Izumi groaned as she was healed, her muscles and bones feeling like they were burning up. "I hate Tutoria…" She mumbled.
"Now now, considering you only have minor damage I say it's hardly a tough price to pay." The doctor said, putting away the collection of magic potions, of all things, he just had her drink, "You will be pain free in just a few more minutes. And either way, pulled muscles are painful but hardly the worst."
Izumi grumbled again, and laid back on the bad, staring at the screen of the television, and gulping as she saw the result of the match. She had honestly expected Chojuro Kon, the chimera-man she had been training with for a while, to pull off the victory. Instead, the one standing was Arsenal, Kaina Tsutsumi, the woman having triumphed in a One for All against One for All match.
And that meant Izumi was next against her.
"Can I even win that one?" She wondered. She had only seen bits and pieces of the match, but Arsenal's name wasn't just for show. On top of that, her natural Quirk and Air Walk were a godly combination, allowing her to snipe from a distance. Even with Tutoria and I Fall Down, she could maybe block the bullets. Struck Down by Love only worked at sword's range. Maybe she could copy someone's skill with long ranged attacks, but she'd have to find someone right for the role…
She shook her head. For now, she had days to plan ahead. She'd come up with something.
-x-
"Well, he can definitely fly around fast." Paladin commented, staring at the overboard flying up and down around the spires. Despite his efforts to look annoyed by the request, it seemed Horizon was at least taking the chance to try his stuff in a different environment. Or he was showing off. Hard to say which. "I just doubt that alone will be enough to make him work for direct combat. I suppose Lord Arkin will make him a scout."
"Naïve." Prowler said, leaning against the wall. The woman seemed familiar to Paladin, but he had yet to see her without the mask to figure out who she might be, "Just give him the weapons and he can be as effective as anyone else."
"And what weapon do we give him? I don't really carry guns around, and last I checked bullets weren't a commodity everyone has around here."
"Please, you know I'm not talking about those. Just give him a mace. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that hitting an enemy with a blunt object at that speed will kill them."
"I wouldn't go that far." Izmird replied, the Wizard busy observing the intricate patterns Horizon was tracing in the air, his drones buzzing around him, "I'm sure there are many that would be able to resist his attacks in this world, thanks to magic. Still, arming him will make him more dangerous. I will examine the armory. I'm sure there is a tool fitting him. He will have to swallow his dismissal of magic, but I'm sure he will thank me for that come his first battle."
"Do we even know there will be a battle?" Paladin asked.
"Not while we are here." Prowler replied, "But Arkin isn't going to such lengths summoning so many people for show. He has a plan, beyond just finding more people to summon more warriors."
"Which is…"
"I don't know-" She started, but Izmird shook his head.
"Lord Arkin plans to assassinate the Hero, of course. With this many people, and the demons from the city, he can launch an attack on his camp and overwhelm the forces protecting him, and then one of us can strike the finishing blow on Sir Izo of Green Valley." Izmird sighed, "I must admit, it pains me to say this, but it's a good plan, given the level of his followers."
Paladin bit his lip. Of course. Arkin was held in low esteem by the Demon Lord, right now, but if he could cause the death of his sworn enemy… well, that was a completely different story. He would get whatever he wanted. Unlimited resources, entire armies serving him… and that would be on top of summoning over, and over, and over. He found he couldn't really express his true feeling, since they weren't exactly favorable to his Lord's intentions.
"Of course he wants to." Prowler grumbled, "That will destroy some of the kids, though." She added, pointing to Piper and Kitsune. The two were training together, though it seemed Kitsune's powers made him a bit too strong to face Piper. Telekinesis effective on people was fairly strong, in Paladin's opinion. He could actually hold back a grown adult, let alone a teen his same age.
The things went the other way, however, when they trained in hand-to-hand combat. Piper fought with a staff and using kicks, knees and fists, something akin to Muay Thai – or maybe it just was Muay Thai, he wasn't exactly an expert, though he had never seen staffs in the martial art – while Kitsune used a martial art Paladin didn't recognize, but that reminded him a bit of Eraserhead.
