Dekirn pulled down the dreamcatcher from the door's arch and slammed it to the ground, stepping on it for good measure and breaking it. "Was that the last one?" The thief asked.
"Only one way to find out." Izzzuku said, emerging from his head, "Good thing someone managed to dodge that teleportation magic." He commented, looking around.
"I'm a thief. If I can't dodge magic traps, I wouldn't have a lot of business." Dekirn replied, "So, what's that way to find out?"
Izzzuku snickered, took the position of an athlete, complete with changing his clothes to a pro runner's, and as a gun appeared in the air and gave the go, he started to 'run'. He was technically floating at high speed, but it was fast enough it took him less than a minute to go from the bottom of the tower back to Dekirn, near the top, and then past him, reaching the final few floors.
As he passed by, he took in the sight of the various dilapidated floors, but couldn't find any sign of the others, or of anyone else alive. Reaching the final few floors, he found the corpse of Lord Arkin, sprawled on the ground. No idea who killed him, but if Izzzuku could give his honest opinion, it was 'good riddance'… The only problem was that they had no idea of what would happen to the Crests now. 'Worst case scenario, they default to the Demon Lord. And that's when we might need to find someone capable of undoing a magic like that.' Izzzuku thought. 'Well, questions for later…'
The man gagged blood, and Izzzuku stared at him shocked for a moment, before grimacing and checking his body from inside by phasing through with his head. A moment later, he came back out with a gag of his own. His lungs and heart had been, for lack of a better word, tenderized. Whatever had killed him had left because even magic couldn't save Arkin at this point.
'… Or I could check and make sure.'
He groaned, but they needed to know.
Izzzuku closed his eyes and jumped in.
-x-
Memories are misunderstood. They aren't just a cold collection of your past. They are much, much more. They retell your life's path, inform your entire decision making. They are who you are.
And the memories of a dying mess are, well, a dying mess.
Izuku made it past the surface thoughts of the man. They were slow and faint, and felt uncomfortably clingy and sad, dragging him down as if he was making his way through molasses. He felt disgust and despair that weren't his own. He felt regrets that he felt appalled by since they centered more around lack of authority and lack of insight, instead of consternation for what he had done.
In his final moment, Arkin the Summoner wasn't asking for forgiveness for what he had done, he was regretting not having achieved his goal. Izzzuku prized himself for liking people easily, but even he felt only repulsion for a man so self-centered.
Past those, though, were the deeper memories. Crystalized, might have been the right term. Those memories that were clear and had remained in someone's mind when most hadn't. No one remembered every lunch in their life, but they would remember one that held an important meaning.
The problem was, they were fading, fast. And he knew that, in this state, they were fragile. He was a dream being, an unreal creature that didn't belong in those memories. If he entered them fully, there was a risk he could destroy them for good.
… Was that fair? Arkin would come back as a ghost or a Specter, most likely, but if the memories were destroyed now, he would forget his regrets and move on. He'd be just a lost soul in whatever afterlife he believed in.
Izzzuku watched another memory fade, and others followed, and gritted his teeth. There wasn't much of a choice.
He dove in.
-x-
"What a prodigy!" The man shouted, "My son, already using complex summoning at the age of four. He will bring the family back to the ancient glories in no time!"
Arkin was six, standing proudly in front of his father as he showed the first spell he had learned. The first of many, he just knew.
He would bring honor back to his family, becoming the first Court Wizard from their family since Deseter the Demon Summoner. He would make it.
-x-
"He is already fourteen, and he is this far behind in his studies?"
He wasn't sure who had said that, but it didn't really matter. Most people did. Arkin was… behind in most magical abilities. He had the talent, his professors said, but he lacked the adaptability to use it. He was a gifted Summoner, though. The best in the Academy, perhaps the best in the nation.
And he had a plan to make everyone shut up. He just needed a few years to study it, and the help of a few trusted allies.
-x-
"Are you sure it's feasible, Arkin?" Koha Katab, the man also called sometimes Koha the Trumpet for his skills in vocal-based magic, asked.
"It is. With your help to control him, and with others helping subduing him…"
"But a Demon General? You really think you can Summon that?"
"I know I can, Katab. Just trust me."
"Fifty/Fifty on the reward?"
"I wouldn't have it any other way."
