Chapter 1 – The Deathless One

During the Sengoku period, when nonstop civil wars were happening all across Japan, unrest was omnipresent causing chaos across the land of the rising sun, during these times of war, a legend was whispered from battlefield to battlefield.

The legend tells of an undying man, a man who no matter how much you cut, skewered, or shot him, he wouldn't die, no matter how much you behead him, he would just pick his head back up and continue walking.

The deathless one, as he is referred to most commonly, a mysterious entity, who, despite the rumors being present all across Japan, nobody has been able to confirm exist.

The deathless one is said to wander the battlefields pointlessly, he is most commonly described as a tall man, far taller than the average height of a Japanese person during the Sengoku period, with dark, greenish hair, and emerald eyes.

He is said to wear a yukata, though the description of the Yukata differs every time he is mentioned, his face is most commonly described to look like he was searching for something, many have had their own guesses as to what he was searching for.

A person, a place, something, it was anybody's best guess as to what he was searching for, it was dismissed as nothing more than a myth by the daimyos, the rulers of the clans during the Sengoku period, as they had more important matters to tend to.

Deep within a slightly empty drainage canal, was the deathless one, by himself, leaning by a wall, his eyes, they were closed, as if they were sleeping.

A few footsteps were heard from above the drainage canal, was a woman in an extremely revealing night colored Kimono, with flower patterns, with dark purple hair.

She walked alongside the canal, playing her flute, not being able to admire the view, as it was winter, fog and snow covering the land, but for some reason this woman was not dying of the cold.

"O, Deathless One, the shogun, Yagi Toshinori, calls for you, more of your brethren shall be there…" The lady says, her face was covered by a straw hat, the only visible feature on her face was her mouth.

She pulls out an imperial scroll from out of her kimono's boob window, holds it solemnly with the both of her hand as she stopped walking along the drainage canal when she had reached the sleeping Deathless One.

She then drops the scroll, it falls and lands right in front of the deathless one, though the moment it lands, the woman disappears from view, leaving only the deathless one, whether or not he would even wake up before the letter was drained away by the rain or stolen, was unknown.

Although after closer inspection, it seemed that the letter had not actually fallen in front of the deathless one, but on his head, though he was sleeping, he reflexively scratches his head, terrifyingly, he did not wake up, even after being hit in the head.

After his hand returns to its previous position, his slumber continues as the harsh blizzard continues to rage and intensify, still he sleeps, traces of frostbite could be seen everywhere around the deathless one.

Like white stains all across his body, the winter was merciful, not allowing the body to rot and decay, instead preserving it in its cold embrace, but this wasn't a body, this man was alive.

A scream could be heard in the distance where he was from, frankly it did not sound that far away, honestly it sounded extremely close, and this loud, high pitched scream, caused the deathless one to finally, awake.

He opens his eyes slightly before seeing that he was in a gutter, and waking up with a horrible, exasperated sound, looking around at his surroundings before noticing the letter to his side.

The deathless one takes this letter before standing up, he then opens it, unable to read most of it because of the blinding blizzard, before his eyes widen as he saw the shogun's very own imperial seal on the letter, before his reading was interrupted by yet another loud, relatively close scream.

The deathless one quickly climbs up from the gutter he was in, but sees nobody nearby, as his vision was reduced due to the thick fog and it was only snow covered trees around, if this screamer was being attacked, then the screamer would've been dead already.

The deathless one then heard one more scream, before his legs decided that he should run in the direction where the scream was coming from, although he could not discern where it came from precisely because of the blizzard storm, he ran where he felt like he heard something.

After running a short distance, he comes across an inn by the side of a gravel road, the screams sounded like it came from a woman, most likely the hostess of the inn, The deathless one quickly ran inside of the building.

He quickly slams open the door with his feet, shivering in the cold, seeing four men and the hostess lady who was screaming for help before, one of the four men then closed the door, because he didn't want to let the cold get in.

The deathless one quickly realizes another one of the four men was choking the hostess lady by the collar, while another other one of the four men walks closer to the deathless one, confused.

"Who are you? How were you even able to survive in such a cold weather?" One of the four men who was near the deathless one asked him, the deathless one quickly took a piece of his frostbit skin and it snapped off.

"Midoriya… Izuku" He declared, with a raspy, and lifeless voice, throwing a piece of his skin to the ground, though when the four men looked at Midoriya Izuku to look for his wound, it was nowhere to be seen, they were a bit spooked by this, but nonetheless, thought it was just an illusionary trick.

The four men were looking at each other contemplating what to do with Midoriya Izuku, these four men were slightly intimidated by Midoriya Izuku's slightly taller stature, a silent showdown was going down inside of the inn.

"Enough of this! Getting scared by one man is pathetic!" One of the four men then pulled out his katana, and swings diagonally at Midoriya Izuku's chest, though it was stopped, by none other than Midoriya Izuku's hand, who grabbed it mid swing, blood, pouring out because he was gripping the blade.

He quickly pulls the blade away from the grip of one of the four men, he had grabbed it with his left hand and then decides to grip the katana with his right hand, this was when terror had hit the four men, the wound from gripping the blade in Midoriya's right hand, wasn't bleeding.

Or rather, it was healing rather rapidly, though it was probably more appropriate to say it was healing instantly, right before their eyes, a hand that was supposed to be immobilized was now usable once more.

Midoriya Izuku then grips the katana with both his hands, allowing him to be able to put more power behind his swings, the inn was quite small, so Midoriya Izuku had to swing his blade carefully, or else it would get stuck somewhere.

"He's… The deathless one…! I've heard of him…!" Midoriya Izuku just stood there staring down at the four men, who were horrified at the face of Midoriya Izuku's healing wound, they quickly stumbled and the one who was holding the hostess by the collar, quickly let go of her, and backs away.

Midoriya Izuku then walks towards the hostess lady who was unable to even speak of the situation, she was unable to put it into words at all, Midoriya Izuku then brings out a pouch of coins and places it on the hostess lady's table.