Superior had shown them a couple of tricks, but had argued that most of his stuff was limited in this world, so showing off too much would make him run out of useful tricks. Paladin wasn't sure how much of that was genuine and how much of that was hiding his skills from them. He had his doubts the Spider-Man was just planning to obey.
'To be fair, I'm also not showing my hand.' He thought. And so was Izmird. If Paladin knew anything about magic users, was that they always had one more trick than expected. Not that Izmird had shown anything more than basic tricks, such as rays of fire or lightning strikes.
He looked up at the rapidly covering sky. "A storm is coming." He commented, "Should Horizon be flying in the middle of one?"
"I assume he knows best." Prowler replied.
Paladin wondered if that was too. The maneuvers the kid did looked extremely reckless to him. Then again, was he one to talk of recklessness? He wasn't even sure if his plan would work.
The first thunder struck from above, slamming into the top of the left spire, and the rain started to fall. Paladin wondered if it was an omen of things to come.
-x-
Deku watched Koichi Himawari duck around Kacchan's – well not really him, just a Katsuki Bakugo – explosions, and wondered who would come up on top. Whoever it was, they would have to fight the Battlemaster in the following round, provided he defeated the burning version of Mount Lady. The giant looked terrifying, but according to Zombie, newly arrived from, apparently, training, there wasn't a chance the Battlemaster would lose. The only reason he had shown was to see if the champion of the Arena would show some new trick.
"How is Revenant?" Deku asked. After what had happened with Monoma, Huanli had gone to the infirmary, to make sure he was okay in her words, even if Izuku somewhat doubted that was entirely genuine. He had noticed how pale and worried she looked, and had already decided to ask her what was wrong once she came back, or once they left the Arena.
"Six cracked ribs, one that almost pierced his left lung. A cracked arm, a broken wrist, the jaw and the nose also both broken." He shrugged, "So you know, average wounds."
"Wow. And the Captain?"
"Similar stuff. Some more cuts, but Revenant was a lot more clinical in his strike, so he got hit comparatively less."
"I meant more in morale." Deku replied.
"Ah, right." Zombie breathed heavily, "He is a bit shaken. I understand why. He told me what he was supposed to get out of the Tournament, and… Well, closure is a precious thing."
Izuku nodded. He too knew what Captain Kamino's reward was. Knowing where your family was, even if it just meant their burial sites, was closure. He had just lost the chance to find out. "I'm sorry for him."
"To be honest, I feel sorry for him because the endeavor was doomed from the start?"
"Uh? Why?"
"The Battlemaster." Zombie pointed out, toward the ring. Without Izuku noticing, Katsuki had been defeated by Koichi, and he had barely been dragged out, Koichi following him, before the arena changed. One side turned into a flat field, the regular ground, while the other was a burning field of magma. "I think this Tournament is all a trick." He said, pulling out his cigarette, "Otherwise he'd have been banned years ago from it. That monster is borderline invincible."
"You think?"
"I've watched his past matches. Far as I can see, only a handful of people ever got close," He took a breath of the cigarette and then let the smoke swirl above his head, "And from what I can see, 'close' doesn't' mean they had an actual chance."
"So you are giving up?"
"Nope. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Revenant can chop off both of his arm with that sword of his, maybe Arsenal can beat him in a ranged fight, or maybe Ruin can just cause him enough bad luck to defeat him. So I'm not giving up. I'm just taking into account my options."
"And…"
"I want to ask your help, Izuku. If you do that, I will help you defeat All for Deku and his cronies." Zombie replied, bowing his head.
"I…" Izuku blinked, "What do you want me to do?"
Zombie nodded. "Right, I never told you. Well…"
-x-
Izuku Midoriya was a fourteen years old without any power. In a world where he dreamed to be more, to be a Hero, he couldn't achieve his dream. The Number One, Endeavor, had once answered his question of becoming a Hero without a Quirk with a categorical 'impossible'. He had just said it like that, and then walked off.