Arkin smiled. It had taken five years, but he had found the way to bend the Slave's Crest to his needs. He would summon a Demon General and bend him to his will. He would be acclaimed as the first man to successfully slay one of them by himself.
-x-
"You really thought you had a chance." The creature hissed.
"Arkin… Why…." Katab struggled, for a moment longer, then he turned to ash. Arkin could only look up to the creature he had summoned, the beast that had turned all of his followers into dust.
Shigrat, the Lord of Ashes, was supposed to be the easier prey, but he had proved superior. He had proved above him. So, so far above him…
Arkin fell to one knee, "I submit." He declared. He doubted it would work, but it had to be a chance…
The silence stretched forever, before the voice moved closer, so close Arkin could feel the smell of ash and decay. "You submit… Very well. And what do you offer?"
"I… I can summon. I can summon creatures for you with the Crest."
"Like you just did?"
"They won't be as strong as you, my Lord. Please!"
The silence stretched longer. "Arkin the Summoner, then. The new pawn of the Demon Lord." The hiss sounded filled with nothing but pure disgust, as if even the Demon General was disgusted of Arkin's betrayal. "Arkin the Coward, that flew close to the sun and then closed his eyes, thinking that would save him…"
Arkin gritted his teeth. He hadn't failed. He had misunderstood how powerful the Demon General was. He wouldn't make that mistake again.
-x-
Arkin looked at the summoned Elves from above, beyond their sight. "Another batch for the Demon Lord." He declared, "I still have no idea what they do with them. Prepare them to be sent off tomorrow."
"Tomorrow sir?" The bandit asked, one of the many Demon Lord cultists that were sent to man his operation.
"Tomorrow. You are in control of the Crest, right?"
"Yes sir, but why me?"
"I cannot come with you." Arkin explained, waving his hand, "You will take care of this batch."
The man nodded, and Arkin smiled, before entering the Teleportation circle and reappearing in his study. He quickly cancelled the sign. He wouldn't need it for a while. "Sir, they are here." His servant said.
"Let them in." Arkin replied. A moment later, Sir Izo of Greenvalley, the current Hero, and his companions walked in. The famous Knight Sir Tenro, who was famed to be the next in line for the title of captain of the guards, and the equally famous mage Urane, the most talented magician of her generation.
Arkin could feel envy build in his body. What had they done to deserve their role? One had found a sword, one had been born gifted. The only one he respected was Tenro. At least he had worked for his position.
"Lord Arkin." They said, bowing.
"No need for that." He replied, "Now, I see from this letter that you believe there is a sect of the Demon Lord's Cult in my lands. If so, know you have my full support in taking care of them all. I am disgusted by the idea those filthy monsters would prowl my land." He gritted his teeth in a convincing act of anger. He was angry after all, even if it was anger at the fact his operation had been discovered. But no matter. So long as they didn't know he was behind it, he could rebuild.
-x-
"Why, lord…" The last man said as a guard cut him down.
"That was… rather violent, Lord Arkin." Sir Izo pointed out. "We expected you to capture someone while we dealt with the Demons."
"I'm sorry." He admitted, "I got carried away. Still, we should be able to interrogate them." He looked at the prisoners, the elves he had 'saved'.
"True." Tenro nodded, and Urane seemed to agree as well. Sir Izo didn't seem completely convinced, but after a moment he sighed and nodded. Arkin made a show of walking forward first.
"Here, let me help you." He said, moving close to the nearest elf, a younger woman, "What is your name?"
"K-Kikora…" She murmured, "I… You are saving us?"
"Indeed." Arkin smiled, "You don't have anything to fear anymore."
-x-
Izzzuku emerged from the memories profoundly disgusted. This cowardly, envious, backstabbing… He shook his head. No, he needed to find more recent memories. There had to be a clue somewhere.
He tried to look closer to the surface. The memories were disappearing one by one. There had to be…
Then he spotted it. A clear memory, one so recognizably different it shone brighter.
Entering it, he saw the current event. One memory of Izmird placing an illusion on a door hiding Kai. Good to know, that explained where the kid had vanished. He'd have to search for it, but illusions were his specialty after all.
He went back, following the dissolving memories. Further back than the arrival in the dead city of Mikona. Further than the first battle, further than the first summon, there had to be a point where Arkin had designed the sigil for the…
-x-
"And you think this would work?" Arkin asked, putting down the alcoholic.