'It's nice to get a bit of warmth every now and then…' Midoriya Izuku thought to himself, he was unable to die, and therefore, pain was something he had long since turned a blind eye to, though that doesn't mean he can't feel anything at all.

"Is this enough to pay for one night's stay?" Midoriya Izuku asked the hostess lady who affirmatively shook her head quickly, Midoriya Izuku then turns around and looks at the four men, his katana still in hand.

His eyes were looking vicious, piercing through the four men's courage, even though it was only barely visible through his long locks of untied dark green hair, which was flowing down, even reaching his shoulder blades, resembling seaweed.

Midoriya Izuku steps away from the hostess lady's counter and turns around to face the four men and shoves the katana through his head, piercing his brain, and yet he was able to pull it out, and the wound quickly healed itself, this act alone scared the four men away causing them to flee through the door.

Midoriya Izuku then sighs, he expects the hostess lady to think he was some kind of demon and kick him out, but rather, the hostess lady did not seem too bothered by the fact that he had just plunged a blade through his head and survived, but more relieved that the four men was out of her inn.

Nonetheless, she was still weary of Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Izuku quickly took the stairs up the second floor of the inn, finding that the rooms were almost completely filled by people who've come to take refuge from the cold.

Midoriya Izuku then walks along the corridor before he then enters one of the few rooms of the inn that seemed to be empty, there, Midoriya Izuku then opens his letter once more, before he read the contents that were inside, aloud.

"Should you find yourself estranged from humanity, bring yourself here, to the capital of Kyoto" Midoriya Izuku read the letter, as it bore the imperial seal of the shogun, he didn't need to doubt the letter, and then closes the letter as he plans to travel to the capital.

He was currently in the northernmost parts of the province of Mutsu, in the parts farthest away from the capital which was all the way in the center of Japan, though he did not have the disadvantage other humans had, such as hunger, thirst, and disease were all concerns he didn't have in mind.

The only problem was he did not have a map, and therefore might get lost and miss the summoning of the shogun to the capital as soon as he got there, and so he tries to think of a way on how to get to the capital.

"I must find a guide then…" Midoriya Izuku said to himself before he realized he had spent all his money to stay at the inn and was completely devastated by the existence of that fact alone.

He wasn't experienced in navigating the lands, which was why in legends he was also described as someone who seemed wandering pointlessly around the lands, and with one last thought lingering in his mind, he went to sleep.

"One decapitation… two decapitations…" He counted how many times he was decapitated to help himself fall to sleep, he yawns loudly as his eyes begin to sink into the depths of the dream world.

Meanwhile his neighbors were unnerved by the fact that he was counting decapitations to fall asleep, mostly because the inn's walls weren't soundproof, and it was rather easy to eavesdrop on someone from another room, before the counting stops, as Midoriya Izuku has now fallen asleep.

He then wakes up the next morning, tying his hair back because it was rather troublesome to have such long bangs, what pains men with long hair the most is how it gets everywhere, in the eyes, the ears, the nose, the food, the drink, and so he decides to tie it back into a high ponytail.

After he ties it, he quickly takes the letter and he sticks the letter in his hakama, tightens it, and then pats it to make sure it won't fall off, and then quickly sets off on his journey into the capital of Japan.

As he gets out of the inn, and closes the door behind him, he sees that the blizzard has settled down, and everything was far more visible now, Midoriya Izuku has a lingering thought, how was the messenger of this letter even able to locate him.

He was perplexed by this thought, although he decided to put it in the back of his mind this time, the letter did not specify a date or any sort of deadline for the summon, but Midoriya Izuku was the type of person who likes getting things done as fast and swift as possible.

He notices that some of the people staying in the inn had made a campfire out front of the inn, cooking a stew, he sees the fire, and gets reminded of the sun.

'The sun rises from the east…' Midoriya Izuku thought to himself, and so he plans to use the sun and the sun alone to determine which way he was going, an ineffective strategy cooked up by someone unexperienced in travelling such as himself.

Then Midoriya Izuku notices that not only has the blizzard stopped, but the snow had also begun to melt, signing the beginning of springtime, divine providence you could say, Midoriya Izuku had no sense of time or day, as expected of a man who does not even remember his own birthday.

Midoriya Izuku's leg, after a while of thinking, finally moved and took a step forward, before the ground began to quake, quite literally, the ground was shaking as Midoriya Izuku felt his balance being tipped off.

Midoriya Izuku quickly regains his balance, while the guests of the inn were all indifferent to the rumbling, and were laughing while talking about something, so Midoriya Izuku decides to eavesdrop on them.

"Haha! The mountain goddess is absolutely rowdy in the beginning of spring is she not?" One man said to the whole group, Midoriya Izuku was only listening so he could not tell what they were doing, after hearing the word mountain lady, he decides to look around in the scenery.

"I've heard pray tell that if you bring her some offerings, she will have no problem blessing your family for the year!" Another man said to his group as Midoriya Izuku tries to look for this mountain goddess.

He was unable to see any silhouette, though from the direction where he seemingly heard those quakes, a monk wearing a komuso straw mask could be seen running as fast as he could, he ran so hard his body began to lean forward before he then tumbles on the ground right next to the inn.

"Huff… huff…!" The monk intensely breathes, absolutely wrenched, seeing how out of breath the monk was, Midoriya Izuku guesses that he had probably ran quite a ways from where he came, what he wonders after figuring that out, was the thing he was running from.

"What's wrong priest? You look like you were chased around by a tiger! Heh!" Another different voice from the group said to the priest who quickly corrects his now out of position hat, Midoriya Izuku notices something strange, this monk was wearing wooden gloves.

"Right! I was chased by a tiger! No, A horrifying female tigress! It tried to violate me!" The monk told the group all of whom only laugh at that statement, the monk was looking back from where he ran from, although behind a mask, he probably had a terrified face.

Midoriya Izuku was looking around at the forest, before he notices a figure, a normal sized one appearing, it just stood watch from the forest the monk had come from.

