Open World: Heroes

by BioQuill

Izuku Midoriya was a quirkless child in a world of super heroes and villains. When his idol, the number one hero, tells him he can not become a hero without a quirk, he finally gives into his own demons, and jumps to take his own life. Fate, however, has other plans, and Izuku will soon learn that quirks are just one way to become a hero, in an endless reality of possibility.

18. Chapter 18: Heroes Fall Apart

"Okay, so what do we do?" Mom asked as she, myself, Delilah, Saw, Sam, Dean and Luna were all in a new training area Luna made.

"Well, what is your quirk?" Luna asked.

"I can levitate small objects around and to me." Mom said.

"Hm… not too useful in a fight."

"I know. But I'm also really good with knives and a baseball bat."

Say what?

"I mean, I know you're really good at cooking but…how?" I asked, having seen her with knives like magic but…I'm concerned.

"Well in school I was in Softball, plus hanging with Mitsuki I got to get practice in. I also met this one really nice young man when out with Mitsuki. He dressed kind of weird but he was really good with swords and knives. We patched him up since he was taking out bad people to and gave him food sometimes. In exchange he taught us some knife tricks. He never gave me his name but said he went by Stain."

…

"The…the Hero Killer Stain?" I asked carefully.

"Well back when we met him he wasn't the 'Hero Killer' he was just a vigilante taking out people who did bad like Mitsuki and I. Well, we didn't kill anyone but we didn't care if he did. Guess he finally upgraded after he mastered his blade skills."

"Your mom is metal as fuck…" Saw chuckled.

I groaned and rubbed my temples. "Mom…at this point, why didn't you notice anything in my life?" I asked. "Even if I said otherwise…"

"You were barely two when I did all that. Once you started school I stopped cause I needed to be home to take better care of you and to pick you up from school. That's actually how I met your babysitter, the lady with the spider for a head? She was a vigilante too so that's how I knew you'd be safe with her."

… I thought she was rather skilled with those webs of hers…

"Ri~ght…" I said carefully.

"So does that mean Izuku has a secret bondage fetish?" Delilah asked, as I blushed brightly.

"Delilah!" I whined. "Just because I was fascinated at her being so skilled with her web's doesn't mean I'm into that!"

"Are you into the tying up or being tied up?" Dean asked as I groaned louder.

"Ten bucks says they're the sub in the relationship." Saw added, dodging a kick from me.

"Izuku, behave. No need to resort to violence over teasing. Especially when Saw is Scotch's bottom." Mom said.

"Oh you know me so well already!" Saw laughed.

"Well this just became rather interesting." Luna said.

"Can we not talk about this please?" I asked. "And can we actually get onto why we're here?"

"Yeah, while it's hilarious to tease Midoriya and his budding sexual urges, I want to see if we can get more booze on our adventures." Luna admitted.

"Alright. So, any weapons I can use?" Mom asked.

"I got this knife Scotch made for me, testing out that book." Saw said, pulling out a small combat knife from his Assistant. "It's made out of Tungsten so it's pretty strong." He then handed it to my mom.

"Oh, shiny." Mom said as she took it.

"If you want I also got some handguns." Dean offered.

"Sure." Mom said. Dean then handed her a Revolver. It was an older looking one but he gave it to her with several boxes of ammo. "Neat. I've only seen guns in movies."

"Are you sure you want to use a gun mom?" I inquired.

"Well my quirk is rather weak and I don't have much in terms of these Abilities and such yet so I need to defend and fight to get them right?" She asked me. "Besides, I used pellet guns when I was a kid. I know it's not the same but it's similar in principle."

I sighed. "Alright mom." I nodded, respecting her wishes here.

"So, how does this training arena work?" Mom asked.

"It's a basic physical training yard mixed in with a target range, some gymnastics and parkour runs and a mechanical training dummy that's built for working on hand to hand combat and improving reaction and blocking speeds." Luna said.

"The last one she made just because she liked it from Kung Fu Panda." Sam added.

"It's cool and that was a good movie." Luna nodded.

"Yeah, it's a good movie." I agreed. "So let's get onto our physical."

"True." I jumped, the Saint appearing between us all. "Right now as it stands, Inko, Sam and Dean are the weakest. Even with Sam and Dean having Quirks, they're barely stronger than the average human. Inko here is currently your group's weakest."

"So I need the training the most then." Mom nodded.

"So best to learn where you are at the start cause…it's been a while for ya." I said carefully.

"Yes. I will be training Inko, Sam and Dean today." The Saint said.

"I get a pass? Cool." Luna smirked.

"You and Delilah will be out in The Nightmare checking the Ruined City." The Saint said.

"That mean Midoriya and I teaming up?" Saw asked.

"Yes. You two will be expanding the Outposts and head north."

"Works for me." I nodded.

"Are we looking for something if we're heading so far north?" Saw asked.

"Far north of her is a part of the Nightmare called Daylights Drop. It's a small area where a forest filled with titan class monsters all guarding giant plants that bear just as enormous fruits and veggies. If you can get to it, food would be a non-issue. The beasts themselves are also tamable, so one can raise them as cattle or for labor." The Saint informed.

"I see. So as the town grows we don't overfarm our lands." Saw nodded. "I take it these giant monsters and place isn't what's dangerous however?"

"Nexus laid claim to the place. They keep it as a personal farmland."

"Right…that's concerning." I admitted with a frown. "So how are we supposed to get it back from Nexus?"

"Simple. Don't hold back."

"Right, go to the main plan, hit the thing really hard." I chuckled.

"Heh. That too, but you both are the strongest members of the group currently. I expect you both to succeed. Don't just use all your power, be smart."

"Alright." I nodded. "Let's get going to liberate our new farm land."

"Alright. Let's take your new portal system to the north most area and head on from there." Saw said.

With a nod, Saw and I headed to the portal to the north most outpost.

Walking out of the portal led us to a small shack in a snow covered area. "So, this is gonna be a lot trickier than when I took out that Lust shop…" Saw sighed.

"Yes, yes it is." I nodded, thinking about who we might fight against. "But we'll figure thing's out when we get there." I said.

"Maybe. Not to mention getting there is gonna be a long trek. All kinds of stuff we can come across between now and then."

"Well…maybe it won't be too bad." I said, bringing up One for All's tab and wondering what kind of combo quirks I can get with Engine.

"... No. It will be worse." Saw sighed.

"How will it be worse?" I inquired.

"Trust me… you remember the lab you pulled me out of… This is gonna be worse." He said as he looked up at the ever present snowfall in this area.

"Well…we're here to make things better." I admitted.. "So come on, let's get going."

"Alright… So how am I supposed to keep up with you running so fast?"

"I can carry you." I admitted. "I am strong enough to do that and run really fast."

"... You just offered to carry a grown ass man… Fine… just don't make it weird." Saw said.

I kneeled down, letting Saw grab on as I held them up with my arms and…

…

…

…

…

Oh my fucking god… his fur is so soft!

It's like if cotton and silk had a baby and the resulting cloth was endlessly conditioned and cared for! He's also a bit heavy but it reminds me of a weighted blanket… or maybe a weighted pillow?

"What's the hold up?" Saw asked.

"I never noticed just how…soft your fur was." I admitted. "Like…wow you are soft."

"I said don't make it weird…"

"I'm not making this weird, I'm just pointing this out cause I've never actually noticed." I admitted. "Now if I wanted to make it weird, it would be rather obvious." I said as I mixed Engine with Explosion, the Nitroglycerin acting more like Nitro for cars as I used Full Cowling to increase it again. "Hold on tight."

With that, we were off, I was rushing out at the speed of sound through streets, around and over buildings and even blasting past monsters-

"Hit the breaks!" Saw yelled.

I did, nearly crashing into a building. The new area of the Nightmare we were in actually looked… modern. I know I used Float for a while to fly over an ocean but I wasn't expecting such a change in scenery.

"This place looks…rather modern all things considered." I admitted.

Saw jumped off me and immediately walked around as he looked at the buildings. "This place… It feels familiar…" He said.

"How so?" I inquired.

"I don't know. Something about it when you were zooming to it just kept getting at me in my brain… Let me check my Assistant mini map, maybe it's got a name…" Saw said… then seemed to pause.

"What's wrong?" I asked, wondering why he paused.

"That… there's no way…" He said, suddenly bolting it down the road.

I ran off after him, wondering what was wrong all of a sudden. "What's wrong?"

Saw didn't say anything but was running like a bat out of hell. I chased him through the streets and roads. He ran right out to a highway that went well out to the countryside. I looked up, seeing road signs telling us we were leaving a place called Leto Central.

Leto… why does that ring a bell?

I chased him down to a nearly invisible dirt road next to an old bit of farm land that led into the woods. He finally stopped when we reached some kind of refortified bunker building. He looked ready to pass out; he was breathing rather heavily.

"Saw, breath." I said quickly. "Please, take deep breaths, you look like you're about to pass out."