"I know so." The woman said, smiling. She had to be no older than thirty, if she was a human. Her large witch hat covered her had, but the red ponytail on her side was clearly visible.
"It seems really farfetched. My orders are purely to transfer the kid to the Demon Lord."
"But a man of your talent could do so much more with it…" The woman said, leaning closer, "Arkin the Summoner. I've heard about you, you know? They say you were the most skilled wielder of Summoning magic since your ancestor's times. It must run in the family. You summoned the Lord of Ashes once, didn't you? And you have caused many sudden attacks by summoning Demons near fortresses and war camps, isn't that right?"
"I have a talent for summoning. Still, this is…"
"Feasible, we believe. We just lack the understanding of how to link the magic and the natural ability the child has inherited." The woman replied. Her teal eyes looked up from the witch hat and met Arkin's. "Is it impossible?"
"No, it would… It would require trial and error, and most likely some investigation in the nature of this power, but… In the end, it would be just another form of energy harnessing…" This was potentially revolutionary. This could change everything. With this power, he could Summon soldiers from other worlds! He could find the strongest, the most powerful, the smartest! He could…
The woman coughed, and he looked at her, "There is a deal, though."
"A deal?"
"Yes. We have offered you this information, all we ask in exchange is for you to promise two things."
Arkin wanted to laugh in her face. She had just told him everything he needed, why would he…
But for some reason, instead, he nodded. "It seems… Fair." He admitted. Yes, he could see why he should have taken the deal. It made sense.
"Good." She smiled, and he could have sworn her eyes were shining, "First, you will make me the next in line after you. If anything happened to you, we wouldn't want those summoned to go free, right?"
"Of course."
"And second, you will-"
-x-
Izzzuku emerged from Arkin's head. The bastard had died for good before he had finished the conversation, but what he had heard was… This was bad. 'Kai, and then I will tell the others. Something is off here. Someone else told Arkin about the possibility of the Crest doing this for him?'
He frowned. From what he had put together, Izmird had been the one calling a lot of the shots since his summoning, but it was true that, earlier on, Arkin had to have come up with the idea. They had always assumed he had just stumbled into it, but… Well, this did make sense. Someone put him on track, someone knowledgeable on magic.
It could have been someone from this same world, but… Izzzuku had a bad feeling about this.
He shook his head. He had to find Kai first. The rest had to wait.
-x-
Pain.
Izmird hadn't felt this much pain in a long time. The fact it was an Izuku causing it, for a dragon like him that had always boasted about being so powerful only he could surpass himself, would have been great irony, part of his mind told him. Unfortunately, the lest of his mind was busy experiencing pain and rage.
The fist would have sent him flying, but he had used a spell to hold himself down. His skin was made of his transformed scales, so it cracked, rather than bruise, pieces of emerald falling from where the transformation was giving way.
He opened his mouth, his teeth turning back to normal, and bit in the shoulder of the Izuku. He felt goo squirm under his teeth, even as the Izuku screamed with two voices. The third one seemed to be singing, and didn't stop even as Izmird brought down his palm.
But before he could touch the Izuku, the Green Scar rushed in and punched him in the side.
Pain.
Izmird opened his mouth, letting go the enemy he had been fighting, and brought up a hand to cut with his resurfacing claws through the opponent's chest, but the sheep got in the way, it's wool so thick and strong his claws couldn't cut to reach the meat. He grunted and brought forward his other hand, to take control of the sheep, but suddenly he heard a sound from behind and turned to see Revenant aphazardly charge him, and Izmird took the chance.
He grasped Revenant with the hand wielding the ring and watched the mark form on his chest.
And then a grin formed on Revenant's face. Something left his body, a barely visible spectral figure unlike any ghost he had ever seen, and Revenant suddenly went limp in his arm, unconscious and looking like he had been for a while.
He roared again, feeling more enemies coming, but he had enough. He turned to throw Revenant at the attackers, but something pulled him out of his hand, and he watched Superior pull in the unconscious Izuku. Izmird changed his plan. His tail burst from his back and slammed into the trio of opponents with enough force to send Deku, the Green Scar and Merino flying… only for Itsuka Quanteng to charge him and slam her open palm in his chest.
Pain.