After squinting his eyes, Midoriya Izuku sees that the figure was distorted, no, he figures out that it was a woman, who was extremely curvy, the woman had light blonde hair, he thought this was strange because everyone he had met only had black hair.

The monk, meanwhile, had not noticed this presence because he had walked over to the group by the campfire right in front of the inn, Midoriya Izuku then turns around to ask the monk, Midoriya Izuku then blinks, and finds the woman by the campfire in front of the inn as soon as he opens his eyes.

'Fast…!' Midoriya Izuku thought as the woman seemingly breezed straight to him, though this was just because Midoriya Izuku had blinked longer than usual that he missed the woman walking from the forest to the campfire in front of the inn.

"Huh? What—" The monk said before his head was grabbed and pinned against the ground by a woman in a kimono, the kimono was white and had lavender fades as it went down to the woman's heels, the kimono had a flower pattern.

"Sir Shinji, did I perhaps do anything to displease you to cause you to run from me?" The woman said with a blank smile on her face, clenching her grip on the monk's head, the monk then struggled to try and get out of her grip while the group by the campfire took a few steps back, although they were scared of the woman, they couldn't help but want to see how the situation plays out.

"L-let go off me! Lord Buddha disdains violence and adultery!" The monk, Shinji, said to the woman panickily, as the woman then continued to drill his head more and more into the snow.

"Oh…! I see! The horrifying female tigress you were referring to was your wife!" The man said with a slightly flat tone, hammering his fist into his palm, unable to read the room.

"N-no—" The monk, Shinji, hastily tried to cover himself before his head was drilled further into the snow by the woman who lost her smile as it turned into an upset grimace, the woman began shoving her feet, trying to bury the monk, Shinji, in snow with her feet alone.

"Let me continue, she wasn't my wife, monks aren't even allowed to have wives, how did you come to such a conclusion?" The monk said, his voice muffled by the thick layer of snow he was under, he then tried to use his arms to get out of the snow his head was buried in and got out pretty easily.

"In any case, I was visiting the shrines in a pilgrimage when the blizzard finally settled, and I saw this gluttonous she-devil eating up all the food offerings in the mountain goddess shrine!" The monk pointed to the upset woman, and then a picture of the woman, stuffing all the food offerings in her mouth rapidly, popped up in Midoriya Izuku's head, which was not far from reality.

"WHAT?! THOSE WERE MEANT FOR THE MOUNTAIN GODDESS!" One of the men, a bearded one who looked considerably older than the rest of the group, immediately stood up, an angered look on his face when he approached the woman who seemed to be unbothered by the whole ordeal.

"What's wrong with eating things that were gifted to me?!" The blonde haired woman said, although outraged, she seemed slightly embarrassed after saying that sentence, twiddling her thumbs, Midoriya Izuku tries to find out a reason as to why she was so outraged, he could think of none.

'…' Midoriya Izuku thought, of something, he did not know why he was just standing there when he should be on his way to the capital, he thought that perhaps he was intrigued.

"You! The green haired bystander who was just standing there this whole time silently! Don't you recognize me?" The woman asked Midoriya Izuku, pointing to herself with her finger, hoping that at least someone could recognize her, though nobody knew why she was claiming fame.

"I do not" Midoriya Izuku answered rather quickly, mortifying the woman, causing her to slump over sadly, Then, the people by the campfire began scolding her for her actions, although the monk repeatedly tried to look down at her, because the woman was as tall as Midoriya Izuku, that wasn't possible.

"Apologize! Apologize to the mountain goddess and the forest she protects with her sheer presence!" The monk said to the woman, chastising her, and with the people behind him, he group shames the woman.

"I'm sorry… forgive me…" The woman apologized with a lifeless tone, her hands hanging from her shoulders limp, her head looking down on the ground disappointed, it seems that the woman had finally decided to apologize for eating all the offerings in the shrine of the mountain goddess, the woman turns around, and then walks past Midoriya Izuku back into the forest, muttering a few things.

"I'm the mountain goddess… why would my own followers do this to me…? Is my head so high up in the clouds that they can't actually see it?" The blonde-haired woman muttered to herself quietly, before sighing as she vanishes into the forest.

Midoriya Izuku then decided to continue his journey to the capital once more after that brief interruption, before he felt a rock thrown to him and landed on his back, he then turned around to see the monk quite a ways behind him.

"My name is Nishiya Shinji, let us introduce ourselves" The monk, said to Midoriya Izuku who was currently figuring out why the monk was introducing himself.

"I am… Midoriya Izuku" Midoriya Izuku introduces himself back to the monk, Nishiya Shinji.

"That letter, it's a summoning to the capital from the shogun, isn't it?" The monk asked Midoriya Izuku, both Midoriya Izuku and the monk were quite a ways from the campfire, so the people couldn't hear of their conversation.

"That is right…" Midoriya Izuku answers the monk who then nods after Midoriya Izuku answers the question, Midoriya Izuku was unable to guess why the monk was able to guess that it was from the shogun.

"I won't pry into what your abilities are, but here's a map to help you, the capital is quite a ways from here after all" The monk holds a map which he then throws to Midoriya Izuku's feet, wondering why this man would willingly lend help to a stranger.

"How did you…?" Midoriya Izuku picks up the map, his eyes widened in surprise as to how the monk was able to guess, and then tries to find out how the monk was able to know Midoriya Izuku had abilities and could guess the letter was from the shogun before he was interrupted mid-sentence.

"I knew because I've received one of those letters before" The monk said before he turns around and walks to the group by the campfire once more, Midoriya Izuku as well then turns around, before he opens the map.

He then closes the map briefly after looking at it, because he wasn't unable to understand the map at all and decides to roll it up and stuff it in his hakama instead and walks onwards to the capital from the inn.

'How was that woman able to guess the monk's name…?' Midoriya Izuku thought to himself as he walked through the same forest the woman from before had retreated towards, looking around the vibrant spring greenery, a gravel road being his only guide.