"Just… This…" He heaved. "This is it…" He coughed. "Fuck me I overdid it…" He said, landing on his rear and managed to breath more steadily. "Ouch… think I cracked a hoof…"

I look and yeah, his left hoof was bleeding, his unique healing factor already stopping the blood flow.

"Yeah, your hoof is cracked and your healing's stopping the bleeding…but you'll still need to get the hoof checked." I said carefully. "And what do you mean 'this is it'? Like…is this where you became a Nokori or something?" I asked, taking a guess as to what this place was…and also if this was probably a Nexus base from what I've heard about Y Labs.

"Heh, no… That would be much further north if this freakiness has the same layout. No… This is Leto City. This is where the Doc sent me to fight David…" Saw chuckled, looking over at the building. "That, that was my prison. Heh… That's where I was before appearing on this crazy planet."

"Huh…" I hummed. "No wonder why Leto sounded familiar."

"Heh, yeah…" He said, pushing himself up. "Let's see just how like this place is to what I remember…" He smirked, walking inside.

The first thing I noticed was that, this place had some security. The concrete is super thick, so are the windows and there was even panels where I imagine hefty door shutters would drop. The only entrance and exit seemed to be an elevator that went down.

"This place wasn't always a prison." Saw said as we entered the elevator. "According to David… this used to be the lab that made him and his freaky friends."

"I understand." I nodded. "Quite a trip down memory lane then."

"Yeah." He sighed, pushing the only button and it began going down. The lift took a while. This goes down rather far…

When it stopped and the door opened-

"Frah!" We both dodged some kind of clawed arm, the creature was covered in a black aura.

Saw wasted no time hacking it to meaty chunks before moving on.

I frowned as I followed along. "So what are we looking for down here?"

"Memories, mostly…" Saw chuckled as we walked down a hall, past a huge room that I blinked and swore I saw a silhouette in there… huh…

I caught back up to Saw and spotted a huge hallway where all the doors and walls seemed to be covered in some kind of runes, every door also has some kind of charms or artifacts almost welded to them. "Welcome to The Box! This is where I and lots of other BOW Nokori were locked up. Assuming David didn't kill them."

"Now that would be cool…but there's something here." I said, Danger Sense telling me there was something here as I looked around carefully.

"Well, this was a prison for powerful BOW Nokori criminals so, probably." Saw shrugged as he walked over to the first cell on the right, opening it. Inside was nothing much aside a rotten apple, a small shelf mounted to the wall and a combination toilet/sink. Saw Jumped onto the small bed and sighed. "Yup, this was my cell… Can you turn this place into an outpost? I'd like to nap here from time to time."

"I…don't know why you'd want to but sure, I think I can do that." I said, trying to set up an Outpost here.

[Warning! Enemy Detected! Please clear the location before placing Outpost.]

"Alright, can't set up an Outpost till we deal with whatever the hell is still here." I stated.

"You go do that, I wanna nap here for a minute." Saw sighed as he was laying on the small bed. I walked into his Cell and picked him up… why does his fur have to be so damn soft…

"You're not napping when we have thing's to deal with." I said carefully. "Plus I don't know the layout of this place and don't want to get lost when trying to find whatever the hell is stopping the outpost from being made."

"Agh. Boring. Can't I just nap here while you deal with-"

Both Saw and I froze as suddenly a blast of black fire came from outside the cell door. When it faded we looked outside, seeing a black silhouette of a person, bird-like feet with wings.

"Oh… well now isn't that a trip down memory lane." Saw said, sounding… excited.

"Alright, so what the fuck is that?" I asked worriedly.

"No idea but it looks like bird brain." Saw chuckled as the silhouette being ran off down the hall. "Hey, get back here feather butt!" Saw yelled, chasing after it.

"I've got a bad feeling about this…" I muttered as I ran off after Saw and the shadow, fearing this was leading into a trap as I kept Danger Sense on high alert here.

I followed them into that huge chamber we passed, the silhouette being standing on the other side.

"Heh… you ain't David…" Saw said, raising an arm as Sawblades popped out. "But you'll be a good test."

I used scan on that thing.

[Scan Complete!

Enemy: Dark Memory

Level: 3

Rank: SSS

The living memory of a monster.]

"It's David if they were a living memory…" I said carefully. "But this doesn't make a lick of sense, cause if this was the case, that means this entire place was transported from your world to this one if it has memories like this." I said carefully, starting to activate Fa Jin to give myself some needed speed and power against the one person Saw said could nuke a continent with ease.

Though… if that is the case, why is it's threat level only a level 3?

Saw charged, side stepping a blast of black fire and during a saw blade covered arm through it's chest. The creature retaliated, yanking Saw off of itself and tossing them against the wall, then across the ground.

Saw got back up, using Poltergeist as they launched blades at it before dropping into a Warp portal and using it to dodge more flame blasts.

The creature healed, not in bursts of fire but in a black miasma that seemed to erode the ground and walls around it. It's strong, but it's not smart thank goodness… it's just a mindless monster.

"Right…it's just a mindless beast that's the memory imprint of David in a much smaller capacity…" I thought, feeling myself vibrate as I kept up Fa Jin, ready to use the burst of speed and power to kill the thing faster than it could regenerate…or at least, if it's regeneration isn't Immortal Regen…

I swung my leg, catching it in the torso and ripping the creature in half. Saw rapidly threw out Electrified blades through a Warp portal and into the rest of the thing.

"Heh, that's fun… Kinda disappointing though." Saw said with a sigh, seeing it's body seem to melt away. "Wasn't anywhere near my first fight with bird brain."

"That's because it was a mindless beast." I admitted. "It was only a danger level 3 which is breathtakingly low compared to what you said David could do."

"Boo… now I feel blue balled…" Saw groaned.

"It was an early test but it was a decent baseline." Saw and I turned, seeing what looked like a silhouette made of darkness, ones and zeroes… what the… "Oh well, I guess this facility has been compromised. Shame, it brings back so many memories…"

"I… You…" Saw said… taking a step back. "Doc? The fuck happened to you?!"

"Ah, Subject G2 003-A. I was informed you had arrived in this reality, but you escaped the ones holding you before you could have been transferred back to me. Oh well, no harm done in the end…" The thing said…

This is the guy who… made Saw… David and… others…?

Danger Sense was practically blaring in my head to run…"W-who are you?" I asked carefully.

"Heh… my name is of no importance. My creations would call me what I am. To them, I am God. To you, The Nokori God… Oh my…" I blinked, suddenly it was in front of me. I jumped back into the wall hard. "You are an interesting one… You already absorbed a Phoenix and a Hunter Shadow being… fascinating. I used one of those to make that little toy you two killed. Such interesting creatures, but so fragile."

I jumped back. "You're no God, you're just some insane mad man!"

"Heh, I get that a lot, but I enjoy surprising people." They chuckled. "Say, Time Walker, what about this one?"

"He could work." I looked behind him, seeing some kind of… At first I thought they were a bipedal, but I blinked and saw they were a small quadruped, wearing a Time Walker cloak that was pale gray where the normally blue neon hour glasses were. They wore a hood and seemed to only have two pink wings on their back being the only part of their body shown. "There is a lot of potential for him to become stronger. All his power and potential."

"Yes, but his Phoenix is only a bit stronger than that boy toy you had me work with back in the other place."

"We both know time and effort can change that."

"True…"

"What's going on, who are you, and why are you working with what I can only assume is a member of Nexus?" I asked carefully, already preparing a combo Quirk to get me and Saw out of here.

"I'm nothing more than… a Broken Clock." The Time Walker said. "And this being here, the Nokori God, is a member of Violence. I have recruited them for some… personal missions."

"How about no-" Saw started, the Time Walker quickly turning to them, there was a flash of blue from their hood, then Saw was still. Frozen in place and unmoving.

"Hm… You never were able to recreate the first five were you?"

"... If I only had stronger base materials… I could finally remake and improve on my original five creations…" The Nokori God said, almost growling.

"Let's hope this works…" I thought, as I used a combination of Full Cowling, Fa Jin, Gearshift and Engine to grab Saw and make a beeline out of here before something terrible happens, preparing Steel and Harden on myself to bust through any walls if needed so we could get the hell out of here.

"Nice try." The Time Walker said, appearing in front of me. A flash of blue from under their hood and… I can't move… I can't even use my Quirks or abilities!

"He's a feisty one. I like him." The god said, taking Saw from my grip and putting them aside. "Hmm… He's self augmented with lots of this reality's powers… I'm impressed. It's more than I expected from this failure.

"Enough about the sheep. It's Midoriya here that we need to work on." The Time Walker said.

"Heh… whatever you say, Broken Clock."

"Shut up. Was that body really necessary?"

"Your boy toy back home is suspicious of me. Always has been but now it's like an obsession. Damn fool is a stubborn one I'll give them that. This new body lets me roam free and no one can see my face, and I can still be doing my day job and leave no one any the wiser."