It had destroyed Izuku, for a bit. He had turned inward, to his secondary passion for zombie movies. He liked the main characters of Zombie movies, the survivors that pushed back mindless hordes driving people to safety.
During his last year of middle school, he went on a simple school trip, and that was where it happened.
"Alright everyone, make sure to be back in thirty minutes. You are free to explore the market and buy anything you want."
The Traditional Kamino Market was a tradition dating back to the pre-Quirk age. People would come around Kamino Ward to buy and sell products freshly arrived from Yokohama's port, and over time the Kamino Market had become a festival. Now, the Traditional Kamino Market was a place to buy mostly trinkets, but given its location and history it was usually included in school trips that visited Yokohama.
"Let's go, Izuku." A girl said, pushing her arm around his shoulder. Reiko Yanagi, a transfer student and Izuku's closest friend, dragged him off. She had been the one to make him discover horror movies, and he was grateful for that.
As they walked through the market, she smiled, "So, you planning to come to UA, after all?"
"I… I will try. I will probably fail the Hero Course entrance, but I can at least make it in General, right?"
"That's the spirit!" She slapped him in the back, "And hey, if you do well at the Sports Festival, they might transfer you, and we can be classmates!"
"Right." He replied.
They spent a while walking together through the market, Reiko buying an old poster of some horror movie Izuku didn't knew and both buying lunch. Izuku couldn't really decide what else to take. Eventually, Reiko asked him to stop so she could go to a restroom, and he nodded, sitting down outside.
That was when, looking back up from his phone, he saw an odd book stall. He hadn't noticed it earlier, but it was undeniably there, filled to the brim with old books. Curious, Izuku walked forward.
"Hello, young man!" The blonde giant standing behind it said with a smile, "Can I interest you in a book? Some of those are ancient and powerful!"
"Powerful?"
"Of course! There is power in any book, if one knows where to look. Books inspire change, and can also guide it."
"I see." Izuku nodded. It wasn't that weird an argument, he supposed, "Do you have…" Izuku bit his lip. His usual question would have been if he had something on Heroes, but pre-Quirk books like those would have probably only been about old superheroes. "Do you have something about horror?"
"Ah." The man inhaled sharply, "Are you sure you wouldn't like something more fantasy? Or sci-fi?"
"I'm more of a horror person. If you don't have…"
"Nonsense, I have everything." The man replied, taking a deep breath, and extending his hand, pulling up a small black book Izuku hadn't noticed until then, "The Book of Evil!" The man said with a dramatic bow, "A book that beckons fear through the most terrifying of monsters."
"That… looks good." Izuku said, "How much is it?"
"Mmmmh… consider it a gift." The man said, "It's been collecting dust for so long I might as well give it away for free."
Izuku took the book, nodding. "You are a weird merchant, sir…" He looked up, but the entire stall was gone. He blinked, then shook his head. No, nothing weird. It was probably just the man's Quirk. Teleportation, or something like that. He looked down at the Book of Evil, and made to open it.
"Ohi, Izuku!" Reiko called out, making him shut the book. "Where were you?"
"Ah, I…"
"No time, it's late! We need to get back to the group!" She dragged him off, and he pushed the book in his bag.
It would only be later that day, back in his room, that he would start to read the book.
"Beware, o explorer of the terrors within, this book is not for the pure and weak. It is a book that seeks to collect, dissect, and store the purest expressions of fear. Those that wrote within those pages did so describing their greatest horrors…"
He went through each chapter. The book, he found soon, was an anthology written by various authors. Each chapter featured a different protagonist from a different time period face the terror caused by different monsters.
He read through each, and had to admit the stories worked, even if, he noticed, the monsters weren't very inspired. For example, Werewolves weren't exactly a novelty, even if he appreciated the authors attempt to let the creature's identity unknown, only giving signs that, while obvious, were subtle enough to go unnoticed.
He read, and read, not noticing time pass, until he reached the half of the book… and found an empty page. Confused, he turned it, to find more empty pages. And then more, and more, and more… Half of the book was empty.