Midoriya Izuku had also brought along that katana he had gotten from the four men who were disrupting the inn to ward off any potential trouble, though this gave the fake impression of him being a swordsman.

As Midoriya Izuku walked, he wonders what the capital might be like, he has wandered many places, except those places weren't quite the thing eyes could feast on, most of the time he was around battlefields and villages, the capital's extravagance was most likely something he could not begin to even think of.

Midoriya Izuku continued his stride through the forest, even spotting the shrine of the mountain goddess along the way, and the woman from before, laying down, sobbing in a hut near the shrine.

He continued walking through the forest until the forest fades as he goes along with a river, the river was the kitakami river, it was one of the longest rivers in Japan, it was so long that even Midoriya Izuku knew of its existence.

Midoriya Izuku decides to walk along the banks of the river to try and get to the capital, which was a plan with both pros and cons, because the kitakami river does lead near the edge of the Mutsu province but following the kitakami river all the way downstream until its edge would only lead to the open ocean.

Midoriya Izuku then continues treading the river, until he then slips when he tried to drink from the river, he tries to grab onto something with his arms, but the harsh jet stream was pushing him from any branches or rocks he could grab onto.

Midoriya Izuku was an immortal man, but he can lose consciousness like any other human just as he is able to fall asleep, and so he does, the only chance of Midoriya Izuku waking up now is being washed up somewhere or get stuck in some rocks.

Midoriya Izuku was being washed down the river, tumbling around, his head occasionally getting hit by some obstructions, this continued for a while, a few minutes, before he is swept by something in the river.

He was swept by what seemed to be a human who dragged him onto the side of the river, she laid Midoriya Izuku down by a tree, while she sat beside him, the human seemed to be a girl, she had hair that was only slightly longer than Midoriya Izuku's hair, it was almost the same color even.

The girl had eyes that were a little wider than the average Japanese person's eyes, her mouth was slightly resembling a V shape although only a little, her skin was fair and light toned, giving a slightly cute yet shy maidenly impression.

Somehow her hair stayed the same, even after all that swimming, the ends were tied together into a bow, the girl wore a juban, a white piece of cloth, being tied by a singular band on the girl's waist, though because of the water, the juban was almost transparent and see through.

The girl was panicked on how to find a way to resuscitate him, before Midoriya Izuku then opens his eyes, he quickly gasps as he wakes up, coughing some water, he taps his waist and saw that the letter was quite indeed still there.

The map and the katana were gone however, and was lost in the river, Midoriya Izuku looks around and concluded he has flown quite far down the river after a look at his surroundings, then some frogs emerged from the river, carrying a sword, bringing it from the river to Midoriya Izuku, before jumping back in.

Midoriya Izuku had just lost a very precious map, even though he did not understand the map, perhaps he could have asked someone who did understand the map for directions, and maybe even a route, and he did treasure gifts from people no matter how useless those gifts were to him.

"Thank you, Mister Shinimori!" The girl waved at the frog, smiling pleasantly, giving off good vibes around her, meanwhile, Midoriya Izuku then picked up his sword, fitted it back in the sleeves of his hakama, the girl then turns around to face Midoriya Izuku, their height difference was incredible, so to the girl Midoriya Izuku seemed like a giant.

'A kappa…?' Midoriya Izuku thought to himself, looking at the girl, comparing the girl to the yokai that was commonly rumored to be usually found in the river, except her skin was not green, and she did not have scales and a turtle carapace on her back, nor did she have sharp teeth either.

An awkward silence broke out between the both of them, just glaring down at each other, except for Asui Tsuyu who is in fact looking up, Asui Tsuyu broke a sweat that dropped down her cheek until it fell off of her face, trying to figure out what to say.

"Ah, er… pleased to meet you, my name is Asui Tsuyu, I do not mind if you call me little sister Tsuyu" The girl, Asui Tsuyu, said to Midoriya Izuku, timidly, Midoriya Izuku saw the resemblance between himself and the girl, but could not at all remember having a little sister.

Midoriya Izuku, who was unfamiliar with any figurative and pretentious language, found himself confused, of course the girl, Asui Tsuyu, only said that she did not mind if he called her that.

'Did I ever have a little sister…?' Midoriya Izuku asked himself, going through every memory he had experienced up until this point, but he could not find one single trace of a little sister in that gigantic, yet only half filled library he called his brain.

Then, all of a sudden, a small, young, frog jumped to Midoriya Izuku's shoulders, the frog didn't seem to be quite right, it had rusts all over its body, rusts usually only seen in metal objects, it didn't seem to be some kind of strange accessory, the frog genuinely seemed in horrible pain.

"Ah, that's little Asakushiro, it's unfortunate he got inflicted the corrosion so early on in his life…" Asui Tsuyu said as the frog with said corrosion jumps to the palm of her hands as Asui Tsuyu then releases the frog back into the river.

"The corrosion?" Midoriya Izuku has heard of diseases and illnesses and have even seen many people die to them, but none has ever had such a particular name as the corrosion, so it would be natural that he would want to know more about it.

Asui Tsuyu then told Midoriya Izuku all about the corrosion while they were sitting by the side of the river, she first saw the corrosion when she was a little girl, a child playing by the kitakami river with the rest of her siblings.

As they were playing, a wandering ronin, clad in crimson armor that was usually only worn by samurai, with metallic rusts all across his body, they watched as the ronin walked by a road near the river.

"Hey! Uncle! What are those spots all across your body?!" Asui Tsuyu's younger brother shouted to the ronin, Asui Tsuyu quickly covered her brother's mouth, the ronin turned his head to the siblings playing as he looked at them cynically, with the eyes of a man who has lost himself in his own bloodlust.

The ronin ignored the children who were playing by the river, scoffing as he continued walking onwards before falling to the ground after taking a few steps, drawing in the siblings' curiosity.

Asui Tsuyu and her siblings went to check on the ronin, but by the time they had gotten there, the ronin was already dead, upon closer inspection, the man's rusts were even infested with insects of all kinds, which spooked the children, causing them to run away screaming in fear.

