already in position.
He leaned low, raised his leg.
And stomped.
Kaminari's leg, not nearly as hard as the head of a Necrophage, bent back with a loud crack as the bones gave way under the pressure of the reinforced red boots. To be fair to the man, he handled it like a champ, shouting for a moment before shifting his weight completely on his remaining leg and bringing up his arm and the hammer with it to try and shatter Izuku's helmet and his jaw with it.
Revenant dodged the move, and shot once more with Samurai Edge, before grimacing. Last bullets out, and once again those cursed drums were in the way. He put the gun back in place and pulled out instead one of his daggers. Since the only thing that had worked so far were purely melee attacks, he had to assume that the drums prioritized protecting from projectiles. That in itself probably explained why Kaminari allowed them: it didn't matter what weapon you brought in if said weapon didn't do anything. It had taken a shot from a Lance Gun at nearly point-blank range, a gun designed to be used by an abomination against nature, to break one of them. He could see where the confidence in his defense came from.
He would shatter it.
He pulled the pin on another smoke bomb with his pinky finger, faked a second stomp, and as he hoped Kaminari, worried about losing his other leg too, brought the hammer upward in a semi-circular motion to counter the incoming attack. To his credit, the God of Thunder realized the feint before it hit, because the man quickly grabbed the closest drum and put it between the flat of Blight-Killer and his head, producing a weird, low sound as the drum shattered under the combined pressure of the man's push and the sword's impact.
Kaminari called down another thunder, but the lightning bolt that should have struck them both was attracted to another rod, landing ineffectively a few meters away, on a rooftop. Predicting the incoming hit he aimed the hammer at Revenant's sword, coming flat to smack him in the face. Realizing that a hit mid-swing meant that Blight-Killer would be snapped in half by the hammer, Revenant instead let it go, sidestepped and attacked with his dagger, the sword thumbling on the ground as the elongated knife trust for Kaminari's shoulder, only for it to bounce off the surface of one of the drums. Revenant followed the thrust with a slice, leading down on the drum's tomoe-emblazoned face and opening a large gash on Kaminari's shirt and the object's surface, but the man had stepped back in time with his good leg, so the trail of blood was marginal.
'This is harder than I thought when it comes to ending the match.' Revenant considered. It was a surprising test of skill, because the line between illegal attack and perfectly valid hit was incredibly blurred. In a normal fight, the fight would have ended the first time he shot Kaminari. Even assuming they wanted to compare Samurai Edge to a ranged Quirk attack, a normal match would have ended when he had stomped on Kaminari's leg and broken its bone to the point some of it was most likely sticking out.
This wasn't the case here, because short of a mortal injury anything could be healed by the combination of tech and magic the JTO had at its disposal. To prepare for the Tournament, Revenant had gone through a number of iterations of both extreme injuries and the – admittedly few and far between – deaths during matches. The latter were only a handful, either someone hitting the head with an unfortunate long-range attack, someone actually going in aiming to kill their opponent or, memorably, once a giant-sized fighter stepping on an adversary they thought could take it to find out they, in truth, were squishy. That one must have been a PR nightmare.
Revenant kept moving, noticing that now his opponent was creating a continuous current of electricity around his hammer and making it spin wildly. The God of Thunder had most likely figured out that Revenant could see him through the smoke and was trying to goad him in. Revenant doubted that he had figured out the Izuku was using a heat visor, but it meant he had to watch out for the sudden burst of light and heat of a lightning, so that beacon was a problem.
Revenant stepped on the broken drum and looked at it. Inside, as he expected, there was a drone, now broken apart. He picked it up, before dropping another smoke bomb to keep up the curtain he was using, examining the object. 'As I thought. He isn't an actual god, he is a sham that is mixing Tech and Magic to give the illusion of being one.'
To be fair, he presumed that Mjolnir might have been the actual thing, even if he was doubtful. The drums, however, behaved entirely like drones. He probably had a way to telepathically give them orders, like 'block incoming bullets' or 'search for my opponent', and the magic only really came in with the 'call down lightnings' part.
He tossed the drone away toward his left, letting it be zapped by a discharge of electricity shot from the hammer, and then emerged from the shadows and smoke behind Kaminari, catching him by surprise. Having lost Blight-Killer in the smoke and not wanting to prolong the fight any longer, Revenant moved to hand-to-hand combat.
Most people assumed that Revenant's experience had changed him only mentally. That he had better reflexes as a result of months of adrenaline and tension, that he could win every fight because he had been honed into a sharp blade by a madman.