"Eh. Just get it over with."

"Heh, as you wish, you are the boss."

I felt a hand grab my shoulder… and I felt pain… The Saint did a lot to me getting me used to Mortal Sun… this made that feel like a relaxing bath… All I could think, unable to scream or move was that I wanted to… die.

---

"Midoriya! Hey Greenie!"

My mouth felt dry… my body was numb, sore and ached all at the same time. Saw's voice sounded like a pounding drum against my ears and in my head yet also a thousand miles away…

"Wh-what happened?" I coughed, struggling to get up but…I felt so weak…

"Don't move! Just stay still! Try not to move much, this part always feels like shit trust me." Saw said… he sounded… scared, panicked… I was laying down… He gently brought a water bottle to my lips. "And drink up. You'll need it…"

I managed a few gulps, forcing my eyes open. The lights were like knives in my eyes. The intensity making my headache hurt worse. When my eyes were finally adjusting Saw… Saw was… crying.

"Wh-why are you crying?" I asked weakly. "Normally you'd laugh at me being this hung over…" I said, thinking that pain…that unbearable feeling of my entire body being ripped apart and stitched back together was just some bender induced drunk nightmare.

"I… I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" He muttered, holding me up a bit. "I'm so… sorry…"

"Seriously…the fuck happened?" I asked, getting some of my strength back. "Hello?" I asked my two soul roommates to see if they could give me a rundown on what the hell is going on.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" Saw repeated. I forced myself up-

My… my body…

My feet looked like black metallic bird feet. My legs were covered in green feathers but parts looked almost metallic plated. Mainly along the shins and thighs. My stomach was metal plated up to my chest. My arms had similar metal plantings along my arms, all with green feathers where the metal wasn't. Even my hands looked as if my… It felt like my skin, rubbing my fingers together but they were all the same as the metallic black… my back felt heavy… I sat up, feeling more metal and feathers along my back… and my wings… I now had four. Two were black and green, the other two red and black, both with a metallic covering along the main parts of the wings…

"Uh…what?" I asked in confusion. "Hello? Is anyone here?" I tried to ask them again, as they were a part of my Soul so they should still be able to talk to me.

"I'm… I'm sorry…" Saw said again.

"Okay, why do you keep saying that?" I asked. "Seriously you two, what the hell is taking so long?" I asked my Phoenix and Shadow Hunter roommates wondering why they weren't saying a damn thing.

"I… That… Time Walker… Told me this worked like a more advanced version of my own fusion…" Saw said. "It prioritizes your consciousness while merging in the powers and magic of the other… extras…" Saw said, shaking. "She said the fact they were part of you already made it even… easier."

"That…that doesn't make any sense…" I shook my head. "They were already a part of my soul, they were still sentient beings, whatever the hell that fusion did shouldn't have somehow revoked their existence…"

"Maybe, but from what she said, this world classified them as an animal and a monster… They were bound to your soul but this… all Nokori fusion merges the souls…"

"What the fuck…" I muttered. "But…why though? What point is there to be becoming a Nokori besides me being in massive pain?" I asked. "And having a Time Walker aid a member of Violence with his fetishised obsession with looking like a God?" I asked, looking over myself again and thinking this was just…a pointless bid to fuck with me for some unknown reason.

"She said… The Time Walker said it was to make you stronger…" Saw said.

"And I could have done that the old fashioned way, like we've been trying to do, not literally changing me, body and soul, just to fit whatever Time Walker bullshit they want."

"Technically I'm not a Time Walker anymore." I spun around, seeing that same Time Walker sitting there in the corner. "I'm wanted. Should I be captured I will be executed for my crimes."

"Working with Violence would be seen as a very steep crime." I said honestly.

"Not Violence, just the Nokori God." She said.

"He's not a god, he's just some mad scientist with delusions of grandeur." I rolled my eyes.

"Maybe, but he is a Divine Class being, and a Hacker on top of that. He might have been born a mortal, but he's made himself something else now."

"And I was a Divine Class being too but you don't see me walking around flaunting it like I had some right to fellate myself with it." I growled. "So, onto the most important question…why?" I asked. "Why this? Cause this seems needlessly cruel for what could be some minor ass power boost."

"You, who worked himself to the bone, accepted torture and death and pain, carrying the weight of a world's responsibilities over your head, complaining about what is no minor power boost given to you? How ungrateful. Why did she put up with your childish fantasies?"

"First of all I said 'could be', secondly the amount of pain I went through during my training for Mortal Sun was legitimately a nice day at the spa compared to what you had that bastard do to me…and three, you didn't answer my god damn question…I want answers, not someone acting like what they did was right and not having to explain shit because of it."

"... You are heading to the Nexus guarded farmland known as Daylight's Drop. If you arrived as you were before, you'd have lost." She said so simply and calmly it pissed me off.

"And what if we won? What if we actually beat Nexus and claimed the farm for our own?" I asked, knowing they could see us winning and wanting to know why they decided this was the best course of action.

"Because you wouldn't have." She said. "As you were, there was no outcome where you would have won against the Nexus forces stationed there. You'd have had a forty seven percent chance to become captured and sold to Lust to become a Breeder. A Thirty six percent chance to be captured and sold to Violence and become one of their weapons, like your brother and his girlfriend, and a seventeen percent chance to end up a Slave, having all your abilities and quirks taken from you, and forced into hard labor for thousands of years until you ended up being reprogrammed into some perverse teenagers personal Breeder."

… That was all… rather detailed…

"That's…that's impossible, there is no way in hell it's a literal zero percent chance." I said, cause the laws of probability always has a chance of any possibility to happen. "But let's humor you, what does this form magically do that would prevent all of that?" I asked, cause if this somehow turned my demi-god status into full god status I'm gonna flip…

"You now have access to all the magic and power of that Sun Phoenix, that alone is like a godhood. Plus that Hunter Shadow, a being that is native to this zone as well. The beasts over at Daylights Drop they have working as forced labor will not harm you, for they will see you as their own, plus their natural combat abilities alone add to your own trained skills, the merging of your body with your Keyblade armor now has you far more durable than before, seeing as you have a bad habit of forgetting you even have armor, and of course, Shadow Creature Magic. Very few have ever had access to this magic, so Nexus will not have counters to this should you use it to attack. Plus you need the power boost passively gained by Phoenixes over time as they age to advance your power even more over time. You want to be a hero, this new body of yours can get you that dream. Otherwise, you'll be a Slave, a Serf, or a Breeder sooner or later. This is Armageddon, where Heroes come to die, in case you forget, be glad I decided to help you live. The owner of this planet otherwise would have been completely indifferent to your life."

I knew full well I had Keyblade Armor, wasn't my fault that I got Darkness Armor which was pretty much the same damn thing but technically better…"Being a Hero is more than just pure power…I learned that when I helped both the town in my World room and the Darkness City that's apart of it…" I shook my head. "And two things…what's Shadow Creature Magic…and why aren't you with the one that still loves you?" I asked, cause the way that 'God' made it sound like, whoever her 'lover boy' was still cared even if they were agitated by those words.

"I'm wanted by my former home, and my former guild. I can't stay in one place, less the Time Walkers or New Foundation find me. After all, what I'm doing is breaking rules, and Time Walkers are such Bureaucrats."

"Considering what I've heard about the HPSC back home…yeah Bureaucrats aren't fun to deal with…and what rules?"

"This planet is a game board. Everyone here an optional piece, some are in play, some are forced to be… I didn't want to lose the one I cared so much about, nor our family… So I stepped off the board and became a player. That is my crime."

"...And…that makes it sound like this mystery person is complaining that other people are playing the game…" I blinked, a little confused as to why she would now be seen as a wanted fugitive for playing a game other's are playing…"Like…that's saying they wanted you to play their game, so you agreed and then they got mad about it…"

"As a Time Walker, my duty was to serve the players of this game. Stepping off the board as a piece and becoming a player was out of line for my duties. I'm oath bound to serve the players, the creators of this reality… playing against one of them… I might as well have declared War on The Family…"

"And who's to say The Family wouldn't mind having you as a player?" I asked. "From what I've heard, they've been here since reality started…wouldn't at least some try and act like you're doing a fantastic job with this?" I asked, thinking some ageless practically omnipotent god's would find this a fun development.

"Because what I'm doing interferes with a delicate balance that if disturbed could lead to unpredictable consequences… In short, if I win, and DG is defeated in a game that has been going since the dawn of this reality… let's just say a world without evil won't be so peaceful for long…"

"That…" I frowned, everything about this seemed so big…bigger than I could ever imagine…but…"...Something about this still doesn't add up, cause if you were Oath Bound like in some fantasy novels I read…you wouldn't be able to do this, like at all…" I admitted carefully. "So either the Oath has something in it you didn't know about…or someone in the Family was waiting for this to happen…" I said, trying to grasp at whatever small strands I could to look at the big picture…of this entire planet just being nothing but a game for DG…but if this Time Walker was able to do this when she made it sound like she couldn't…something's not adding up here.