"…" Midoriya Izuku and Asui Tsuyu then stood there, Midoriya Izuku did not want to talk because he wishes for Asui Tsuyu to continue her explanation about the corrosion, Asui Tsuyu was the more talkative one, explaining the corrosion as best to her abilities, and Midoriya Izuku then concludes the corrosion as such.

The corrosion was a disease that began its spread 19 years ago when the Ashikaga shogun was infected with it, the people immediately revolted against the shogun, thinking that this disease was divine punishment from the gods, and that the shogun has lost his heavenly mandate, his right to rule over the people given by the gods.

Which was how the current Taira shogunate came to power and began using all of its forces to end the civil wars going around in Japan and finally bring the land into an era of peace and prosperity, however, seeing how many people were still suffering in Japan, that goal was far from realized.

The corrosion, however, was a strange disease that wasn't infectious, those who were tasked disposed of the last Ashikaga shogun's body was never infected, but out of nowhere, a few weeks later, someone all the way on Okinawa was allegedly inflicted with the corrosion in their body.

The people inflicted with the corrosion was from then on referred to as the corroded, the disease was arbitrary in its right, choosing its victim seemingly at a complete random order, the healthy, the weak, the strong, the rich, the poor, the powerful, all were equally at risk of infection from the corrosion.

Although this disease halted wars, it also began a great sorrowful period all across Japan as at one point in time it was more common than the cold in the land of the rising sun, decimating its population by a quarter, and all the corroded, were fated to die.

There was no cure, people tried cutting part of their limb that was inflicted to no avail, after this realization, people were absolutely horrified, and have treated all those with the corrosion, as beings forsaken by the heavens.

Family members throwing out their corroded relatives, friends betraying corroded friends, wives and husbands breaking off their engagement as soon as they knew their partner was corroded, it was as if the constant war, poverty, and suffering were not enough, it was as if something wanted the land to suffer even more.

Although the rampage of the corrosion has become less destructive in the past few years, it is still a present issue that needs to be fixed, Midoriya Izuku was listening in on the corrosion, making note of a few things, as Asui Tsuyu continues to explain the corrosion to Midoriya Izuku.

However, she was cut off by a huge amount of rapid footsteps coming downstream from the river, Midoriya Izuku quickly ran in the direction of it to investigate and was chased after by Asui Tsuyu, Midoriya Izuku runs through the path by the side of the river, as he saw villagers running the other direction from him.

He quickly reached a hunch as to where the villagers were all running from, as he heard a burning sound, and ashes flying through the air from further down the road, he concludes that their village was burning, Midoriya Izuku then hears heavy footsteps from the village, whatever was making these footsteps would be quite big and heavy.

Midoriya Izuku quickly puts up a scenario in his mind before he got to their village, and true was his guess, in the middle of the burning village was a gigantic looking figure, taller than the village houses, devastating the town, with one swing of its arm, a whole house was destroyed in the blink of an eye.

Most of the figure's body was blackened from all the corrosion in its body, yet it didn't seem to plan to die any time soon, its head was humanoid, hairless and horribly disfigured, with four faces on all sides each one covered in oni masks, with red sunken light piercing through the eyeholes of the masks.

Each part of it looked like it was grafted together, like sewing back a broken doll's limb except with different parts each time, and the sewing tool used seemed to be the corrosion itself.

As he saw the spectacle of the village slowly being levelled to the ground by the creature, behind him, monks came together and prayed with all their might, chanting multiple prayers and sutras, as they held onto their prayer beads, not leaving the area in hopes that the heavens might send them help.

Midoriya Izuku runs to the figure without hesitation, although unable to figure out why he would do such a thing, but nonetheless, he unsheathes his katana as he began closing in on the creature, Asui Tsuyu meanwhile, ran away from the village, seemingly to look for backup from the nearest samurai outpost.

"Brave choice ronin… yet foolish choice, ronin" As Midoriya Izuku closed in on the creature, he heard a voice call out to him, Midoriya Izuku turns his head to see a white pale man, with equally white hair before his whole upper body was severed from his lower body with a powerful side kick from the figure that was destroying the village.

The white pale man wore a gray yukata, disembodied hands somehow able to stay their grip on that man's face all the way down to his wrists as if clutching onto him even from the land of the dead, the white pale man chuckles as Midoriya Izuku's upper body fell to the ground.

"Life is so fleeting, isn't it? Continue your pace, my Nomu" The white pale man said as he murmured something to himself, before leaving the area, vanishing from sight, nowhere to be seen.

This signified that the man was most likely tied in some sort of relation with the giant, Nomu, seeing how the giant, Nomu had not attacked the pale man while it killed Midoriya Izuku without a hesitation in its mind.

The man disappeared as mysteriously as he appeared out of nowhere, Midoriya Izuku's upper body, however, was sinking into the ground, as if being swallowed up by it, leaving the katana and the upper yukata behind, before it was revealed that Midoriya Izuku's upper body, had been healed, although shirtless, Midoriya Izuku quickly picks up the katana and rushes at the giant, Nomu.

However, because it had faces all over its head, it practically had no blind spots, and was able to spot Midoriya Izuku running at it full speed, with katana in hand, the giant, Nomu, then quickly prepares to swing its arm at Midoriya Izuku, but Midoriya Izuku quickly dodges underneath the swing.

Midoriya Izuku then quickly tries to cut the giant, but its skin was so tough that the katana that Midoriya Izuku was wielding could only cut through the skin so much that it almost seemed like Midoriya Izuku was wielding paper instead of a katana.

The giant then quickly lifted its leg from the ground before trying to behead Midoriya Izuku with a severe front kick that pierced through a boulder when Midoriya Izuku ducked under its front kick.

Midoriya Izuku quickly tries to look for a weak spot on the giant, however concluding that eyes, are the weak spots of every living mammal out there, and quickly takes his aim on one of the giant's four faces, before jumping up into the air and latching onto the giant's head.