But you don't hone a blade only for the metal it's made of the give way under pressure. For months, Izuku's body had been broken, burnt, squashed, devoured, frozen, electrocuted, cut. He had lost limbs, had been concussed, had been brought to the very edge of death by an uncaring man.
His body, his physical body, had never been harmed, but had still reacted like it was. Every time a bone broke, a muscle tore, a concussion rattled his brain, his body reacted to heal damage that just wasn't there. And when something healthy heals… well it should really be ruined, but the digitalization prevented that. So instead, he became something more.
His muscle fibers, his skeletons, his nervous system, everything became more. Sugoh had it right: Revenant had become something more.
He had become someone that would one day swing the blade that cut off the man's head.
His fist hit a drum and sent it skid back in the hair, undamaged, while Revenant feigned another stomp. The drums put themselves in the way, and he grinned. Using one of them as a platform, he jumped lightly off them and brough up his other leg in a flying roundhouse kick before landing back on the ground.
It hit. He felt the God of Thunder's face turn to the side, and could see the confusion on his face. Why was the kick so strong? Why did his neck hurt so badly, why did it feel like a far burlier man had hit him?
He would never know.
He would never know that Revenant's muscle fibers were about four times more dense than the average human, because his body had desperately tried, over and over and over, to heal body parts that hadn't been wounded.
The fighter moved his right hand and one of the drums shot up, hitting Revenant straight in the jaw with the ceramic back. A normal man would have been concussed, unable to move for the God of Thunder to turn around and swing his hammer at him. When Revenant, instead, brought up a fist in an uppercut, Kaminari's head shot back, his own jaw broken, his eyes wide as he tried to understand.
He would never know that his brain had long since reformed itself in a fully new structure. That where before was an organ like any other was now a sort of net surrounding it, a fully new structure that served the purpose of preventing concussions from sticking.
Revenant's assault didn't stop. He blocked the arm wielding the hammer, clenching his hand around it like a vice grip, and when the opponent's other hand, the free one, opened so that the hammer could fly into it, he quickly threw his knife at it. He knew a drum would stop it, but it didn't matter. Because the drum got in the way of the hammer, blocking Kaminari's reaction for a second. He bent back, pivoted on one leg, and kicked.
The kick hit the God of Thunder's ribs, and a sickening crunch resonated as they all snapped. By that point the God of Thunder had finally grabbed his hammer once more, but Revenant still had his arm. Without missing a motion, he pulled him in and projected Kaminari over his head, slamming the man on the ground.
Then he stomped.
The drums got in the way, but Revenant's full strength just meant that instead of being hit in the face by his reinforced boot, Kaminari was instead hit in the face by the back of his own defense, the nose cracking again and the man shouting.
"Surrender!" Revenant hissed. The man was on the ground, beaten up and probably unable to get back up.
"Sorry, can't do." He replied, "Say cheese."
And electricity exploded out of his body in a torrent of light, the result not of Mjolnir's magic or the drums magitech, but of the God of Thunder's Quirk.
Most people would have been knocked out by it.
It was definitely what Kaminari expected.
Instead, Revenant stepped forward, mask covering his head, and brought down his fist on the man's face.
Kaminari would never know that Revenant already knew what being electrocuted felt like, and wasn't eager to repeat the experience.
But even that wouldn't stop him.
"The fight is over!" The Announcer declared looking at the scene, Revenant casually leaning on a wall, standing next a barely conscious and extremely battered Kaminari, "The winner is Revenant!"
Revenant sighed and patted the referee on the shoulder. "Good call ending the match there." He said, "If you asked any more, I'm not sure how I would have won without harming him beyond recover."
The referee turned to say something, but the Izuku had already vanished in the maze of buildings, only the man, the two-assistant taking Kaminari away with a stretcher, and the billowing smoke remaining.
He stepped out of the Arena, back into the dark corridor, and run into Keigo. The winged man, was about to approach him, but a single look from Revenant made him step back. "So, uh, I take you didn't like the architecture?" He tried.
Poorly.
"Who designed the building's appearance?"
"The design department? They loved your map but figured it lacked a bit of… you, get it?"
If looks could kill, Keigo would have been dead then and there. As it was, he merely paled head to toe, taking another step back. "In my defense I told them it was a terrible idea. As for the entrance song, that's simple marketing- I will shut up."
"Keigo." Revenant moved forward, "That's the first good idea you have had all day." And with that he marched on, leaving behind the Recruiter, hearing him sigh in relief.
-x-
"You have to fight that next round." Fuyumi said dryly. Captain Kamino slowly nodded, "Do you… think you can win?" He asked.