"Doesn't matter. What I've started can't be taken back or undone… just take this new power, this new body, and go do what you were planning on doing. Go be a hero. At least, do it for her sake…"

With that, the Time Walker vanished. Not even in a blink, just gone suddenly.

I took a deep breath, trying my damndest to collect myself. "So I have…an assload of questions…who was that Time Walker and who was this 'She' they kept talking about?" I asked, feeling like I should know who this she is but…nothing…

"I just… I'm sorry…" Saw said again.

I sighed, getting up shakily. "It's…fine…you couldn't do a thing about this and we apparently needed me to be this strong…but I have no idea how to use any of the Phoenix's powers or Shadow Creature Magics so we either have to head back and regroup…"

"It will come to you…" Saw said. "Trust me. It will be a surprise, but you'll feel a rush, a surge as the power, the magic manifests and you just… know." Saw said. "Like breathing, once it starts it quickly becomes second nature and then, you'll almost forget you only just started being able to do this…"

"The Phoenix magic I can get since you are a Nokori and have done this a lot longer…but Shadow Creatures are a bit outside of the norm when it comes to this…" I said carefully, trying to figure out what the hell to do now…

"So was Null, but David had that little mouse kid and she could… shit that kid scared the crap out of me about as much as those two…"

Now that's a surprise to hear… Saw admitting he's scared…

"And what's Null?" I inquired.

"Well, I explained it before, back home all magic came from one of five bases. Nature, Chaos, Light, Dark, and Null… Before that little mouse, it was supposedly never recorded being a base affinity in humans but she was the first… Doc turned her into a Nokori, using a rare but far more common Null animal, and Null… It was an unknown magic. No one really knew what it was capable of. Saw that kid do shit that really shouldn't be possible."

"Alright.." I sighed, starting to stretch out a bit as I tried to see if my body lost any of it's elasticity now that I'm part metal, as my Keyblade Armor could technically now be a biometal but I'd rather not assume.

Bounce!

I blushed… realizing my chest is not armored… nor feathery… and it's been bare to the world…

"Did…did these get bigger?" I asked weakly as I covered myself up…"They could have at least let me keep my clothes…" I said, looking over my new figure and wondering if certain parts did get bigger…

"Right… we should find you clothes." Saw said, getting up. "I uh… don't think a normal shirt will fit you… Maybe a tube top?" Saw hummed.

We walked out and I began to realize the… well, it looks like the feathers at least cover everything down there but shit a hard breeze you really feel it…

We walked to a house where Saw was going through clothes that were there. "You still gonna try and wear pants? Or a skirt cause I'm not too sure how your natural armor or feathers will agree with them. I know David wore pants fine but you have natural armor and he doesn't."

"No I'm wearing clothes cause a hard breeze is uncomfortable on all the bits." I said carefully.

"I guess that's fair. My fur is just so thick I only really feel the cold in winter." Saw said, tossing me a sports bra.

It took a bit but I managed to put it on. Well, at least that's something… now what else… I need pants or shorts or something…

"Will this do?" Saw asked, tossing me what looked to be some basic yellow short shorts… well, at least it's something…

I put them on… wow they fit almost too… well, given my new natural armor and the spacing around it… it also felt like it was… drawing attention to my new curves…

"Huh. You know I am ninety percent sure I saw a sexualized video game demoness that you are looking very much like right now…" Saw said.

"I didn't think this whole thing would make all my…features bigger and more pronounced…" I blushed brightly.

"The fact the armor only covers parts and not the whole body really doesn't help." Saw said. "... Sorry…"

"And why are you sorry this time?" I asked, as I tried to make the fabric at least look a bit more presentable than having it leave nothing to the imagination. "We don't really have clothes for me to put on really…this is the best we could do…"

"I'm sorry I'm a coward…"

I sighed. "Listen…you literally met a Divine Being and that was your first time meeting a Time Walker…I don't blame you for being scared or unable to do anything…even when I was going as fast as I possibly could with four different quirks…the Time Walker got me…"

"I hate being weak…" He growled.

"That's why we're training." I stated simply. "So that we won't be weak, so that we'll be strong for what's to come."

"I should have been stronger…" He growled again. "That fucker shows up again after nearly a century for me and I just froze up… then I do manage to talk and that Time Walker bitch just LOOKS at me and I'm parelyzed!" He shouted, an arm popping out buzzsaws as he slammed it into the wall, breaking/blasting a hold through it. "I should have been stronger…"

"Time Walkers are supposed to be one of the few beings that can Permanently Kill someone…so they have to be strong…and those ones and zeroes…that was Code, a power that not many have but it's the strongest power you can have."

"It's still bullshit… Facing against David and I didn't flinch fighting that idiot but those two… Damn it!" He stomped, I saw sawblades shoot out from all around him… and the corner of the house he was standing on started collapsing. He jumped out of the way, next to me where it wasn't collapsing. "I didn't live through hell in life just to be a scared little kid like I was before…"

"From someone that has personally experienced this three times in his life…you get used to it, you stand up and you keep going to not be scared again." I said simply.

"Yeah… Fucking hell… Well… come on, let's go…"

I moved over and gently put a hand on his shoulder. "It's going to be alright…trust me."

"... Maybe… well, At least Delilah will like the new perma kinky look you got going on. Though I think you mom might have a heart attack."

"Yeah…mom's gonna freak and Delilah will enjoy this…" I sighed. "Whole lot of things are happening all at once…"

"... I just had a VERY cursed thought…" Saw said, looking like they hated that whatever came to their mind was instantly regretted.

"What did you do?" I asked carefully.

"It's a random thought… I hate it, but it's a question… You're a hermaphrodite, and now you're part bird… do you lay eggs now?"

I blushed… I… I don't…. I don't even know if what's down there normally changed?! I… might need to check in the bathroom first…

"I mean…I don't think I'll lay eggs…" I said carefully. "I'd rather not, plus the biology wouldn't work out cause a bird's gentiles is also…kind of an all in one package from what biology says." I said nervously, not wanting to think of that grossness. "Plus…the breeze itself didn't feel like a had a cloaca…"

"But that's internal too… right? I mean, I didn't know or meet many bird or avian Nokori before but… huh…" Saw hummed. "Well shit now I wanna know and I don't know why…"

"Because this is a first and you're curious about biology works." I shrugged. "I just hate how I might possibly have to lay eggs and I'd really prefer I don't lay eggs…"

"Should probably get you checked out when we get home… So, should we go home given this situation or… do you wanna keep going?"

I flexed my arms. "I…we should keep going…I…I don't know…" I sighed, trying to set up an Outpost here. "But we probably should head back cause I'm…like this, with brand new powers I don't know when I'll get or how to use…especially Shadow Creature magic since the Time Walker said so few have it even Nexus doesn't know what the hell to do against it…"

"Well, Nokori, at least from what I know, tend to develop their magic and powers anywhere from three days to a week after the fusion… but if you're a BOW one like me given the Doc made you… could be within the next few hours… Mine took three hours from when I woke up to manifest."

"That's fair…but I don't know how my quirk's will react to this new body…" I said, trying to use Harden as a test to see if thing's changed.

I blinked, seeing my feathers turn like stone and my plated parts look more rough in texture… huh… interesting.

"Well, might as well test it out…. Say… Try your oPyromancy quirk out real quick."

I nodded, taking a deep breath and breathing the flames Izukie's quirk was known for away from Saw just in case.

The fire was a lighter green, almost white… and blasted thirty feet out as pure plasma.

I immediately covered my mouth…

"... Well… That's kinda like what I've seen David do… Huh…"

"Uh…that's…that's really strong…" I muttered. "Alright that's…scary."

"How in the… okay now try that fire and ice one…"

Nodding, I raised a hand, using the hot half of Half Hot-half Cold and-

The fire part was much the same, light green almost white plasma that shot out very far. I shut that off but also tried half cold.

The ice seemed normal but was also far more potent… if the new ice mountain I just made was any proof…

Holy shit!

"I've legit never seen David do that crap… how in the fuck are… oh you mother fucker he was holding back that much power?!"

"Considering his phoenix is that of a Galaxy, I'm not surprised…" I said, remembering what my phoenix told me about his brother. "Why would he take a ram that throws buzzsaws everywhere when he can burn so bright he's on the other side of the world and I can still see him…though now that I mention it…" I frowned as I decided to look again to see if he was closer or not.

The second I did… my body reacted, falling to my knees and bringing my head to the ground… I, what the-

When I stopped sensing them I was able to pull myself up. Shit what the hell was that… my body just… bowed on instinct… and not a proper one either just a full on hands and knees almost groveling… the hell?

"That was… a thing… you good? Saw asked as he helped me back up.

"Y-yeah…I'm good, I don't know why I did that…but I sensed two others…" I said carefully.

