06.03.2023
It is I, the Absolute Madman and I'm back with the continuation of the cliff which I've left you hanging at last week. But first there's a comment that I gotta answer!:
alecxlucas04 - I gotta admit, I was already sure that there won't be any comments to answer this week and that we could get into the chapter right off the bat, but then you showed up! Fret not, the chapter that you long for is here!
And now, the action!:
"Should we really be leaving him behind like that?!" Jirou shouted as she and Yaoyorozu continued hastily climbing up the steps towards the entrance to the USJ.
"He wouldn't have told us to do so if he wasn't confident that he could buy us some time!" Yaoyorozu replied.
Not a second later they heard a loud crash sound out behind them and froze midstep, their heads immediately snapping backwards to see what had just happened. They gasped in horror when they noticed the still body of their class representative practically embedded into the lower steps.
They already expected the worst as the purple monster kept walking towards Midoriya, but regained some semblance of hope when they saw that their classmate wasn't quite out just yet. He did seem kind of out of it though as his moves were quite unnatural.
He first pushed himself off of the stairs and into a seated position before falling forward onto all fours and crawling towards the black case that he usually carried on his back. It was quite weird as the girls were pretty sure that he'd abandoned the case before they headed towards the plaza. To add onto this feeling of strangeness - his blunted sword was currently laying just off to the side, but he wasn't crawling towards it, he seemed dead set on reaching the case itself.
The girls watched the situation unfold with dread, frozen in place and unable to turn away as the purple monster and an entire slew of thugs approached their downed comrade. They saw Midoriya finally reach the case and throw it open before reaching inside. As soon as he did, a new feeling of dread flooded their bodies in an instant. It wasn't the kind of dread one might feel when watching a horror movie or experiencing a traumatizing event. No, this fear was much more all-encompassing and caused goosebumps to appear on every single inch of their bodies, their fight or flight instinct kicking into overdrive and all but begging them to move, to get away, to run.
They weren't the only ones to experience though, as the army of thugs also had been frozen in place by this strange phenomena. And to top it all off - even the purple monster, the very same one that didn't even flinch when Midoriya slashed him with his sword, actually paused midstep.
Both sides just stood still like statues, their eyes dragged against their will towards the very source of the primal fear that was flooding their systems at the moment - Midoriya.
They watched him slowly get up and stand back on his own two feet which in and of itself was quite eerie as he seemed badly injured just a moment ago and now looked to be alright. Those closer to him could notice something even more puzzling and unsettling - there was a second, albeit much smaller, sword in his hand, one that even his friends didn't know about.
It was almost pitch-black and, unlike the massive blade that clearly had its edge blunted and was only capable of cutting when Midoriya activated his quirk, looked sharp, very sharp in fact. That wasn't the unsettling thing about the sword however. The unsettling thing was the spiked tentacle that looked almost like a vine covered in spikes that emerged from the handle and which was currently slithering its way around Midoriya's arm, the spikes piercing his skin effortlessly and drawing blood from the fresh wounds.
The gauntlet and the bracer on his right arm were both destroyed during his brief fight with the purple monster, so the spikes had clear access to his skin. Both sides expected the tentacle/vine thing to stop once it reached his elbow, but that was not the case. Once it encountered the plating on his upper arm it didn't stop, it continued spreading upwards, crushing everything in its path and making blood flow from underneath the mangled armor.
It was honestly quite horrifying and enough for those with weaker stomachs to start throwing up left, right and center, but all of them were still frozen in place by the aura emanating from Midoriya.
The tentacle finally stopped once it reached his shoulder and seemed to tighten itself even more before being lit up by a faint purple glow that spread from along the entire length of the vine-like growth before eventually reaching the sword and making it light up as well.
"Ah, it's good to be back. I almost forgot what it's like to be in the physical world. I gotta admit it's absolutely fucking awful." The words clearly came from Midoriya, but this was definitely not Midoriya speaking. His voice, which was normally quite cheerful, warm and soothing, sounded so sinister that it made all of their hair stand up in alarm. "Y'know, I'm absolutely disgusted and that's quite the statement coming from me, I've slaughtered entire worlds in my lifetime, or at least I will eventually I guess. It's not like there's any reason to keep explaining it to you as none of you are going to survive to tell the fuckin' tale anyways." Whatever it was suddenly clutched its head with its left arm and seemed to groan. "Aren't you one noisy backseat driver… I guess I might consider leaving some of those psychos alive, severe trauma and losing a limb or four would still be considered alive, right?"
The easy and sheer nonchalance with which the creature spoke about such horrible things would be enough for most of the thugs to start pissing their pants had their every muscle not been frozen in fear right now.