A current of what felt like pure heat burst through his body, and Izmird felt pain for the third time in the fight. He brought forward his claws to slash at the woman, and she pushed back. He tried to pursue, but he was still mid-way between his elvish and dragon form. He wanted to turn back, but concentrating enough to undo the careful set of spells he had cast on himself would take too long, so he was resorting to undoing them one by one.
Before he could, Huanli Quanteng rushed in his defenses, followed by Ojiro and Izumi. Izmird opened his mouth to unleash a stream of fire, but Ojiro casted a simple Shield spell. It had to be scorching hot, but Izumi and Huanli didn't stop, rushing forward the second he stopped his flames to draw breath. Out of the corner of his eye he saw another group of three charging forward, the One for All users returning to charge at him again.
Huanli slammed her palm forward like Itsuka had done, but the impact, while powerful, didn't break through his defenses. Izmird prepared to burn her, but before he could something hit him in the head and exploded, and he spotted Itsumi, her arm extended and preparing to launch more of her explosive breath.
Izmird roared in defiance, and slammed his hand into Izumi's throat while she mumbled something. She held his hand to try and free herself, but she didn't have the strength. Izmird knew this time he had her, making to activate the ring as he kept her high… but to no avail. The ring didn't work.
"What did you…"
"Second President of the Student Council, user of Rob Curtain, the ability to Steal." She coughed out with a grin, before tossing a familiar ring, a ring that should have been on his finger, down to the ground. He tossed her aside with one hand while the others grasped for the falling jewel, but another hand beat him to it, Huanli roaring in triumph as she grabbed the ring and darted past.
He turned to slash at her again, but first Ojiro got in the way with another Shield, and then it came again.
Pain.
Pain as two fists, a palm and a set of horns all hit him at once, sending him through a house and another, and another and another.
Izmird groaned, standing back up. They had taken it. They had dared to steal from a dragon. From him. They had taken a treasure he had deemed his own, a treasure he himself had crafter. They had also wounded him, the dragon's blood pouring from the wound on his chin and his flank, where the fist and the horns respectively had found the right spot.
This wouldn't stand.
He hissed, and grinned.
"Alright. No more holding back." He decided. It was a pity, because he truly wished to take them all as followers. But if he had to murder the girl, murder a few others… So be it.
-x-
Deku stumbled forward, his shoulder bleeding profusely. He held on it with a grimace, watching as the Green Scar grabbed the ring and promptly put it on the ground and completely destroyed it by using One for All at full power and powered by Fa Jin to annihilate the ring. They all watched as the Crest on Revenant's body vanished, and sighed in relief.
That was that then.
"You idiot!" Someone suddenly shouted. Deku turned around to see Dekiru on the ground, barely conscious and with the body emitting a dense steam, and Canary shouting at him. "What were you thinking?!"
"What's happening?" Izuku asked, rushing next to them.
"This idiot decided to take all our combined exhaustion on himself." Canary responded.
"He recharged your Quirk?"
"I think he would have if he could, but instead he recharged me. I feel much better than I did just earlier. Same for Spider-Man. Meanwhile, he is going out cold." He said, and as if to confirm this, Dekiru passed out for good.
Izuku nodded. "We need to move him, Revenant and Arsenal now."
"On it!" Ojiro shouted, having already grabbed Arsenal and taking her to a safer location, the same happened with Huanli grabbing both Revenant and Dekiru and rushing off after the man.
"What do we do?" Deku asked, "He has been gone for too long."
"I'd like to think we knocked him out cold, but that feels very…" The Green Scar started, before a roar echoed through the city, strong enough to make the houses tremble, "Optimistic." He concluded with a resigned sigh. "Canary, are you ready?"
Canary nodded, and Deku wondered what this was about, but he shook his head and activated the nanomachines, forming a new Full Gauntlet. This was… the last, or the second to last at best. He had to make it count.
And then a dragon tore through the houses, standing in front of them at his full, real height. Deku had already seen it, but it was still impressive. He was enormous, easily dwarfing everything around him. As he raised his neck, Deku couldn't help but realize he had forgotten just how small they were compared to it. Five meters, ten, fifteen… He stopped just shy of twenty meters, and was probably… thirty, maybe even forty meters long from head to tail.
That was the true appearance of Izmird, the Dragon they had come to fight.
"You have done enough." A rumble crashed through his mind, and from the expression of everyone around him, through theirs as well, "Last chance. Surrender."
"Never." Itsuka said. The creatures snorted flames through his nostrils.