He took a deep breath. A printing error? That seemed hardly possible. Finally, reaching the final one, he found a simple page, that oddly looked like it had been pulled out of the book badly only to be reattached, the thin signs of some sort of… sewing evident. He touched it to find it was printed. Ah, it must have been a graphical effect.
"Dear reader, it is your turn. As the heir of the Book of Evil, the One Book for All Fears, you are in a fantastic position! Write your own story. Tell your own fear, so that generations to come might learn from it, be molded by it, become one with it." He read out loud.
He bit his lip.
Well, that wasn't a terrible idea.
He picked up a pen, and started to write. Now, Izuku had never been a great writer. He was average at best, but for some reason this was… different. The moment the pen touched the paper, he felt his mind focus entirely on the writing. There was nothing but him, the book, and prose. Word by word, the story took form. It was a deep, dark story about a young man feeling lost and alone, unable to stick out in the crowd, to attain dreams of greatness. One face among millions, a footnote in the lives of those around him. Only for the Zombies to change that. A sudden pandemic, and a protagonist that… was bitten, and turned, maintaining his mind but losing his feelings in the process. Once more a faceless entity among many, the protagonist shuffled forward, now driven by naught but his urge to feed, only to find more gratification in the death of those he fed off. For them, he was unique. Those that survived would remember him forever, the trench coat and green shirt he wore as he lived somehow never falling off, those that died to his bite had him in their mind at every moment. He would hear whispers of the Seeker, the devourer of heroes, and he would devour more. Something drove him now, something more than just the primal urge of feeding.
He had wanted this.
He had wanted to be seen, to be recognized.
There was nothing else he would have rather been, but someone the people around him saw as real, as dangerous, and as known.
Izuku remembered finishing his story. He remembered putting down his pen and staring at the work, tired but happy. It was horror, and horror at its finest. It was a story of isolation, a story that left the protagonist trapped in a hopeless, futile, and repulsive situation, and yet his road there was not motivated by evil in itself, but only molded by it. Was he evil, or was it the illness? It was up to the reader to decide.
Satisfied, Izuku had looked at the clock, realizing it was five in the morning, and gone to sleep.
The next day, when he woke up, he was changed. He was covered in scars, his skin a sickly pale grey, his body feeling light and yet heavy. He was strong, and yet his arms felt like they could fall off.
He had thought it was a Quirk at first, but then he had realized.
The book.
He was a zombie.
He was still trying to grapple with it, when the screams begun. Staring outside the window, he saw the people in the streets run. Run in front of more people like him, but… worse. They were shuffling, fumbling, and yet moved faster than they should have at that pace. They would close on people they had not business reaching. In a trance, Izuku couldn't help but watch the first death he had ever seen, a man that had fallen as he tried to stop the shuffling ones.
A man eaten alive, rising to devour more.
"I…" He stepped back from the window, as the screams grew. Was this… What was this…
"Mom!" He shouted, rushing outside, but no one answered. Right, it was a working day. His mother would have been at work. He rushed to the phone, just as it started to buzz. He answered, thinking it was his mom.
It wasn't.
"Izuku!" A panting voice shouted.
"R-Reiko?!"
"Izuku! Thank god, you are…" A grunt, "You are alive…"
He looked at the mirror. Alive. Yeah. "Reiko, I…"
"Izuku… I love you." She said, and Izuku froze, "Reiko?"
"I'm sorry… I-I know I've… jumped a few steps. But it seems I w-won't be… won't be able to…" A cry of pain, "To tell you properly."
"Reiko?"
"They bit me, Izuku. Those… zombies… They did it…"
A flash to Izuku's mind. The protagonist of his story, he had a close friend, and she… she…
"Reiko!"
"I-Izuku…" There was the sound of crying now, from the other hand of the line, "I'm… I know… I… Fuck…" She was bawling, "Why did this happen?!" She shouted hysterically, "What did I do?! What is this?!"
"It's… Reiko… I…"
"Izuku. I love you." She said, histerically switching topic, "It… It hurts. I'm sorry. I… I… I think I'm…"
"Reiko…" He was bawling too, even if his eyes refused to shed tears. 'Not like this.'