"Yeesh… that was weird… but cool, I think…"

"Yeah…it was really weird, but I sensed another flame a distance away and…just a hole in David's fire, the only thing it isn't, or can't, burn…"

"Huh… neat. So that aside, maybe don't do that again… you were very close to assuming a very unsettling position when you dropped."

"Yes…that wasn't good and I don't know why I did that…" I said carefully. "So…my Quirks are fine…" I said, trying to see if my Darkness Armor was still working as well.

Thankfully, the Darkness Armor still worked, covering my unarmored parts and are you fucking kidding me…

"... Okay now you really look like some hyper sexualized demoness…" Saw said.

"Okay this is getting a little ridiculous…" I blushed madly at my whole new…super sexy form…"Ugh~! This blows…"

"Out Delilah's back when you get home? Most likely." Saw nodded. "But that's a bit later away… how's your MP? I always wondered now that magic has a quantified number in this reality how strong his was, or at least how high his numbers were."

I shrugged, checking my… oh…my…

[MP: 450,500]

That's way higher than before…

"That's…quite a jump in MP…" I admitted. "But…hopefully my power will be enough…"

"Let's get back home first… still wanna turn that old prison into an outpost given… what happened?"

"Way ahead of you." I pointed to the outpost portal after all the monsters were gone. "This is still a good spot to have a portal in…" I sighed, scratching my head as I tried to process all of this.

---

"This is very concerning." The Saint said as he seemed to pace around in front of me. I had explained everything and after a worry fit from mom and a rather nasty nose bleed form Delilah, the Saint had pulled me aside to talk. "The Nokori God might be new but he has been fast on his influence and if he's working with a renegade Time Walker…"

"She said she's fighting against DG…whoever that is." I admitted. "She said I needed this form to be strong enough for what I was about to do and what's to come…how bad is this really?'

"Bad… DG, or Dark Gray is the one who created Armageddon, the Reflection of Evil that originally helped The Family defeat his original and the All Makers in the War for Creation. He is one of the main leaders of the Family that work to control Evil and it's influence in Reality."

"Oh…that's what she meant…" I muttered worriedly. "But…she said this was a game…what would happen if DG loses?"

"Well, this is just a theory, but imagine that Good and Evil are in constant conflict because they need to be in a state of balance. This balance is achieved through Armageddon, being where it's free to be as vile and cruel and dark as it pleases. Meanwhile the rest of creation is left to develop and live in peace. Granted there are Raider and Villain Guilds off world but they are treated more as Jobs than how the Chaos Guilds do things. If Evil was to lose its hold on Armageddon, the only home and haven it has, the balance would shift, good would for a time outweigh evil. However, evil would be granted a… retaliation… if that were to happen… Chaos Guilds might be allowed to conduct their vile operations off Armageddon, and be allowed to spread across the greater area of Reality."

"Then why in Mother's name would she do this?" I asked incredulously. "Better question, how is she able to do this if she's Oath Bound?"

"The oath is, from what I've learned, less an actual binding and more like a promise. She's not bound by a curse or magic Midoriya. She promised, and now that she's broken it, things are going to get rather hectic…"

"Right…" I said carefully. "So things are getting a lot more complicated…shit."

"Yes… Still, rest up, you still need to take Daylight Drop. While it is good she took measures to ensure you were not lost, her efforts will cause greater harm later down the line. The fact she is doing this to make others take on the fight rather than do this herself is rather unusual. As a Time Walkers she is more than strong enough to take out the vast majority of the Chaos Guilds heavy hitters and strongest."

"I…think she started this because she's protecting the one she loves." I admitted. "The god kept saying their 'lover boy'...about how they were suspicious of their true self…about how they were affected just the same as me."

"Hmm… interesting… the identity of the Nokori God is something that has been hard to figure out for as long as they have been on Armageddon… did they mention anything else?"

"They're trying to recreate and improve on his greatest creations…if he had the proper materials which doesn't make sense cause he has Code, he can literally create whatever he needs…" I said, thinking about all that god mentioned.

"While true, creating life from code is one of the most advanced uses of the power and difficult even for admins. Creating an inorganic object is much simpler." The Saint explained. "If he is a Hacker, odds are he hasn't been one for very long. The Nokori God has only been here for two hundred years…"

"He said he has a day job, that he needs that faceless form to roam free…Saw knows who this Doctor really is…I hope…" I said carefully.

"Then bring him here. Even if he never heard his name, he saw his face and that will be more than enough."

"Alright." I nodded, walking over towards Saw as he was being…comforted by Scotch. "Saw? Saint wants to talk to you." I said carefully.

"Alright." He sighed, getting up and walking over to the Saint with me.

"Alright then, I will explore your memories but to make this easier you must keep the memory of when you met them fresh." The Saint said.

"Heh, not hard… can't forget that day if I tried…" Saw sighed.

The Saint nodded, placing a hand over Saw's head and I saw a stream of magic flow from the Saint's palm to Saw's head.

A few seconds passed.

"Got it." The Saint said, cutting the magic and in the same hand materialized a sheet of paper with a printed picture. I looked at the photo. The man was maybe mid to late twenties, brown hair, brown eyes, a lightly tanned skin tone. He wore thin, small framed glasses and his face had scars, some looked from cuts, others looked like they were from burns. "So this is your true face, Nokori God…"

"Well…rather unassuming if you didn't know better." I admitted. "So if he managed to patch up his face he might be working as a Physician somewhere, given he is a Doctor after all." I said, taking an educated guess as to his day job and someone being suspicious of him when he wouldn't be at a Violence facility.

"Possibly, meaning he's hold up in a settlement. Meaning if he's hiding as an average citizen, we can't attack him directly…"

"We just need to find this time walker's lover and help them gather evidence against him." I recommended. "He already suspects them to a very stubborn degree…it…I think I know where this person might be." I said with a sudden epiphany. "I…think it's where that other Phoenix is, cause I sensed two more appeared but ones probably near David…"

"And the other?" The Saint asked.

"The other is in that direction." I pointed to what looked like a raging super volcano in the distance.

"Right. So that leaves us with a question, do we seek out the Nokori God and aid this other, more powerful being that Saw knows… they could be of great help in confronting the Nokori God…"

"Well…Saw, do the Nokori God and David have any kind of connection?" I inquired.

"The Doc made David what he is, him and those others. From what David told me, they were the first generation of BOW Nokori the Doc created. There's David, merged with a Phoenix, Bigs, huge fella that despite being merged with a freaking Darkness Dragon is a complete coward and floor mat. Shift, gots Chaos magic like me and was merged with a mimic so they can shapeshift into anything and anyone. Meg, some insane broad merged with a Star doe, can bend light and gravity, loved being an actress though. Singing too. Then there was that mouse kid… Squeaks they called her… Merged with a Null Mouse and the only person back home able to use Null Magic." Saw explained.

"Did you ever see the Doc and David fight?" I inquired.

"No… I wound up here when the Nokori War was at its peak after North Korea got glassed by David and other countries were being outed for trying to kill out their Nokori Populations to avoid ridicule and punishment from the still stable world governments. Just before getting here, I heard David wasn't leaving any of those governments or people in power within them alive."

"Well…that's…definitely something." I admitted.

"He sounds like someone who isn't afraid to shed blood." The Saint said.

"... yeah. He and I are alike in that regard…" Saw said, looking over at me. "You want to be a hero, so you can't shed blood… David and I ain't heroes. We're monsters. We just hunt other monsters."

I shook my head. "And that's what keeps this stupid game going." I stated. "This world won't be a world where Heroes go to die, I'm not going to let evil just take another shape to fit DG's stupid game."

"But if he loses… then something worse will come as a result of it…" The Saint pointed out. "So, Midoriya… what is a hero to do?"

"A hero…a True Hero, would find a way for our work to not cause greater suffering." I stated. "Our work is supposed to help people, not cause suffering…" I shook my head. "A True Hero would learn a loophole to the game so that there is no worse outcome, that it'll only be a true, good outcome no matter what."

"Does such a loophole even exist? We're talking about beings that literally control good and evil and created this whole reality…" Saw asked.

"There has to be…cause if there wasn't, why is this Time Walker able to do this? Why is their oath nothing more than some childish pinkie promise instead of a magical or blood oath that would stop them from even thinking of doing something like this?" I inquired. "No…there's something up here, cause Time Walkers could see every possible outcome right?" I asked.

"So the rumors say." The Saint said. "That being said, no one ever seems to know what the Time Walkers really do aside from taking custody of those going Mad, or hunt them down to execute them should they run. Whatever the case, Time Walkers have in the past gone rogue, but they are like this one, hunted down, and when captured, executed."

I frowned, still finding this so weird. "Well…hopefully this Time Walker won't be killed too soon, we have a lot of things to ask."

"Assuming we can find them." Saw sighed.