"Very well. Die then." And the dragon charged forward.
Deku had one second to realize it was charging straight at Izumi, grab her with Blackwhip and pull her out of the way, but Izmird expected it. His neck snapped around and the mouth opened, a torrent of fire enveloping everything as it crashed toward Izumi.
If Spider-Man hadn't jumped in to pull her out of the way, she would have been incinerated. As it was, she screamed as her right arm was burnt, the gun she was still holding melting out of her hand, but she was taken to safety…
For an instant, before Izmird whipped his tail around, and then used a spell, most likely, to make it burst into flame as well. The flaming appendage made scorched Earth of everything around the dragon, but Spider-Man's Spider-Sense allowed him to take himself and Izumi out of the attack's path.
Deku dove in before he could think, wanting only to save his friends. One for All shone through his body as he used one-hundred percent, counting on the Full Gauntlet to not destroy his body, focusing only on his objective. He pushed Float to fly at maximum speed when adding to One for All, and rocketed against Izmird's side, the dull impact of his fist echoing as the mass of the dragon was pushed back.
Then he felt a cold shiver down his spine as Danger Sense felt not just malice, but absolute mortal danger. Blackwhip shot out of his back and he used it to drag himself away, and an instant later spiky pillars of ice shot out of the ground.
He looked up in time to see Izmird open his mouth to ready a burst of fire, but he also saw the form of the Green Scar and the flying form of Merino both reach for the head.
Izmird's eyes told him he knew, as he turned around.
"Merino!" Izuku shouted, and then the mouth opened. Merino had heard his call, or maybe just had an equivalent for Danger Sense, and tried to dive out of the way, but Izmird's fire still scorched his back and wings, the sheep bleating as he crashed into a large building at full speed.
The Green Scar hit, and the impact of his fist against the dragon's scales was strong enough to push everyone else back and make even the dragon stagger. The Green Scar touched the ground and seemed to charge up using that moment, moving up and down rhythmically with both legs as if to charge up… He was using Fa Jin, Izuku realized. "Canary, Quanteng went, now!" The Green Scar shouted without stopping.
Deku wasn't sure what that meant, but before he could ask, he saw Canary open his mouth and start to sing. "Across the Multiverse, you and I…"
A portal opened, large enough to let the Dragon through, if narrowly, and the Green Scar jumped and kicked, trying to push the Dragon through the portal. Of course, Izmird could tell, and roared before creating another set of ice spikes. One of them pierced through the Green Scar's leg, making him scream.
Izuku jumped, and he wasn't the only one. Him and Clockwork looked at each other, almost in surprise, and midway through the jump nodded and kicked forward side by side.
"Twin…"
"California…"
"SMASH!"
Both kicks hit Izmird at the same time, spearing through his scales and making the dragon gasp as he was finally pushed through the portal. Before he was, however, he extended one of his wings, slamming the bone into both Izukus.
It was painful. Deku felt the Full Gauntlet crack, and the arm behind it follow, as he was thrown at blinding speed in the opposite direction. Clockwork was caught by Superior before he hit a wall, and Deku used Float to slow himself down enough that Spider-Man managed to do the same, putting him down next to Itsumi and Piper.
They all looked as the Green Scar and Izmird disappeared through the portal and made to follow, but Canary, passing by, shook his head and made some gestures with his hands, still singing, before jumping through the portal too. Then, the portal vanished, before any of them could think of passing through.
"What did he say?" Izuku asked. To his surprise, Itsumi was the one that answered.
"Leave it to us. You did well, but this final part can only work if only we go." She took a deep breath, "See you soon."
Deku gulped. There was something wrong with the way she had said that.
-x-
Canary passed through the portal and stopped singing, the gate closing behind him. The Green Scar had kept going, pushing Izmird further away, but the moment he saw the teen arrive, he landed next to him. Itsuka did the same, catching up with them.
"Are you sure you can fight?" She asked, looking at the Green Scar's leg as he landed on the dusty terrain of the universe they had picked as their final battlefield.
"I've had worse." The Green Scar replied, "You two?"
"I have… maybe three songs, assuming we go with the plan. And that one will only work once. After, I will have to get experimental." Canary admitted. The other two gritted their teeth.
"It will be enough. Eight minutes, Kiruka said last we heard."
"Nine if she went back to help the people we left behind."