"Alright, let's get this fuckin' show started before reinforcements arrive and ruin my fun. It's not everyday that I get to stretch my legs like that. I gotta make sure that I still got it first. How about… a Rain of Sorrows?" As soon as those words left the creature's mouth about two dozen thugs fell to their knees with deep gashes suddenly appearing all over their bodies. "Still got it. Excellent. Prepare yourself, I'm gonna feed on the suffering of every one of you fuckers."
Have you ever felt like you had no control over your own life? As if anything and everything that's ever happened to you was orchestrated by someone else? Have ever done something horrible and then wondered whether it really was you who pulled the trigger on it?
Well, Izuku didn't exactly know what it might feel like to experience something like that. That's because he knows exactly what that feels like, just like that. He still remembers watching with his own two eyes as something unworldly takes control of his body and exacts vengeance in his stead.
After that accident he swore to become a guardian, so that this story may never repeat. Today, he brought forth the very thing that he wanted to stop from happening.
The daemon was free and Izuku had a first row seat to the show.
When the daemon took control of his body for the first time it was to battle only a singular opponent and the collateral damage still almost caused the entire monastery to collapse and slide off the side of the mountain. Now that they were to face an entire army of lowly thugs there was no telling how much damage the daemon will inflict.
Izuku knew a few of the daemon's abilities besides the teleporting seemingly at random, but this 'Rain of Sorrows' was not something he was aware of up till now. If it was capable of instantly rendering over twenty people completely useless then Izuku was scared to even imagine what it might do to a single target. And from the looks of it the daemon was only just getting started.
The fear freezing them in place slowly subsided as it was replaced by nothing but pure terror and their bodies were becoming responsive once again. The only response they'd accept though is to flee.
"W-What is that thing?!" Some of the thugs exclaimed in horror as they watched their comrades collapse in pools of their own blood.
"I'm a little more than a thing…" The creature spoke, clearly insulted by the comment and as they were about to learn, insulting it is not a good idea. "There's no need for me to explain that to you however, so try and entertain me as I devour your souls, shit them out and use them to smother your comrades to death!"
Up till this point the creature remained stationary and rained pain and suffering through its abilities, but now it decided to make use of the sword in its hand.
It charged forward, slashing at anyone that just happened to come into range and culling the crowd of villains like it was nothing, blood staining the ground beneath their feet and making the floor slick with crimson. The thugs didn't just stand there and take it however. Every now and then the creature would encounter an opponent trying to resist, but it was still mostly an inconvenience at most, as even those with strength enhancing quirks were no match for the unnatural nimbleness displayed by the creature.
Shins were slashed, arteries were opened, blood was spilled and the daemon was reveling in the mayhem.
Suddenly though it had to dodge a wild haymaker coming from none other than the purple beast that allowed the daemon to awaken in the first place. It was paralyzed with fear just like the rest, but it seemed to overcome that feeling finally and was currently standing on the frontline whilst its comrades cowered in fear behind it.
"This ought to be interesting, for a moment or two." The daemon mused to itself as it readied to receive the monster's next attack.
The purple beast charged forward in the same mindless manner as before and intended to crush the daemon with a single slam. The attack was very telegraphed and easy to dodge, it also left the beast wide open for a counter strike.
The daemon slashed with a grace unexpected by anyone who witnessed the previous show of crude brutality and managed to nick the purple monster with its sword, the blade going through muscle and bone as if it were butter and cleaving an arm cleanly off.
The beast seemed quite unbothered by that however and continued its assault, trying to bat the daemon away with a sloppy backhand blow. It was yet another chance for a counter strike, but the daemon felt like toying with its food for a moment and simply stepped back to avoid the attack. It was then that something surprising happened - the arm that's been cleaved clean off was regrowing at a staggering pace. It was a surprise for sure, but a welcome one.
"Well, I think I've finally found a toy that doesn't break right away!" The daemon exclaimed in glee, already preparing its next strike.
The two monsters charged at each other, the purple beast throwing its massive weight around with surprising ease as nothing that large should be able to move so quickly.
"Hah, brings back fuckin' memories."
The daemon on the other hand was combating the raw strength with a level of grace that only few of the onlookers could ever hope to achieve, weaving in between the powerful punches, kicks and slams and lashing out with the thin-edged sword to inflict grievous wounds on the unflinching beast.
The daemon was vaguely aware of someone screaming something about cheating, regeneration and final bosses in the background, but he paid it no mind at the moment, he wasn't done with his current plaything just yet and those fuckers didn't seem to be routing just yet so there was no need to rush anything.