"They'll appear when needed." I admitted. "But…right now, I need to figure out what powers my Phoenix has, what the hell Shadow Creature magic is…and get Delilah off my back for the training I have to do…"

"I know a few things David could do so, I can help see if there are similarities."

"Right, and when you two are done, head straight for Daylights Drop." The Saint reminded. "I'm going to find some old associates, see if they recognize this face."

"Alright, hopefully someone will recognize him."

---

"Alright, so David told me about this one personally when I was in lock up. He called it Remote Detonation." Saw said. It was the next day and we were out in the Nightmare for this. Just to be on the safe side.

"Oh, like how if I fuze Explosion with Overhaul?" I inquired.

"Maybe. I'm not sure how that one works for you since I don't have either of those."

"I understand." I nodded. "So how does Remote Detonation work?"

"From what he told me, he can reach out with his magic like an invisible limb. Once it reaches where he wants he just kind of snaps his fingers and it creates an explosion, using the magic as the fuel for the fire and magic fires are notorious for being near impossible to snuff out until whatever they're burning on is gone. This does have the benefit of them not being capable of spreading, they're limited to what the mana they sparked from ignited on. That and the in-made safeguards pyromancy magic has back home."

"Alright…that seems simple enough." I said, raising a hand towards a stray brick and focusing my magic to try and do the remote detonation.

Moving my magic felt… easy. More natural than it did when I first learned some magic. I could almost see the invisible limb reaching over to the brick. Okay, so far so good, now for the fingers to snap-

The blast knocked Saw and I through several buildings, ending up buried under rubble and what was once a rather nice looking house…

"You… forgot to limit the magic in the area… didn't you…?" Saw groaned from wherever he was buried in this mess we were under.

"I…didn't think it would explode like that." I tried to defend myself here. "It was natural and…again, it shouldn't have been that strong of an explosion…"

"You're literally packing the power of a sun inside you…" He groaned as we both picked ourselves out of the rubble, knocking small bits and dust off ourselves. "You need to remember that's gonna be way more potent than your Explosion Quirk with the Nitroglycerin sweat…"

"Well…" I raised a hand up into the air. "You just had to remind me and make me want to test…" I said, firing off Explosion into the sky to see how strong it was.

…

…

…

…

Total incineration… sucks…

"Put… a shirt on… you masochist…" Saw groaned as they were reforming from the stain of ash in the ground.

"How the hell was Explosion that strong? I didn't even use that much power into it!" I whined, bringing up my Assistant and bringing out a new shirt. "And I'm not a Masochist."

"You just blew yourself up twice, dragging me along with it in what I can only assume is the equivalent to a Fallout Mini Nuke…" Saw growled as he was back and whole. "Jesus fucking Judas you are gonna have to learn how to hold it back some… shit. If you're doing this… the fuck is David holding back? Gonna have to really power up to fight him on even footing."

"I actually didn't use that much with Explosion, so hell if I know." I said carefully. "And two…considering how huge his fire is, he was probably holding back so much it would be comical."

"Well, at least I can take satisfaction that David is blue balling themselves by having to hold back all that power."

I tried not to chuckle.

"I heard that! Made you laugh!"

"No you didn't." I replied simply. "Why would I laugh about you not getting the second most important man in your life off?"

"At least I have a man in my life."

"So do I…and I really hope he's okay…" I said sadly.

Saw was suddenly in front of my face. "Ex-fucking-cuse me what?!"

"His name is Three…he's a Synthetic Time Runner and…I haven't seen him in eleven years…" I said bitterly. "I…I really hope he's alright…like, I know Armageddon is huge but fuck…I'd rather have him wear that cheesy ass afro everyday than this separation…" I sighed, having always missed Three but now that I'm talking about it it felt worse…

"So… there's a man… out there… right now… that you let bend you over and rut you like you rut Delilah and I haven't met them?! Shit… Well where the fuck is your love machine and what are they doing?"

"There is a man out there…we haven't done it as hard as I did Delilah before…all this…" I said carefully. "And…to answer your questions…no…and no." I shook my head.

"Oh please, you said it yourself, it's been eleven years I'm expecting you to jump them after that long apart… but seriously, what are they doing? Being away for that long on this planet might make some people think they died or something."

"No idea, and it fucking sucks." I frowned. "One of the horrible things about Armageddon is that it personally hates any and all communications and signals, and I'd need to set up a rather obvious signal base in each outpost to at least make the attempt of getting at least phone reception here." I frowned.

"Heh. Scotch is already way ahead of you." Saw chuckled. "So, when are you and your Bicentennial Man gonna make a baby cyborg?"

"It would be great if I even knew if he was alright at the moment." I frowned. "Cause damn it, it's been eleven years and while I've also had a lot of fun with all my other lovers…I miss him…"

"The fact you didn't say you weren't gonna make a baby cyborg tells me you really like this guy. Heh, can't wait to meet them. Bet he's gonna get his pistons real ready when he lays eyes on you right now." Saw chuckled.

"Considering it's been…technically…three era's…" I said carefully. "It's complicated…and I'm sure Three would freak the fuck out about what happened to me before wanting to show me the jackhammer special or some cheesy crap he'd name it."

Saw laughed. "Oh wow… Never imagined I'd be having a talk about sex with you of all people. Heh, well now that I've experienced that, let's move on." Saw said, taking out a knife and giving it to me. "One of David's more useful powers I've seen him use is something he called Embument. I don't know if you can do it or it's unique to him, but it allowed him to pack his own magic and essence into an object, and at any time just put magic into it, creating one hell of a transformation for the item and even making it regenerate the same as him."

"Hmm…I wonder…" I hummed, gently taking the knife and trying to use Embument and All for One to see if I could imbue a quirk into this.

I tried to focus magic into it… nothing. The magic just… wouldn't stick to the knife…

"Any luck?"

"No…I even tried using All for One to try and see if I could imbue a quirk into it…nothing."

"Hmm… So it's unique to David then… guess that means whatever let's him do that was part of his Fusion… hey I got an idea. Do you have a quirk that lets you absorb something?"

"So I have All for One and One for All, but I haven't tested if they can take and give thing's other than quirks…but I do have Overhaul, which let's me absorb or rearrange literally anything I touch." I said.

"Alright. Maybe try and use that to merge a little piece of yourself, like a feather or something into the knife and see what happens?"

"Hmm…that would work…" I hummed, gently pulling a feather off of myself and putting it on the knife as I used Overhaul to combine the two.

The reconstructed blade immediately took on a green shimmer, and looked the same other than that.

Now let's see if I can pour a bit of magic into it…

I gently, very slowly poured some magic into it, and instantly the combat knife grew into a flaming short sword with a hand guard that looked to be made from plasma.

"Holy fucking shit it worked!" Saw said, shocked but grinning wide.

"That's really cool…hmm." I hummed, considering it did have part of my DNA in it…well, let's use Scan first before I think it was also imbued with a quirk.

[Scan Complete!

Nokori Sun Phoenix Core Combat Knife!

ATT: 12(300)

Def: 4(150)

Mag: 0(500)

Mana Capacity: 120/120]

Core? Mana Capacity? And these numbers… must be when the magic is and isn't active in it… does that mean mixing my feather into it acted like some kind of magic battery rather than whatever David does?

"Hmm…this is rather interesting…" I hummed, putting a little bit of my mana into it to see if that would help activate it.

I heard a crack, and instantly it reverted back to before, only the blade had a nasty glowing crack along it…

Okay, don't put more mana into the thing than it can hold…

"If this explodes I swear…" Saw said, taking a cautious step behind me.

"I put in a little, what the fuck?" I asked incredulously.

"To be fair neither of us know anything about this… but Scotch might… be right back, and try not to blow up." Saw said, heading back towards the town.

I stood here holding the cracked knife, seeing it's crack glow and flicker red and green…

Some minutes passed by before Saw came back with Scotch.

"Okay so what's going ooooonnnn!" Scotch yelped, almost picking be back as they tanked the knife out of my hand. "What did you do to this thing?!"

"I don't know!" I said quickly. "I imbued it with my magic then…that…"

"DOES THIS LOOK LIKE AN IMBUEMENT TO YOU?!" Scotch yelled and… scared me a bit. "This isn't an imbuement, this is a Weapon Core failing!" He shouted, gently putting the knife to the ground before taking out some tools from their Assistant. "Honestly… let me guess, you used Overhaul with a bit of yourself to give the knife some power right?"

"Saw's idea." I admitted. "Then I put in a little bit of extra mana, not like five points of MP, then it cracked."

"... Okay…" Scotch took a deep breath. "A Core for weapons and armor is like a battery. It fuels any internal special abilities and powers it can do and self recharges over time or can, depending on design and the core used, be more or less limitless. Like Keyblades that pull their powers from the Light or Darkness itself within the welders hearts. What you did was like trying to recharge a battery then left it in the charging slot when it's already full. Too much power it can't hold… so it's burst. You're lucky it's only cracked right now. A Core failing is like a nuke going off."