"Izuku." She whispered, and then there was the sound of something hitting the floor.
"Reiko?" Izuku called, "Reiko?! Reiko?! Reiko!"
The sound of a movement, walking away.
Shuffling away.
Izuku screamed.
-x-
Deku stared at Zombie, horrified. Unconsciously, he had leaned back, away from the man. "How many…" He asked with a strangled voice.
"Fifty million dead in Japan alone in the first hour. That was the worst part. After that…" He breathed out more smoke, "About the same. Thank God I wrote that only the protagonist was conscious. If the Zombie kept their ability to use Quirks…" He grimaced, "Well, Marvel Zombies and all that. Your friend was adamant what she thought of that."
Right, Kiruka. Her fears now sounded a lot less founded. "The Heroes…"
"They couldn't do anything about it. It was the narrative, see. The Zombies took over the world, and so they did. The protagonist maintained his own conscience, and so I did. His best friend… Well, you get it."
"What about the rest of the narrative?"
"I'm the protagonist. I still have free will. So long as I become known, it doesn't matter how. After Reiko died…" He grit his teeth, "I went around, trying to save people. That got me known as a Vigilante armed with a axe that isn't killed by the Zombies." He shook his head, "A joke, that's what it is. A distorted, cruel, unfair joke. I got what me and the protagonist both wanted, recognition, fame, being more than a face in the crowd. All I had to do was kill my best friend, my mom, and probably over a billion other people." He finished the cigarette, throwing it off, "Hooray." He said, without any sentiment.
"I'm sorry…"
"I know. Everyone is. No one ever calls me a mass murderer. I killed those people."
"You didn't know…"
"You think that matters?!" He shouted, drawing the eyes of several people around them. He sighed, and lowered his voice, "You think that matters?" He asked again, "Would you say the same if you had lost someone because of me? If you were Reiko's parents, or Masaru's family, or Kyotoku and Mika's daughter… All people that died because of me."
"I…" Deku wanted to say yes. He wanted to say it was alright, that he was unaware, but… responsibility was different from fault. Zombie had caused the zombie apocalypse. The fact he felt guilty was a given. It made him… more human, maybe.
"See, even you can't say that confidently." Zombie sighed, "All I want is to right the wrongs I committed. If after that I die, so be it, but first, I want to save the survivors of my world. I want to give them a way out."
"A way out?"
"Yes. See, once I became known enough, the narrative of my chapter concluded, and the bookmark appeared, allowing me to use my transformations. That made me find out how my power works. I can turn into a Monster, but the narrative of that chapter becomes real. If I turn into a Centaur, an army of Centaurs – counting a few hundreds at most – appears somewhere in the world, roaming a vast plain and preparing to fight the closest army. If I read the Werewolf chapter, a lone werewolf somewhere starts to attack a small village. But the crucial thing is that the Chapter I wrote, unlike the others, doesn't reset. I don't cause a new wave of the Apocalypse every time I turn into a Zombie. Which means, the narrative is free."
"So…"
"So what if the story ends in a positive way for humanity. What if they are saved? That's what I want. I want a savior."
"And I should be?"
"You could be. You could take the people away. Find them a world to inhabit, one free of zombies, and then help take them there. It's all I ask. A way out for the people I hurt."
Izuku bit his lip. It was a good request, but could he do it? He… he didn't even know where to start. "I…"
"Think about it." Zombie replied, "That's all I ask. The JTO offered the same as a prize, but I need to make this chance count. So… Please. I will help you in any way I can."
Deku slowly nodded.
"I will think about it." He said.
Zombie nodded, and his content smile told Izuku he had already figured out what his answer was going to be.
-x-
Huanli watched the Battlemaster's match, and couldn't help but feel the difference that separated them. It was one thing to claim the Battlemaster was invincible, another to see him ragdoll a flaming giant woman like she was a puppet. He utterly defeated her, even if this time he had to use One for All, the power allowing him to leap toward her face and punch her with enough strength to level a skyscraper.
"He is invincible." She muttered.