Through magic, the cameras of the Arena had filmed perfectly Revenant and Kaminari's fight through the smoke, allowing the audience to see the teen outmaneuver a grown man with power over lightning itself. And more importantly, allowing Captain Kamino to realize something more important.
Revenant had only been hit three times in the entire match. None of them from a direct hit.
"I guess only time will tell." He muttered, looking at his shield.
His only weapon would see a lot of use in his next fight.
And he had the nasty feeling Revenant knew that.
-x-
"I want to fight him." Huanli declared.
"Haven't you trained with him often?" Deku asked.
"Training isn't the same. I want a fight like that, blood pumping and heart racing as we go at each other with everything we've got. I wonder how he would handle my techniques."
"He regularly wipes the floor with you during training, I think he should do well." Izumi commented, and Huanli tossed a spare towel at her.
Deku and Izumi both chuckled at the indignant expression on the girl's face, but Izuku had to admit, Revenant was impressive. While he had him beaten in raw power, he was clearly superior when it came to fighting technique.
He had still a lot to learn.
-x-
The singing resounded through the clearing in the early morning, a well-executed tune that would have made anyone envious of the artistic prowess of the singer. "And if you don't love me now, You will never love me again…"
"Oh no, you don't!" Itsuka Quanteng shouted as large black chains whose rings were shaped like hearts emerged from the ground and started to slither toward her. Canary – no, Dekary, this one – kept moving back, staying out of range while keeping up the singing.
"You will never break the chain." The closest chain managed to close around Itsuka's ankle and she shouted indignantly as she found herself restricted. She raised her fist and brought down a construct made of Qi on the chain, but the metal didn't so much as scratch. Dekary kept singing, restarting the song again after the first time, and sure enough not long after Itsuka was completely sealed on the ground, tied down by four chains.
"Why did I agree to this…" She grumbled, "It's demeaning."
Dekary stopped singing, taking a deep breath and then splitting back up into Dekiru and Canary. They both sat down. "Did you notice any difference between the first sing and the repeat?" Canary asked.
"Yes, the need to punch you in the face grew stronger." Itsuka mumbled, before sighing, "But more seriously, I think you were right. I didn't notice the chain grow weaker from one use to the next."
"So Dekary can repeat a song multiple times…" Canary nodded, and Itsuka knew why this was huge for him. While he technically could use a song multiple times, the power grew weaker for each successive repeat. The fusion apparently was above this rule, or at least wasn't as affected. "I would ask if we can see if a third and fourth use strengthen it up…"
"I'm not letting you tie me up again. Just try something else."
"Like what?"
"I don't know, Africa?"
"I wouldn't want to rain on us all." He paused, "Also, I'm not sure if this world lacking an Africa would impact that song. Considering I've noticed some song change subtly between universes, I have to wonder if the complete geographical absence of any continent would end up influencing all songs that reference a place in particular…" He shook his head, and Itsuka sighed.
"Walking on Sunshine?" She tried.
"It's a sunny day, I couldn't really appreciate the effect." Canary pointed out.
"Wings?"
"I've used Wings so much that at this point I barely notice the difference." He said. Of all his songs, Wings was his go to for maneuverability, and he had used the song so much he now could go through ten repeats without losing much speed, and ten more before he started to become so slow he could only glide instead of flying.
Itsuka sighed, "Well, I'm not letting myself be subjected to any more Fleetwood Mac if I don't have to."
"But The Chain is a good song." Dekiru replied, and Canary nodded. Not one of his favorites, but that was the point. Their test showed that by fusing The Chain's effect was much stronger than when Canary sang it in solitude.
"I'm not arguing with that." She paused, then looked at Dekiru, "Also, how do you know that song?"
"Spider-Man." He said, pointing at the man, "Apparently his teacher liked it, he has it on his phone."
Said Spider-Man was currently busy feeding the horses for the day with Ojiro and Itsumi's help, but turned around hearing that and nodded, "Yeah, I figured I'd run him through most of my music library to see if something sticks."
"I'm not rapping." Dekiru replied, "I like a lot of those songs, but I'm not rapping."
"Are you sure?" Spider-Man asked back, and Itsuka could instantly tell his expression saddening, "I really wanted to see what comes out if you two sing Eminem. For example-"
"Don't try to force them." The Green Scar replied, him and Dekirn carrying, very ironically, a couple of dead rabbits. Honestly Itsuka had worried at first that The Green Scar would feel offended by Dekirn mentioning he had left some traps in the woods the night before, but the man had just said he would be fine with it so long as he didn't have to eat it. "It wouldn't work anyway considering how their Quirk works. He pulled out a knife, walked to a stone and, along with Dekirn, started to skin the two animal. Itsumi went green and looked away.