"Nine then." The Green Scar took a deep breath and touched his leg. "With three songs. We can do this."
"I wish I had your confidence." Itsuka said.
"We can't just trap him here and leave, right?" The Green Scar asked.
"I wish, but we don't know if he has a way to escape on his own." She replied, "He seemed to think he would figure it out soon."
The Green Scar sighed, "Too easy, I guess."
"Are you done saying your last prayers?" Izmird asked through their mind. He had used the window they had taken to organize themselves to heal, most of his wounds turning into bruised, scaleless skin or vanishing entirely.
"Nope." The Green Scar replied, "I guess I will have to survive and say some more later."
And he darted forward. Itsuka laughed and followed him. "Go for it, Canary! Let's show him who is the strongest in the Multiverse!"
Canary nodded and prepared to sing.
-x-
Izmird watched as two opponents charged at him.
He casted a spell to give himself a 360-degree field of vision and watched. The Green Scar was rushing towards him, while Itsuka was moving carefully, circling around to attack from behind. He sighed.
For some reason, this world seemed dead. He couldn't feel anything alive around them. Just sand, earth, and water. There was no one, no buildings and people in sight. There wasn't even a moon in the night sky, only the stars and darkness.
With a slam of his claws on the ground, his magic rippled through, and suddenly a field of metal spikes emerged, the Green Scar taking flight to dodge the attack, but Izmird wasn't done. He wasn't holding back now, because he needed to defeat them. He had almost figured out the spell for Multiversal travel, so this would be at most a setback, but first he needed those three to die, to delay a response from his enemies. It was a pity, because he had hoped to collect those three the most, but he knew it was the right choice.
His mouth opened and a torrent of fire once again tried to envelope the Green Scar, but once again he pushed out of the way. That, however, was within Izmird's expectations, and he casted another spell. The metal spikes on the ground flew high, moving on their own, aiming at the Green Scar, and he had to stop his attack and start evading, buzzing around like a fly as the spikes tried to impale him. He heard vaguely Canary start to sing, but he didn't see any attack from him yet, so he kept going with his plan.
Itsuka took the chance to attack from behind, and Izmird grinned.
There it was.
A metal spike burst from the ground, one he had kept hidden until the last second under his wings and had touched to infuse it with armor piercing magic, tore through Itsuka's Qi and stomach, the woman gagging blood as she was impaled, before another spike shot forward and pierced through her throat.
The Green Scar roared, but with Itsuka dead Izmird could finally focus. He casted a Magnetize spell, and launched it on the Green Scar the moment he impacted on his body. Contact spells were painful to use at times, but as a result he had won. Even as a rib shattered when the fist his enemy had used hit at full strength, even as Canary's song kept going, he knew he had just won. Every metal spike shot toward the Green Scar at once, and he tried to deflect them one after another, but they were too many. Soon, a mass of metal was falling to the ground, blood pouring out as the spikes pierced him too many times to count, until Magnetize stopped working.
Izmird laughed. That was it then. The strongest in the Multiverse, and they died like this, with some silly song still continuing behind them, sang by their last champion, after one minute of talking and one minute of fighting, or maybe even less. He coughed, and blood spilled out of his mouth, but it was a small price to pay for this one-sided victory. He turned, and opened his mouth to finish Canary-
Pain.
Something large hit him on the side, a large metal club if he had to guess. It cracked the bones of his wing and sent him fly back, before something else hit him.
Pain.
A kick from below, that made him puke blood as his scales and bones shattered.
Izmird landed hard, but pushed himself up, to stare again at…
Itsuka Quanteng and the Green Scar. Bloody and panting, clothes thorn where his attacks had hit them and cut through, but alive and with no signs of the wounds that should have killed them.
Had he missed?
He heard the song Canary was singing echoing through the wind.
"I am the sand in the bottom half of the hourglass, glass, glass…"
Had he done this?
-x-
"How do we deal with the dragon?" Itsuka asked, sitting down with only the Green Scar, Kiruka, Merino and Canary around the campfire, the night before the attack. They had considered inviting Chimera, Arsenal and Nine too, but had agreed it was better to keep their plan between as few people as possible. They would all use a spell to protect their minds and keep it safe, but they couldn't know if it would hold off the dragon. The only option was to keep what they planned for as few people as possible.