But just as he was about to plunge the katana into the giant's head, he was grabbed by the giant's arm, but just before the giant could tighten its grip on Midoriya Izuku, Midoriya Izuku was able to slip out and even cut the palm of the giant while he did.

The giant quickly used two of its fist before hammering on the ground, Midoriya Izuku was able to quickly dodge the ground slam and quickly dashed back to the giant, but the giant quickly covered it's head, Midoriya Izuku then quickly slashed at the giant's arms.

The giant quickly lifted its head up from the ground before stomping on the ground with its foot, pushing Midoriya Izuku away from it, the giant was able to uncover its head once more, before charging at Midoriya Izuku.

The giant quickly then spreads both of its arm wide before trying to envelop Midoriya Izuku, he was able to slip under the envelopment and escape the giant's bear hug from hell and quickly retaliated by stabbing the giant's right arm, pushing the giant away, pulling his katana out of the giant's arm as he was doing so.

The giant then tries to attack Midoriya Izuku with a double palm strike, but Midoriya Izuku quickly redirected the flow of its power using his katana, causing little to no damage to himself.

Although Midoriya Izuku took no damage, redirecting such a huge amount of power certainly caused some physical repercussions, causing Midoriya Izuku to be stunned for quite a bit, leaving him open.

Although this left him open, this also staggered the enemy quite a bit, Midoriya Izuku had recovered quicker than the giant, therefore giving Midoriya Izuku the advantage, Midoriya Izuku quickly jumps to the giant's neck, plunging his katana into the eyes of the giant's left mask, leaving only three to go.

The giant let out a blood curdling scream, confirming that the eyes of the mask were its weak spot, as the oni mask quickly crumbled as soon as the eyes were slashed, the giant was now left with a tiny blind spot in its back because the eyes were cut.

Midoriya Izuku quickly, dashes away from the giant as it quickly let it arms loose in a wave of rage and fury, the giant, after regaining focus on Midoriya Izuku, rushes towards Midoriya Izuku, preparing to grab him.

Midoriya Izuku leaps up into the air and lands on the giant's back, about to slash another one of the giant's eyes before the giant quickly tumbled around causing Midoriya Izuku to be pinned to the ground by the full weight of the giant.

The giant quickly got up from the ground, leaving Midoriya Izuku time to dodge, but before Midoriya Izuku could even do such a thing the giant stomped Midoriya Izuku, crushing him with its foot, sighing, seemingly in relief, thinking the battle was over.

Midoriya Izuku's body quickly healed itself back together, Midoriya Izuku rose up from the ground once more, before this, he had never met such a foe, a foe that has caused him to die more than once in battle, although he quickly pushed this fact aside and steadies his blade.

The giant was absolutely confused by the outcome of the situation, this was new to it as well, an enemy that would not fall to its fists within one hit were something that was out of the ordinary, Midoriya Izuku quickly took this sliver of confusion to strike, as he quickly lunges at the giant.

The giant however, quickly blocked the lunge, and prepares to deliver a left sweeping kick, Midoriya Izuku quickly ducks under the giant's kick, and quickly slashes at the giant's left leg after successfully dodging it, causing the giant to stumble before regaining its balance.

Midoriya Izuku quickly rushed at the giant, but the eyes on the back of the giant quickly spot him and the giant quickly turns around and tries to swipe Midoriya Izuku with its left arm, creating a powerful gust of wind as if its arm was a fan.

Midoriya Izuku plunges his katana into the giant's left arm trying to get it to lose its balance even more, but the giant quickly out powers Midoriya Izuku, and tries to get Midoriya Izuku in between its forearm and its upper arm, but Midoriya Izuku quickly pulls out his sword and leaps out of the pincer swiftly.

Midoriya Izuku quickly lands on the giant's left arm, once again trying to stick his katana through the giant's left arm, it seemed to cause the giant to slightly tilt to the left, before ultimately it fell to the ground, the only thing holding it up was its left leg's knee.

Midoriya Izuku pulls his katana out of the giant's left arm and quickly heads for the giant's back mask, and with one quick, and elegant, slash, the heavens reflecting from his blade, he cuts the giant's back mask's eyes, however, Midoriya Izuku was then grabbed by the giant's right arm, and thrown to the ground.

Midoriya Izuku was about to be stomped to the ground once more, but Midoriya Izuku puts his katana out, fortunately the katana did not break and caused the giant to look like it had stepped on a nail.

The giant let out a howl as it lifted up its right leg, meanwhile Midoriya Izuku quickly used the momentum the giant created by trying to lift up its right leg, and tries to push the giant off balance, as he was pushing it, he quickly pulls out his katana.

The giant nearly had fallen down and thrown off balance again before, it quickly gained its balance and stomped the ground with its right foot, releasing a powerful gust of wind from the impact of the stomp, although Midoriya Izuku was still able to stand his ground and not get blown this time.

The giant rushes at Midoriya Izuku in great anger as it was furious that it was almost made a fool out of almost twice, the giant then quickly tries to drop kick Midoriya Izuku, but Midoriya Izuku guards against it with his katana once more and had successfully redirect the flow of power of the giant's drop kick.

Although because the tremendous force of the drop kick, Midoriya Izuku's muscles were completely strained, and he was unable to move at all, and to his dismay, the giant was able to get up and recover faster than he could and prepared to strike on Midoriya Izuku once more.

Midoriya Izuku's head was about to be blown off as the giant throws a punch aimed at Midoriya Izuku's head, however, as Midoriya Izuku comes face to face with death once more, his vision blurs as time seemingly had slowed down.

Midoriya Izuku has had many encounters with dying, but why was this encounter different? Midoriya Izuku was perplexed as to why time began slowing down before he heard a whisper in the air.

"Oh… Deathless One, your incapability to die has yet to release you from your mortal coil…" Midoriya Izuku's eyes widen as he heard a woman's voice, though Midoriya Izuku's muscles were strained he could move around his eyes, and he tries to spot this woman, but he could see no one other than the giant.