"Don't you find it disturbing to skin a rabbit?" Ojiro couldn't help but ask.
The Green Scar raised an eyebrow, "This is a hare. That's a rabbit." he said, pointing to the prey Dekirn was processing, "So long as I'm not taking care of that, I'm fine."
Ojiro hummed, though Itsuka could tell he had questions. "Come on." She said, before he could start asking more questions to the forty-years-old man that currently looked in his early twenties, "We still have three days of riding to get to this haunted city, and we still don't even know what it looks like."
"I do." Dekirn replied, finishing skinning his prey. He quickly enveloped the meat and put it in his pouch, then sighed, leaving the skin behind. Clearly, he had decided that carrying it around for days in a pouch was bound to ruin it, to his chagrin.
"How? I thought this was a haunted city no one visited." Itsumi asked, while climbing on her horse.
"Exactly, which means thieves and criminals love it. So long as you keep on the edges, of it, the demons aren't really a problem, and since no one moves nearby…" Dekirn shrugged, as if to say stuff like that happened, "Either way, I went there a couple times on business ventures. It's a fairly good-looking city, for a ruin."
Everyone finished climbing their respective horses, The Green Scar being last, and the group started moving. "So what does it actually look like?" Itsuka asked.
"Ah, right. Well, it has a normal circular layout, but the castle itself is weird. Since it was an elvish castle, it was built without an interior in the first two layers. Instead, the first layer behind the external wall is occupied by a forest, and the second layer is a vast garden around two tall spires. The spires are connected at the top by a stone bridge and form the third layer of the three-layers castle. The only interiors to speak off are the chambers inside the two spires. Everything else is outside, since elves don't really do indoors. The city around it though was mostly human, so that one is the usual."
"Where do you think Arkin would be?" Itsuka asked. She would have assumed the top of the towers, but…"
"Top of the towers." Everyone around her said at once. Dekirn blinked, "Yeah, like they said. Not just because of the view, but also because if there is any magical defense still active in the city that's where the controls will be."
Itsuka nodded, "So basically we need to attack a city of Demons and then storm the castle."
"Pretty much." The Green Scar nodded, "It will be interesting for sure. It's been a while since I stormed a castle."
Itsuka sighed. Interesting for sure, he said. She really wished she could be back home teaching Huanli right now.
-x-
Shoto, Bakugo and Todoroki, each of them from a different universe, examined the series of pictures at their disposal. There were the mall security cameras, the pictures of Wanderers taken by the League and finally the most important of all, the security cameras of the League.
From that and the few reports they had collected, they started to put together the information.
"So, our prisoners." Bakugo read, "First, we have Katsuki Bakumagou." He paused to sigh, "His documents said he was the most recent capture of the League."
"Yes, but they were aware of him already." Power Suit replied, "Either way, he was cursed by a Devil Bear Spirit to roam the Multiverse until he understands violence is not the answer to every problem he faces. To show that, he has a hybrid human-bear appearance that will recede the more he solves his own problems."
"So what, it's some sort of godly punishment gone wrong?"
"Yes. He started to instead fight his way through the Multiverse as some sort of mercenary." Power Suit finished, "I think we can say he is on their side."
"Then there is Kurogiri. This thing won't work, the notes say. Is that right?"
"He will only obey to Shigaraki and All for One. We have to hope they have neither." Power Suit put Kurogiri down in the same pile as Bakumagou, then pulled out the picture of Toshinori Yagi in full health, "Toshinori Yagi, All Might. Your version, right Katsuki?"
"Yes. And I'm not sure if he would join or not. I just can't figure out the guy. First he acts all good, then suddenly he decides that murdering people is just acceptable, then he goes on a murder spree." Bakugo sighed heavily, "Still let's assume he will." He grabbed the piece of paper and all but slammed it with the other two. "What about the last one?"
Shoto took out the paper, "Shudai Garaki, aka The Doctor. He went mad after All for One and Shigaraki died and the League disbanded, and decided to continue his experiments on Noumus and artificial human strengthening until he created the Noumu Formula."
"The what?"
"A special substance that if it's injected into people will turn them into Noumu without All for One's help. Essentially a perfected version of what he was doing before. Then he went full mad scientist. Kidnapping people, turning them into Noumu, and then repeat again over and over. Then for some reason one of his Noumu got the right combination to Teleport him into the Multiverse, and everything else went from there." Shoto frowned deeply, "I'm going to say yes, he is in, and also say that we really want to bring him down fast, before he starts making more Noumu."