"The last time it took fifty people, most of them with One for All, to take down a dragon of that size, and twenty of them died or were wounded for life. And that was without having to deal with every other fighter this guy will have on his side."
Itsuka looked around. Two out of five. The fact they were five people sitting around the fire now was suddenly ominous.
"I dealt with monsters before. All of us have, I imagine. Is it really so difficult to deal with one dragon?" The Green Scar asked.
"Yes." Kiruka nodded, "They have magic and know how to use it, and can tank even a one hundred percent blow from One for All and retaliate with equal strength. Imagine fighting All for One after he has absorbed One for All, and you might have an idea."
She saw the Green Scar try to imagine that, if his sudden frown had any meaning, and then sigh. "So, what's the plan then?" He asked, "I'm deferring to you for this, since you have experience."
Itsuka looked at the fire, and then at Canary on the other side. "You have to tell us Canary. You were the one that had an idea."
"It's reckless." He admitted, "And I don't think it can give us more than three or four minutes by itself. Depending on how long Kiruka needs to complete her part of the plan, it might not be enough. But… there is an idea."
"Just spit it out." The Green Scar said.
Canary nodded.
-x-
Canary's Quirk, Living Melody, worked on two components. The song, and the image that song brought to mind.
A common misconception people had was that Canary didn't understand what his songs actually meant. That he only understood the literal meaning of the lyrics, or sometimes even just the title. That wasn't true. It was just that, like anyone else, Canary had the habit of imagining stuff while he listened to songs. And the stuff he imagined, in some way, came to live through Living Melody.
However, there were limitations. He couldn't imagine being as strong as All Might, or his fire burning as powerful as Endeavor's for long, for example, because he subconsciously saw them as, in some way, above. But the other limitations was even simpler. Sometimes, that image just didn't exist. What value did a song that brought to mind controlling demons have in a world without demons? None, and so the song did nothing.
But there was a Multiverse out there. And in the right Universe, one where Demons existed, a song about demons could control them, just as he had done before. Of course, countering that, if something didn't exist in another universe, he was bound to find some reliable songs not work, or work differently.
But the central point remains the same: if something exists in another Universe, it means Canary could bring to life a song that didn't work in his own world.
Demons.
Devils.
"Oh I try to picture me without you but I can't…"
And in a certain ring of four universes, worlds that had died off centuries ago, a concept existed that could only be found there in its true form. Only there did that song truly bring out its powers.
"Cause we could be…"
~Immortals – Fall Out Boy ~
"Immortals."
There was a catch, though.
"Just not for long, for long…"
But until the song finished, the Deadlandverse, the world destroyed by the immortal Tomura Shigaraki trapped in Ultimate Tartarus, a world that had meant nothing but death, could mean something more.
"Pull the blackout curtains down…"
Their hope against Izmird until the cavalry arrived.
"Just not for long, for long…"
'It has to be enough.'
(XX)
Guests:
Pied Piper from Pied Piper by Blackholeca
Superior from Superior Legacy by Saint Danielle
Spider-Man based on Amazing Fantasy by The Infamous Man
Dekiru from Dekiru the Fusion Hero by | OmegaInfinity |
Clockwork from A Spanner in the Clockwork by All_five_pieces_of_Exodia
Canary from Canary by cloud_nine_and_three_quarters
The Green Scar from The Green Scar Worldbuilding Thread by Quantum01 and The Green Scar by Pro-man
Revenant (?) from Locked in Digital by Rogue Druid
Phew, climax of the whole arc next week and then we are done.
But man, this brought back quite a few things I set up in the past uh? First the Venom thing, and now the Immortality Universes being actually important. And I want to compliment the reader that figured out both that Ghost had taken over Revenant's body and that Izumi's Rob Curtain would solve the ring issue.
Still, Izmird really is a beast, and I really enjoyed giving him a show of him taking on everyone and managing to not only put up a fight but wound and incapacitate several people even when he was forced in close combat. On the opposite, though, it was also fun to show hits do hurt him and he isn't an impossible wall to break. He just requires a lot of hammers.
Arkin... Well, Arkin is a bit of a pitiful person, in my opinion. He was a self-centered idiot willing to do anything for glory, and that always ended badly for him. In the end, his death is just the culmination of someone that tried for his entire life to push past his station in the worst way possible and always tried to push the consequences on others, and his death is the result largely of pushing all consequences on someone again and that someone being Izmird.