"And I didn't know any of this." I said quickly. "This is the first time I've heard about Core's for weapons."

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised…" Scotch sighed. "Well, the fact you made this without a special crafting tool or magic is impressive." He added, using an odd tool that seemed to be mending the cracks. "Still, what you did added a Core to this weapon, if you were to imbue it that is gonna take a special device or extremely advanced magic."

"So… mind explaining the differences?" Saw asked.

"Well, a Core like I said acts like a battery for any and all items that have it. This can be upgraded and modified with the weapon allowing you to make it stronger for the element it has and the powers it displays. Imbuement is like an extension of the person themselves, meaning despite even a weak weapon being barely able to do anything, if imbued and made an extension of the person using it, it can do all the damage that person can do, using both their magic damage and turning most of that into physical damage as well."

"Ah. So that's how it works then."

"So that's why…" I muttered. "Right…I didn't know that at all and it's good to know I can just…create Core's, kind of."

"It's actually very useful." Scotch said, the knife already looking better and almost fixed. "In terms of value, weapons with Cores, and powerful ones at that always fetch a high price. In terms of use, I'm betting the more of you that you merge into the item like you did, the more power the core will become and the more powerful the weapon will be starting out."

"Yeah…and that was just with a single feather." I admitted, wondering how strong it really could be.

"Well, hmm… I wonder…" Scotch hummed, finishing repairing the knife and handing it back to me.

"What up?" I inquired. "Also…is it dumb that I thought the Imbuement process would also give this weapon a Quirk? I did use my own DNA for it so it would make some sense."

"No, in theory yes it would, if you actually pulled off an imbuement, but making a core, DNA isn't a factor, just the magic. I'm thinking though… mind if I borrow some blood?"

I hummed, but shrugged as I managed to prick my finger and use Blood Control. "How much do you need?" I asked, creating a small ball, probably a marble size of it as I had it floating in mid air.

"Oh, uh…" Scotch quickly pulled a small jar from his assistant. "That will be more than enough."

"So what are you planning on using it for?" I inquired.

"Well, since you likely don't know this about Phoenix Biology I suppose I should tell you. Phoenixes all carry at the cellular level the power of the element and event that birthed them. In this case, your a Sun Phoenix, meaning even a single drop of blood of yours has the power of a Sun fueling it. Normally only the Phoenix it belongs to can utilize that power but it can be used as a substitute in crafting certain items and materials. Plus the older a Phoenix gets the more powerful it becomes. See, usually a Phoenix's cells take a very long time to divide and split, usually only doing so rapidly when they regenerate from a wound. I can use this blood to create useful power sources for the town and maybe even some powerful magic items for you all."

"Alright, that makes sense." I nodded. "Though if it was a Sun…it might been in the ballpark of…uh, how stronger does a Phoenix get per year of age?" I asked carefully.

"I don't know personally. Maybe a beast tamer or someone more versed in magical creatures can tell you. I do know they all have a biological hierarchy."

"So that's why I suddenly bowed to David's flame…" I said carefully. "What's above a Sun Phoenix?"

"I believe what's above a Sun Phoenix is a Galaxy Phoenix, and the only thing above that is a Creation Phoenix, but no one even really knows if that exists."

"Creation Phoenix? You mean there might be a bird out there stronger than David's?" Saw asked.

"Legends say it's created at the heart of a Big Bang explosion so… possibly." Scotch shrugged.

"Huh…" I said carefully. "Right…so I'm gonna have to ask Galla about Phoenix stuff and…see how strong I really am if I just got at minimum a million year old Phoenix fuzed with me."

"That's probably a good bet."

With that, we all went back to town where I found Galla working at the animal pens, Saw still with me because curiosity I guess.

"Hey!" Galla waved at me as I approached.

"Hey Galla." I said with a smile. "How are you doing today?"

"Good. The animals are all behaving. Something up?"

"Midoriya just wants a check up given their new biology." Saw said.

"Heh… well, I guess?" Galla said. "Do you need something specific?"

"Well, I want to know how strong I really am cause of my new Sun Phoenix biology…I was told from Scotch that Phoenix's get stronger with age and I put my Sun Phoenix's age at around a million bare minimum…"

"Hm… well, since you aren't classified as a beast I can't use my Beast Tamers magic to check… but I might be able to check with your tail feathers."

"I mean…" I blushed a bit, still not used to my new feathery biology but knowing that my tail feathers were…weirdly sensitive. "I guess we can try that." I said, clearing my throat as I know this is supposed to be a check up and not something lewd.

"How does that check their age?" Saw asked.

"Phoenix's age and gain power over the years, and this is reflected in their tail feathers. The longer and more colorful the feathers the older and more powerful the Phoenix." Galla said.

"I see… and what would you wager say… a Phoenix who's whole tail feathers looked like a pride flag with glitter?"

"Oh then they are well over a billion years old, maybe more depending on the length of the tail feathers."

"Oh dear…" I said carefully, lifting my shirt a bit to show off my tail feathers for Galla.

"Whoa there Midoriya, I didn't know you were into exhibitionism." Saw teased as I glared at him.

"Can you not?" I asked.

"Hmm…" Galla hummed. I tried not to be too embarrassed by having my rear half nude here… "Based on the colors, length and spread of them I'd wager your Phoenix was roughly… maybe just shy of two million to over two million give or take a few centuries."

"Amazed you can tell all that from an ass." Saw laughed.

"Cease." I said to Saw as I blushed again. "So…two million years…and…how strong would a normal Sun Phoenix be by that point?"

"Well… technically speaking that Phoenix would be in there… mid teenage years? Giving it an age scale. Still younger for a Phoenix, but basically mature already."

"Right…so how would that equate to their slower biology suddenly having to fit two million years worth of human biology?" I asked nervously.

"Well… not sure. Human cell division is much faster so… I don't know. I do know that Nokori cell division is usually the same as humans so… possibly it means the power with age thing will happen at a faster rate… but I don't fully know."

"Right…" I said carefully. "So just…have to wait and see how strong I really am…" I said as I pulled up my pants and still glared at the snickering Saw.

With that awkwardness out of the way Saw and I went back out into the Nightmare.

"So, have you tried using your wings yet?" Saw asked.

"Not yet." I said. "Hopefully these things aren't just cosmetic…I'd like to fly with these and not just use either Gravity or Float."

"Well, David flew with them so, I'm sure you can. Though you have four. Wonder if that makes you faster?"

"Hmm…" I hummed, trying to slowly and carefully spread my wings to see how they felt.

Moving them felt… odd. It was almost like moving arms but not exactly. Still, like my new magic it also felt natural… even if there was four.

Hmm… okay so maybe… should I keep them all flapping in sync or flap one set then the other?

Let's try in sync first… one good hard flap with all four and…

…

…

…

Was that cloud always in my face?

I yelped, seeing the ground was very very very very far below me and I couldn't even see the monsters… or Saw…

"Oh shi-"

Whack!

I groaned, finding myself looking through the window of some rather surprised people from outside their, I'm assuming… ship…

"I'm okay…" I groaned. "Hi…"

One of the people, the pilot, slowly pushed a button on their console.

I was immediately knocked off by an oddly strong windshield wiper, the tumble in the air I was taking took a moment but almost as if on instinct I moved my wings… and managed to get myself upright and flying in place.

"Rude." I frowned. "But…right, I can fly rather well…even if it's mostly instinct…"

Wow… looking at the Nightmare from this high up… I can see so much. There's the coast, there's where the town should be… this is really cool.

"It's…rather picturesque looking at everything from up here…" I muttered, now trying to move carefully forward without somehow speeding off into god knows where.

I flew around, managing to get used to this. Alright, so far so… what the?

I blinked, seeing the floating… castle, sitting atop a cloud. Is that a dungeon? Has this always been up here? Woah… guess there was more to the sky than I expected.

"Huh…neat." I said, flying towards the floating castle to see what was special about it.

I landed upon what felt like dirt and walked around. This place looks really cool. Hmm… if I can make this into an Outpost a Sky Base could very very useful…

"Hmm…is there a good spot?" I wondered, looking around for a place to put down an Outpost.

Thankfully I didn't have any troubles putting the outpost down. It even labeled this as Sky Base 1. Cool, wonder what's around here… should I grab Saw?

This place is pretty huge.

Hmm, I'll explore a bit first.

"Wonder if those people that were flying around in that ship were from here?" I wondered, starting to walk around and scout out this big place.

The building was rather well kept, if completely covered in dust. There really wasn't that much here, so, I went back to town through the portal and met back up with Saw.

"You fly fast." He said as I walked back.

"Yes I do…I also got hit by a ship with people in it…and then found a Sky Base." I said readily. "A pretty well kept but dusty castle all the way up there."

"For real? Damn." Saw said as he looked up. "I can't see shit from down here. How high did you fly up?"

"Cloud level." I answered. "In…one flap."