"No." Revenant replied, for once from where Huanli expected him to, since he was sitting on his bed, waiting for the healing to finish, "He isn't invincible. If he was, this Tournament wouldn't be as popular. Moreover, there is nothing invincible. Man or monster, they can all die."
"You have a plan then?" Huanli asked. Monoma was asleep, and Captain Kamino had been brought to a different room. Every other fighter had left after getting their cures, which virtually only left the two of them there.
"Maybe. It depends from you." He replied, "Teach me Zhandou Quan."
"What?!" She shouted, before lowering her voice when Monoma mumbled in his sleep, "I can't!"
"Why?"
"We don't have the time! It would take some sort of exceptional… some sort of exceptional superhuman intellect and adaptability…" She paused, frowning. Those were the words her Master had always used, and suddenly… Suddenly they didn't seem off the mark. "But even then, even if you could learn at an higher pace, you can't get your own body ready in time! Meditation takes weeks to achieve the goal- No! Don't even think about it!" She hissed when he pointed toward Monoma, "This was an emergency! I'm not going to force your Qi to flow and then do what I did here. Not only you'd be in so much pain you'd be screaming on the floor, I'd have to then absorb your Qi until you have barely any left! If I make one mistake, you'd die!"
"But I would get Zhandou Quan if I win."
"The basics at most!"
"Eh, I'm good at figuring stuff up from the basics." He replied, extending his hand, "And it's worth the cost."
"You don't realize how much pain-"
"Huanli." He stopped her, "I think I have a good idea about pain. I need new abilities if I want to best the Battlemaster, and I'm more likely to do that by learning Zhandou Quan than to try and obtain some exotic magic."
'Not to mention, finding a teacher would be harder.' He didn't say, but Huanli could read what he meant either way. Yes, there wasn't anyone else capable of teaching him quite as fast. He already had physical skills, the main requirement for Zhandou Quan, while developing magic abilities would take longer. And he also didn't know if a given magic was something he could even learn until he tried. Huanli knew some magics were Multiversal and some weren't. Revenant had most likely heard the same.
"Give me time to think about it." She replied.
He shrugged.
"Of course."
The cheers at the Battlemaster's victory deafened them.
-x-
It had taken days, but finally they were there. Spider-Man, climbing a tree, looked down toward the city, the sun rising. The city of Mikona stood there, abandoned and half broken. He had to admit, this was a weird experience. He really wasn't used to fantasy world.
However, the signal confirmed Hawks was there. And so was, most likely, the Prowler. Mitsuki. 'Kacchan would want to be here.' He thought grimly. With the True League for All around, Isaac had offered to take them all home, but had also admitted the League would have trouble sending help. He had promised to ask around, but there was a lack of reinforcements. He had to hope it just meant everyone was busy, but it would be just Spider-Man's luck that the group he was part of was destroyed right when he truly needed their help.
Shit, it was a possibility, uh?
He shook his head, and jumped down from the tree. The plant was still humid from the storm from the day before, but his powers made it as easy to climb as anything else.
"Well, the signal is still there." He replied, "In the spire too, as we expected."
The Green Scar nodded, "Alright. That works for me."
"Should we attack immediately?" Dekiru asked, but The Green Scar shook his head.
"We are tired and don't know what's going on. For now, we move further away, so we don't risk to be spotted, and rest." The Green Scar replied. Spider-Man noticed he was slipping easily in the position of commander, "Then, once we have done that, we send someone into the city. Dekirn, I believe you said you could."
Dekirn nodded. "I can get in and out easily. I know the city and have a few potions of invisibility. I don't know about the Spire, but I'd wager I can slip as far as the forest's gates without being spotted by human or demon."
The Green Scar nodded. "Good. If that's the case, take this." He said, tossing him his phone, "I need you to take pictures. You have to…" He launched in an explanation on the intricacies of a smartphone camera, and Spider-Man sighed.
One more day, and then they would finally accomplish their goal.
-x-
Izumi watched Izuku and Huanli, as she brought them their breakfasts. They both looked a bit out of it, deep in thought and exhausted. "Sheesh, you two look like zombies." She stated bluntly, "It's supposed to be the big day, guys!"