Before he could identify the source of this voice, his head was completely obliterated by the giant, and time returns to its normal pace, Midoriya Izuku's main headless body was then grabbed by the giant by the neck.

Midoriya Izuku's head heals and saw himself in a dark space, before he realizes his head was being grabbed by the giant, Midoriya Izuku quickly locates the giant's wrist using his feet, before plunging the katana into the giant's wrist, causing the giant to release Midoriya Izuku from its grip, as Midoriya Izuku pulls the katana out of the giant's wrist and prepares to attack once more.

Midoriya Izuku quickly jumps and dashes in the direction of the giant, the giant was confused as to why its enemy was not dying at all, but the giant could do nothing other than attack, so it did, the giant quickly tries to chop Midoriya Izuku with the side of its right hand.

But just before the right knife hand landed on Midoriya Izuku, he deflects the right hand by pushing it aside with his katana causing it to miss its mark and land just shy of Midoriya Izuku, on the ground right beside him, Midoriya Izuku however, did not stop his charge.

The giant quickly tries to grab Midoriya Izuku with its grounded right arm, but Midoriya Izuku quickly focuses on his mind, blanking out everything other than the single spot that he wanted to cut before he then unleashes his blade.

Midoriya Izuku quickly slashes the giant's right arm stopping it dead in it's tracks before it could get anywhere near Midoriya Izuku before he quickly climbs up the right arm and then throws his katana to the giant's left shoulder, and in quick succession he quickly leaps onto the giant' left shoulder.

Midoriya Izuku grabs the katana out of the giant's left shoulder before slitting the back of the giant's neck with his katana as he walks to the giant's right mask, and with one deep breath, he quickly does a powerful horizontal slash which cuts the eyes of the giant's right mask, leaving only the front mask to go.

Midoriya Izuku quickly sees the giant's right arm about to grab onto him, however, he quickly leapt into the back of the giant, and because the giant's right, left and back eyes had been sealed, the giant had multiple blind spots.

Midoriya Izuku quickly tries to focus, gathering his mind and takes on an agile and nimble stance as the giant was preparing to turn around to face him, before Midoriya Izuku then heard something flying through the wind.

"YAAAHHH!" As the thing flying through the wind got closer, it sounded more like a person shouting, and then out of nowhere came a man in full samurai armor, through the air, landing on the giant's front mask, completely obliterating it with a powerful flying front kick.

The man was in complete samurai armor of the gusoku type, complete with a kabuto helmet on his head along with a mengu mask covering his mouth, along with boots that each had six hollow metal rods protruding out of its calves.

Other than that, the man had dark blue eyes along with dark bluish hair and seemed to be quite a bit taller than Midoriya Izuku, and just like that, after the eyes of the giant was sealed, causing the giant to fall down to the ground, unconscious and unmoving.

The man then lands on the ground safely afterwards and after a few more seconds of waiting, his reinforcements came, riding on horses, somehow arriving later than the man did, as if the man had run faster than the horses, nonetheless with them they brought chains.

They quickly brought those chains and walked around the giant, tossing the chain around to get it tangled up around the giant's big body quickly, the man with the kabuto was the one coordinating all these samurai working in unison and seemed to be the commanding officer of the cavalry that had arrived here.

They quickly lifted the giant up into a standing position and fitted the giant into an equally gigantic sized iron coffin, the coffin was closed and sealed with even more chains as they then loaded the coffin into a carriage,

Then, not long after, Asui Tsuyu arrived, quite out of breath, while the man with the kabuto consulted with his men about the giant, Asui Tsuyu quickly went to go check on Midoriya Izuku, quite surprised to see his rather muscular body, because Midoriya Izuku seemed rather lanky in the yukata he was wearing.

Midoriya Izuku had not yet noticed the approaching Asui Tsuyu, he was still regaining his breath after that heavy fight with the giant, though Midoriya Izuku was absolutely incapable of dying, when fighting, he tries to win the fight without dying, as he considers dying, failing.

Midoriya Izuku was frustrated by failing three times to an enemy, clenching his katana hard, and although he eventually won in the end, he was quite disappointed with himself for dying more than once against an enemy, he had probably forgotten that his enemy was a giant who could tear down a building in one go.

Midoriya Izuku gathers his breath, his face still blank even after a wave of frustration, before he sheathes his katana, and observes the samurai soldiers as they load, they struggle to try and load the giant coffin onto a carriage.

"Mr. Ronin! You're alive!" Asui Tsuyu expressed a bit of relief that Midoriya Izuku had survived, although Midoriya Izuku thinks that a short walk while conversing with each other isn't enough to acquaint, Asui Tsuyu was the kind of girl who thinks that people who simply greet her are her friends.

"Please do not move, Ryogoro's mucous coating has healing properties…" Asui Tsuyu said, worrying for Midoriya Izuku, lowering her head, and then, a small tree frog climbed out of her hair, and jumped onto the dome of her head, putting it's chin up high, arrogantly yet cutely, before jumping to Midoriya Izuku, and crawling all over him, trying to search for wounds, but was unable to find any.

"…I am unharmed" Midoriya Izuku said, Asui Tsuyu then claps her hand, before the frog, Ryogoro, quickly hops back to Asui Tsuyu's shoulder from Midoriya Izuku's shoulder, and behind her neck, as the giant inside the coffin was finally loaded into a carriage.

The man with the kabuto who had jumped in to destroy the monster's front mask, crushing its face along with the eyes of the monster, finished consulting about the giant with his men, and looked around and found Midoriya Izuku, who was conversing with Asui Tsuyu.

"Well! Do you really expect me not to reward the two saviors of this town with a reward?" The man in the kabuto shouted as he was approaching both Midoriya Izuku and Asui Tsuyu, who both turned to face the man in the kabuto's direction.

"My name is Ida Tenya, commanding officer of the nearby outpost, may I inquire your names?" The man in the kabuto, Ida Tenya, asked Midoriya Izuku and Asui Tsuyu for their names, while showing off an extremely disciplinary aura, as he was the first person to formally introduce himself to Midoriya Izuku.