"I think I'd have seen you if you were just at cloud level… hold on…" Saw said, taking out a notebook from his Assistant and flipping through pages.

"What are you looking at?"

"Scotch made me a notebook of facts and Info about Armageddon and this reality as far as he knows since there is still a lot I don't know."

"There's a lot I still don't know either." I admitted. "But looking up what 'cloud level' actually is?"

"Yeah… I know the planets are pretty huge so there's probably much higher levels than back on earth…"

Saw flipped through the pages for a while. "Here it is. When it comes to the sky, there is a vastly higher altitude before one truly leaves the planets atmosphere. Despite this it's still divided up into the five layers, just in larger areas than what ones prior home reality might have had." Saw read aloud.

"So cloud level could be really high up compared to everything else." I admitted. "Cause I was high enough to see the coast."

"Let's see… from ground level to… twenty five… thousand miles high is the Troposphere… the lowest level of the atmosphere…" Saw read, blinking as his surprise matched my own.

"But…that would mean…without trying I'm several hundred times faster than sound…"

"... Guess so. Didn't hear a sonic boom though so… there's that." Saw said. He then looked back to the book. "This area holds mostly low level dungeons, monsters, some floating landmasses, and is where most air traffic occurs. After that, from twenty five thousand miles to… one hundred thousand miles is the Stratosphere. Home to stronger dungeons, more floating land masses and sky based enemies, and where most ships from space begin their decrease in speed to land on the ground…"

"That makes sense." I nodded. "I don't think I made it that high cause I only got hit by a ship and didn't see any monsters." I admitted.

"Alright… and here… from one hundred thousand miles up to… five hundred thousand is the Mesosphere. Here, Gravity begins to lessen. While oxygen is still plentiful, this is where some large asteroids and meteorites caught by planetary orbit can be fount amongst the sky terrain. They are highly valuable and often contain rare elements."

"Cool." I nodded, double checking where our new Sky Base was situated in the layers.

"From five hundred thousand to… nine hundred thousand is the Thermosphere. Here lots of meteors, asteroids, powerful monsters and dungeons can be found and gravity is near non-existent yet Oxygen is still abundant. This area is akin to a level four or five dungeon, not including some areas that are akin to a Void Dungeon of the same levels."

"Oh…so uh…don't go that high."

Saw nodded. "Alright… lastly, the final level of the atmosphere is the Exosphere. Nine hundred thousand to one million miles. Home to all level five dungeons and beasts but very few roaming around. On Armageddon this is also where the Welcoming Committee exists, soaring across the Exosphere in advanced battleships that shoot down any and everyone attempting to escape Armageddon." He finished. "Well, that was upsetting… and wow there is a lot of crap above us…"

"You learn something new everyday." I admitted.

"Egh. Learning… so, what's this sky base like?"

"A giant castle, a bit dusty but it's rather well kept." I answered.

"Huh… sounds neat."

"It is, come on I set up an Outpost there."

"Uh… no thanks…"

"Afraid of heights?"

"... Shut up…"

"Oh…my god…" I looked at him. "Ya learn something new everyday." I said with a cheeky grin.l

"Shut up…"

"Now I know I could tease you relentlessly with this…" I put a hand on Saw's shoulder. "But I'm better than you, so I won't." I said with a genuine smile.

"... I'll tell you what I told the other foster kids I grew up with on the system… I don't trust you…" Saw said, heading back to town.

"Le Gasp! Who would have thought you didn't trust me, it's like the Mother has finally given me a sign from on high!" I said in a theatrical tone loud enough for him to hear my outrageously blatant sarcasm.

"Shut up!"

"Then make me and prove you're not weak!" I snapped. "Prove to me that all your fucking snark and constant bullshit towards me isn't some thinly veiled facade of a scared child!"

"I said SHUT UP!" Saw shouted, turning around and lunging at me, as I caught him as we butted heads, struggling against each other's grasp.

Then…the physical seemed to ebb away for me, even as the both of us got into a fist fight out of anger that I goaded…I saw…Saw for what he was in his actions, each blow shirking away the anger and…I felt sorrow and pain, I saw him…the lonely, sad child struggling against an unfair world, even with all the blood on his hands, even with all the darkness surrounding him…it…minus the blood, it reminded me of myself…the child, still standing even if they were crying, trying to be better, struggling against those that treated him less than dirt because of his position in life…only difference was, Saw became his namesake, killing those for money in some vein hope to cope and smother the real pain…I coped with All Might memorabilia, with my Quirk Analysis books…with so much hope that I could be a Hero…

But now…now is Different. Now is a moment where I can show him who I truly was, as I ducked under a wild right hook…and grabbed him into a hug, a full comforting hug as I wrapped all four of my wings around him…I just hope this will work…

"... What's wrong with you…?" Saw asked.

"Do you really want me to answer that?" I joked. "I'm sorry…and it's not your fault Saw…"

"What's wrong with you?!" Saw yelled, pushing me away. "How can you comfort me when you've just had your humanity and two people that were part of you basically killed off to make you into

some super weapon and how have you not so much as cried?!" He screamed. "What are you trying to do that whole 'Heroes smile for the weak to feel safe' bullshit?! You lost two people you were at least close to, were forced against your will to become something you didn't agree to, didn't want and you haven't so much as just… broke down? Cried? If you're trying to hold it all in to be brave, don't! Cause that's how you end up like me, a jackass with nothing going for them that only agreed to become this because I was told there was a sixty percent chance I'd die!"

"Because someone has to!" I snapped. "Because I want to show you that what I'm trying to do, who I am isn't some petty bullshit, some childish idealism that shouldn't exist in this world because reality hates it! You are suffering more than me, because you do trust me, you do care about me as a friend, and you're tearing yourself apart because you couldn't help me…I have too much to process constantly, every day…but you…you're my friend, and I want to help you."

"... Friends… friendship is a two way street damn it… so if you're honest about that… then you better break down crying and just for once just have a god damn mental breakdown before you really snap!"

"You want to see a mental breakdown?" I asked. "You really want to see a mental breakdown?" I asked carefully.

"That's why I asked." Saw frowned.

"Well fine, here's your mental breakdown." I frowned. "Have you ever experienced finally, finally, getting to do the one thing you always dreamed of doing, only for all of it to fall apart around you? Where you have all this power, all these abilities, friends, family, all supporting you, but then you constantly get told by literally everyone that what you're doing is doomed to fail? That you're just wasting your time with 'idealism', that you need to 'grow up and face reality'? Do you have any idea how hard it is to be back at square one where so many people look at you and dismiss who you are as being some lie, only to be told 'there you are' as I turn more and more into deplorable people that don't give a shit anymore?" I asked, starting to tear up. "Do you know how hard it is to try and keep some hope for the future, even when so many people keep telling me to stop and show the 'real you'? To actually have powers and be treated like some Worthless, Quirkless Deku all because you fucking care!? No! Only my family has ever given a shit about how I felt, and even though I've helped two entire fucking towns I still have people giving me untrusting looks, murmuring rumors about how I might just be some agent of Nexus to lull them all into a sense of security then off to the labs they go!" I growled. "And to answer your question, those two weren't 'close' to me, they only tolerated me, because one was a dumbass bird that just wanted to be with their brother again and hated me, and the other was the last Shadow Hunter in Nightmare after I killed her Husband…and now she's gone forever…I am the last Shadow Hunter by technicality and there will be no other's…I'll be the last one…one dying light in a sea of Darkness because Armaggedon is just some stupid playground for a fucking child to break those that care!" I roared in anger. "Is that what you want? Or do you want me to keep going about a bunch of other things?"

Saw looked at me, not anger or disgust… not even pitty… it was… sympathy.

He walked back over to me… and hugged me.

I felt like I shattered, clinging to them and crying, screaming my frustrations and pain into their fur.

"You're allowed to feel this way. To break and to fall apart… you're a person first." Saw said.

"This…your the one that needs support not me…" I sniffed. "How dare you turn this on me…" I managed as I tried to get myself together.

"Heh… it will take a lot to fix me kid… besides, you already helped me more than someone like me deserves."

"Well…always happy to help." I admitted. "And everyone deserves help…everyone deserves a second chance."

"Heh… just remember that everyone includes you. You have a bad habit of ignoring your own advice at times. Just because you're a hero, doesn't mean you aren't still a person."

"I'll try…but you need to give yourself more credit, cause you are important."

"... Ya know, if you told me that the day we met… I'd probably have tried to kill you…" Saw chuckled. "Fuck… We both need therapy huh?"

"Yes…yes we do." I nodded weakly. "Hate how everything just…keeps getting worse and more complicated…"

"... Well, wanna go get wasted with friends then take out what is basically a super nazi compound, or wanna save that for tomorrow and just go spend time with said friends and loved ones?"

"We really should get to beating the Nexus Compound…but we really need a drink after all of this."

"Huh… never went into battle drunk… Well, fuck it."