Izuku shivered, "Can we… not talk about zombies?" He asked, biting into the apple she had brought with the rest of the food. She glanced at Huanli, rasing an eyebrow, but the girl seemed off too. Izumi sighed. Was this worry for the match? She could understand that, even if it didn't seem in character.
"Alright. Enough. You two, finish your breakfast, and then we are off training." She replied, "I'll go pick up my stuff. If I can't wake you out of this dumb mood you are stuck into with words, I will beat it out of you." She grinned, noticing Huanli's cautious interest.
She rushed up the stairs, and frowned. "What are you three snickering about?" She asked, annoyed, entering her room and starting to pick up her stuff. Maybe she wouldn't need her best weapons, but she would definitely make a show of this.
"Are you asking for a hint?" Overzealous Databook asked.
"No. I'm still waiting for that bad luck strike from Struck Down by Love. I'm not about to make my life more difficult." She stepped through the door, "Now let's…"
Izumi blinked. Uh.
She didn't remember the corridor to be a circular room made of stone, she definitely didn't remember a group of two Izuku and a crying child standing out of it in a circle. She also didn't remember having the tattoo of the kanji for violence on the back of her hand.
And she didn't remember an older Rikiya Yotsubashi waiting for her.
"Ah, welcome." The man said, "It's the first time we summon a female Izuku, but I suppose I never made the distinction." He said.
Huanli blinked.
"The other one looks more convincing." He added, and she turned to see a second Izuku, standing in front of her, wearing a top hat, dressed elegantly, wielding a cane with the head of a crow on top, a crow tattoo on the back of his head, "But we are missing the third one." The man noted.
"Izumi?!"
"Izzzuku?!" She shouted, suddenly hearing the voice of the dream being, and answering mentally more out of sheer inability to speak than anything else, "What is going on?!"
"I think you were just summoned by a magician named Lord Arkin." He explained, "I assume along with me, even if the spell didn't manage to take hold on me… and along with Jack." He explained, "You are in real trouble."
Oh.
Jack Midoriya, the serial killer Kiruka had told them about.
Lord Arkin, the man Deku had told her about.
"Oh, well, this is certainly bad luck." She managed to say, weakly, glancing at her sword. She had a feeling she now knew why the three Spirits were snickering.
(XX)
Alright, guests:
Revenant from Locked in Digital by Rogue Druid
Spider-Man, Mitsuki Bakugou/The Prowler: Amazing Fantasy by The Infamous Man
The Green Scar: The Green Scar worldbuilding thread by Quantum01 and The Green Scar fanfic by Pro-man
Dekiru: Dekiru the Fusion Hero by | Omega Infinity |
Revenant: Locked in Digital by RogueDruid
And others that appear but don't get speaking roles.
Ah, what a nice chapter, I really have nothing to add. See you next week...
Alright, well, I did tell you there was a reason this story is written with three interconnected plots. You thought this Fantasy Arc was there just for show? That it had nothing to do with the main plot?
Well, that was a fair assumption to make, admittedly.
Oh boy, D-Day is coming in Mikona Beach. I wonder if someone has figured out the city name. If not, it will probably become more apparent soon.
And meanwhile, Zombie gives his full backstory. I wanted to show just how much burden he has on his shoulder. He absolutely caused all those deaths, he caused the narrative to go that way.
At the same time... Can you call it completely his fault? He was a teen and the Book did a lot of the heavy lifting.
I don't know, I'll let you make up your own mind.
And Revenant is pulling something. My man, you are already scary, why must you try to get more dangerous? You are gonna overflow and turn into a puppy or something.
If you are wondering, Huanli's comment on learning Zhandou Quan fast requiring someone exceptional with that exact wording was a comment her mother/Master made not so long ago, when she recounted Itsumi asking her to learn.
Jokes on you miss Quanteng, seems that person exists.
Alright, now for real, see you next week. I hope you are as excited as I am for the next step of our journey into the Multiverse.