"Alright, that settles it then." Power Suit decided, "We can assume that the reason they killed only one of them is that the others either agreed to work with them or were Kurogiri, in no position to refuse. Great…" They pulled together the other files. In total, that made it seventeen people at minimum. "None of the others were in the League files, right?"
"Nothing that we could find." Shoto answered, "But to be fair, it might just be some of them are unremarkable. All we can say for sure is that the Technician isn't, because the League always checks for Izuku."
"Good. Good." Power Suit then pulled out another picture, this one of Itsuka Kendrick, and a drawing of Itsuka Quanteng, the Ironblood vampire. "What about them?"
"I've asked Mariah, and she isn't sure herself. Personally, I think we need to at least consider a betrayal or kidnapping for Kendrick."
"And Ironblood?"
"That's harder to figure out. She attacked one of them, but she is too strong for this to be a kidnapping." He tapped his fingers on the table, "It's possible she is trying to infiltrate, if she can become invisible, or hide in their shadows. But I'm just not sure."
"Good, then let's assume the worst." Bakugo decided, "That's twenty of them at least, against… twenty of us?"
"Twenty-six. Plus, Isaac has promised to bring in a few more Patrollers when we know exactly what we are facing. But the problem is finding them."
"We need a tracker or a spy." Power Suit nodded, "Someone that can tell us where the enemy is. So long as this goes better than Deika…"
"What happened in Deika?" Shoto asked.
"Lots of people died, that's what happened. We got dragged into a trap and…" He waved his metal hand, moving away from the subject with a grimace, "Point remains, we just need to not fall for a trick like that. Any suggestion?"
"I have one." They all turned toward the wall, where they found the Ironblood leaning against it. Her dress was ruined, and she had a wound across her face, though it was slowly regenerating.
"Iron-"
"Yes. And my plan worked. Don't thank me."
"Your plan? What did you do?"
"Well, I infiltrated someone." She replied with a grin, "Kendrick is a spy, did you know that? And with my powers, it didn't take much time to convince her to jump the boat and join the True League for All. She even had reasons."
"You forced her to…" Power Suit started, but Ironblood shook her head.
"Well, yes and no. She came to me to ask if I could make her turn convincing, and I did. I drank her blood and created a bond between us. So now, I can see through her eyes, hear through her ears, and speak through her mouth. I also faked an attempt at infiltrating myself, all to cast suspicion away from her. Hiding in Reiko's shadow was surprisingly easy, really. I wonder if I should have just gone with that instead of taking extra steps."
Shoto sighed, "Can you slow down and tell us the whole story?"
Ironblood nodded, sitting down. "But of course. Can I just have some tea before?" She smiled, and Shoto felt terror looking at her teeth. Sometimes, the Vampire was enough to make him doubt he was on the right side.
(xx)
Guests in this chapter:
Revenant from Locked in Digital by Rogue Druid
Captain Kamino from Kamino's Ward by Tunafishprincess
Canary from Canary by cloud_nine_and_three_quarters
Dekiru from Dekiru: the Fusion Hero by | OmegaInfinity |
Spider-Man based on Amazing Fantasy by The Infamous Man
The Green Scar from The Green Scar worldbuilding thread by Quantum01 and The Green Scar story by Pro-man
Power Suit from Rejected Stones by FullParagon
Alright, what a chapter. Only one match, reeee, the Tournament will never finish!
Nah, don't worry, I hope it's clear that whenever we focus on other locations we are skipping ahead through the uninteresting matches. Really I'd say that once we come back next chapter it will be Argali's turn to fight a dragon. Wish him luck.
Speaking of dragons, the fantasy team is training and preparing to reach their target. Am I finally going to write a proper outdoor battle?
Hopefully.
Going back to the match itself, writing Revenant is an interesting challenge for a whole host of reasons. Rogue Druid was kind enough to give me the full arsenal Revenant has at his disposal and I tried to use the most logical item for each turn-around. Besides that, he fought smart, found a weakness, exploited it, won. Perfect match and, in case you missed it, he only got hit three times in the whole fight.
As I said, Revenant is a challenge to write, but in a good way. Very much one of the characters I enjoy writing fights for the most... and one of the hardest to write fights for.
And finally, a small introduction for the 'guests' of the League that have been... rescued, and some answers on the Ironblood and Kendrick. We will get a more detailed explanation next time, but I'm sure even what Ironblood gave is enough to tell you what they did.
Poor Kendrick, ending up in the only universe that doesn't have a Keigo to infiltrate. Terrible administration.