"Midoriya… Izuku" Midoriya Izuku said, looking at the group of soldiers who were fooling around with the giant coffin, there was a bit of delay between his words as he was reluctant to introduce himself to Ida Tenya.

"My name is Asui Tsuyu, please call me little sister Tsuyu whenever you please" Asui Tsuyu said, bowing her head slightly to Ida Tenya politely, who hums and nods before he expresses his surprise with a slightly higher pitched nod when he hears Asui Tsuyu requesting him to call her little sister.

"Hmm, very well then! You should drop that introduction from here on out, now onto the matter of your reward, I'm afraid all amnesties are currently located in my estate, it's further down the stream" Ida Tenya said as Midoriya Izuku and Asui Tsuyu nodded.

Ida Tenya quickly prepared one horse, which was supposed to be the horse he was supposed to ride on, but he preferred running instead of horse riding, this fact alone hurt the horse's feelings quite a little.

Confusing Asui Tsuyu for Midoriya Izuku's actual little sister, before Ida Tenya and his men quickly left town, Midoriya Izuku quickly climbs up the horse.

He was able to get a grip on the reins rather quickly, Asui Tsuyu quickly runs to Midoriya Izuku as she seemed to have nothing else to do besides swim around in the river, and quickly climbs up the horse.

Midoriya Izuku quickly whips the horse rein as the horse then neighs before running, Midoriya Izuku then followed Ida Tenya and his cavalry, and saw Ida Tenya running ahead of the horse cavalry with much ease.

He observed that it seemed like some heat were dissipating from the six hollow rods at each of his boots, because of a dark smoke emitting from it as Ida Tenya was running.

On the way to the estate, they parted ways with the carriage where the giant was locked in on a splitting road, Midoriya Izuku looked at the coffin as it parted with him.

"Where is it going…?" Midoriya Izuku asked Ida Tenya, unable to deal with the thought of the giant roaming free once more in the land of the rising sun.

"This isn't the first time we've dealt with a thing like that, they're taking it to the serpent's maw to dispose of it, a horrible place all in all, I'm glad that I'm not the one who has to deliver everything there" Ida Tenya said, as he tried to continue the conversation with Midoriya Izuku but was met with silence.

Midoriya Izuku had heard of the serpent's maw before, it was described to be a chasm so deep that the sunlight couldn't even penetrate all the way to the bottom of it, or perhaps that was because the chasm was described as being surrounded by trees.

As they traverse through a clear and unobstructed road, where the land was switching seasons from winter to spring, they saw the flowers blooming, one by one, little by little.

The samurai men were all in good spirits because the bleak, brutal winter was over, they were absolutely looking forward to the year, although this spirit was quickly toned down by fear of the corrosion or war.

Midoriya Izuku passed by around three corroded on his way to the Ida estate, one of the corroded was a young husband, he saw the man getting kicked out of his own house by his own father, ordering him to commit seppuku in order to not bring shame to his family name.

The other corroded one was a normal middle aged farmer, she had three children who she was feeding with her crops, but as soon as she was inflicted with the corrosion, her husband quickly murdered her in broad daylight, splattering her brains on the ground.

The last was a toddler, Midoriya Izuku saw the toddler's mother in tears as she pushed her only child to drown in a river, the horrible fates of the corroded were brought to them not by the corrosion.

He wondered why the corrosion victims were so little in number who were still alive, before he came to a realization as soon as he saw a mountain of dead bodies piled up in each village, burning, each and every one of those pitiful creatures, corroded.

"The Ida Estate is near!" One of the samurai men shouted to Midoriya Izuku, as they approached the Ida estate was finally in view, a beautiful mansion in white and blue.

The mansion stood at two stories tall which was one story more than the average Japanese peasant, and the mansion was bordered off by walls, with one gate, the road they were riding on lead to that one gate.

Right outside of the gate was a rather large stable, where Midoriya Izuku and most of the samurai cavalry unit stopped to hand their horses over to the stable master, while Ida Tenya walked inside of the estate with no problem, because he was not riding the horse.

"Don't be dismayed, you aren't useless Ushijuro…" Asui Tsuyu said to the horse as she pats it by the head after getting off, Midoriya Izuku then got off of the horse, and headed to the gate, while the other samurai, began to disperse and split up to their posts because the estate was near a few villages.

Right as Midoriya Izuku and Asui Tsuyu stepped out of the stable, they were greeted by an attendant of Ida Tenya, a woman with brown hair, as brown as the auburn leaves, and eyes that were as brown as her hair to fit.

She wore a pinkish lavender kimono engraved with a silver white shippo pattern, her obi, depicted several different variety of flowers, her kimono, perfectly accentuating her body shape.

Along with hiyori-geta sandals, which increased her height quite a little giving off a more elegant look, boosted by her serene expression and good posture.

"Welcome to the Ida Estate, Master Midoriya, Master Asui, I will be your attendant for the day, Uraraka Ochako" The attendant, Uraraka Ochako, introduced herself to Midoriya Izuku and Asui Tsuyu, before motioning for them to follow her.

She then turns around as Asui Tsuyu and Midoriya Izuku follow her inside through the gates and into the mansion, which was more spacious from the inside compared to looking at it from the outside.

She guides Midoriya Izuku and Asui Tsuyu inside the main building of the estate, leading them to the living room of the main building, where Ida Tenya was sitting, already changed to his montsuki, an outfit similar to a kimono.

"Now, let us discuss your rewards!" Ida Tenya said, as Uraraka Ochako walked to sit behind Ida Tenya, sitting on the floor in contrast to Ida Tenya who was sitting on a pillow on the floor, Midoriya Izuku and Asui Tsuyu then sit on the floor, ready to discuss their rewards with Ida Tenya.

Afterword: I really need to restrain myself or else I'll make an unintentional bad impression on people one of these days, hopefully this doesn't end up like the last one, and just in case it does, I'm not making any promises any more, I'll work hard to make this a really good story, give me all the feedback!