The one-sided fight lasted for a couple of moments but it was clear who was the favorite to win it in the end. The purple monster had trouble recovering from the plethora of cuts that was constantly being reapplied to it by sword and magic alike and it appeared as if there was in fact a limit to how much damage it could take before it falls.
"I have to thank you for letting me finally work out the kinks in my back, it hurt like bitch let me tell you." The daemon stated as it slashed at the monster's legs, effectively bringing it down to its knees. "I've grown rather bored however, so let this be the end." It simply said as it drove the black blade directly into the creature's exposed brain.
With its favorite plaything broken, the daemon had no choice but to go back to toying with the common, cannon fodder level thugs. It turned to face the crowd and immediately noticed the man covered in severed hands… throwing a tantrum like a child?
"You cheater! Nomu was hand-crafted to kill All Might?! How were you able to defeat it?!" The man screamed his lungs out, seemingly unaffected by the daemon's aura of paralyzing terror.
"That thing was hand-crafted?" The daemon wondered out loud as it looked by towards the fresh corpse of the monster. "Who could've known that humanity was already dabbling in genetics during the third millennium…"
"Who are you?! Sensei didn't tell me that there was going to be a teacher like this here today!" The man-child continued to yell.
"Is this meant to be your fuckin' obituary or something Handjob? If so then you'll have to forgive me but I seem to have forgotten my pen and paper. I also don't give a fuck so save your last pathetic breath for someone that does." The daemon stated and started approaching the group.
"This is bad, with Nomu defeated we have no chance of defeating All Might, we should retreat for now." The man-child's second-in-command/babysitter advised and as childish as he was, the leader realized that this was their only choice.
"Fine! Let's go Kurogiri." The leader stated before turning towards the daemon one last time. "You may have won today, but you won't be so lucky next time!" He shouted and then vanished into the very same purple portal that they've arrived through in the first place.
The thugs quickly followed in their leader's footsteps, or tried at least, as the portal closed right after the man-child and his advisor evacuated, leaving their cannon fodder to deal with the daemon on their own.
"Looks like you've chosen the wrong guy to follow, don't you think that's seriously fucked up? I guess it doesn't really matter what you think, because right now you're in my domain, so you best prepare for a world of hurt, there's a lot of it where you're going." The daemon laughed maniacally before resuming the slaughter, eventually culling down the crowd almost entirely before the reinforcements from the school could even arrive at the USJ.
The events that unfolded inside of the concrete dome that was the Unforeseen Simulation Joint were meant to be covered up thanks to the combined efforts of the faculty as well as the Hero Public Safety Commision. Things didn't go according to plan however and just a small leak was enough for the vulture-like journalists to come pounding on U.A.'s doorstep, demanding explanations.
The backlash was minimized thanks to the sacrifice of both PR departments, but the school still lost a lot of respect not only on the national level, but on the global scale as a whole.
It was to be expected however, as not only villains managed to infiltrate what was once known as one of the most secure places on Earth, but did so with a giant army and threatened the lives of the students, many of which didn't come out unscathed and were seriously injured during the incident. The thing that caused the most problems however was the number of casualties.
The students were injured and a few of them required immediate medical attention and one of the teachers needed to be rushed to the hospital for a surgery, but no one died. Well, not on this side anyhow.
About forty small-time thieves, muggers and the like had lost their lives inside of the USJ in strange circumstances. The main cause of death was blood loss, with only a select few being cut down on the spot by… speculations. The school as well as the HPSC refused to release a full statement on the matter and opted to give evasive responses like 'self-defense' and 'traumatizing experience', creating a narrative of teenagers suddenly finding themselves in a life or death scenario which fueled their self-preservation instincts and resulted in the loss of life on a wide scale.
The truth however was that not even the officials knew what exactly had happened inside of the concrete dome, as by the time the security systems were back online the entire fight was already over. Once the reinforcements arrived they found only dead or bleeding out thugs massacred in the central plaza as well as the body of a purple-skinned monster and a lone teenager laying amidst the slaughter.
Needless to say, the school activities were suspended for a week just so that the faculty could investigate the incident thoroughly and find answers to the questions that kept arising. They gathered statements from the students and the two teachers which were present during the incident and most of them pointed towards a single culprit - one Midoriya Izuku.
So... Should this be escalated from a T to an M? It's not exactly gory as there's absolutely no description about someone being gutted and then hanged by his intestines upon a tree, but I don't know.
Yup, so... how did you like the action? Was it worth the wait? I sure hope it was!
Now, I'm heading out, so have a great day and I'll catch y'all in the next update!