1 year. 1 full year of this story being out. That's crazy. I started this back in April of last year, and now we're in the new year, and just look at how far this story has come! Never in my wildest dreams did I think Return Of A King would get this far! It's actually crazy!
With these monthly (sometimes) updates that I'm now doing, expect, at the max 12 chapters this year. If anything happens, I'll let you all know prior. My projected end goal for this story is at least 75 chapters, maybe less depending on how things go. Of course, stuff can happen so that number might increase or decrease.
Anyway, with that being said before we begin…
WARNING! THIS STORY CONTAINS SCENES/MENTIONS/IMPLICATIONS OF THE FOLLOWING: CANNIBALISM, EXTREME GORE, BULLYING, ABUSE, BRUTAL DEATH, HUMAN EXPERIMENTATION, AND HEAVY BLOODSHED.
IF ANY OF THESE THINGS BOTHERS YOU, TURN BACK NOW!
IF THE WARNING DOES NOT APPLY TO YOU…
THIS IS A FAN-BASED FICTION
I OWN NEITHER MY HERO ACADEMIA NOR DEMON SLAYER/KIMETSU NO YAIBA
ALL I OWN ARE MY OCS
Now, onto the chapter!
[Beta Read by Doc43Souls]
[Vol 3 – 2: Choices and Consequences – Part 2]
A gust of cold wind brushed through the sky, pushing through the leaves of the city's few and far in-between trees. There were no cars on the road tonight, as a villain attack had recently occurred 3 hours ago. The attack was of some kind of sludge villain that had some poor kid with stone horns poking out of his head. The kid was saved, if only barely because All Might showed up to blow the big goo-monster away.
It was only by chance that this event occurred, but even so, the person in front of the Musutafu Police Station was glad for it all the same. It meant the chances of her getting caught were significantly lower than what they would've been, had there been others outside tonight. And given what she was about to do, she wasn't going to allow any survivors of this attack to escape the building.
Not that they would be able to, anyway.
And while there was a moment of hesitation to step towards the building to begin the bloodbath, the person in question knew that this was how she was going to swear her loyalty to her King, to her Lover… and more importantly than that, to the person who gave her the power to be who she wanted to be.
Mikan Tsukauchi stood in front of the doorway of The Mustafu Police Station, a twisted determination in her eyes and a neutral expression on her face. Her velvet and black eyes stared down the entrance with a sense of dread, knowing full well that what she was about to do, was going to disgrace the Tsukauchi bloodline for years to come.
Kill them, her lover said. Kill them all, her King said. Easier said than done, right? Either way, it was going to be done. No ifs, and's, or buts about it. The people within this building were going to serve as a reminder that Demons were far superior to Humans no matter what evolution they had undergone to "go beyond the norm."
But in the back of her mind, she knew it was wrong. Knew that doing what she was about to do was wrong, that it went against everything that not only her father, but society as a whole, conditioned her to believe. But either way, she was going to do it.
Why?
Because in her heart of hearts, she knew it was the only thing she could do now. Not because she was being forced to, but because she had to prove her worth. To prove that she was worth something to her King. After all, her whole life had been her proving her worth to those around her, regardless of their opinions of her.
But this would be the final time she'd have to prove herself.
All of her life, she had secretly known that if anyone found out about her Quirkless nature, she'd beem bullied and harassed and tossed aside like a piece of used tissue paper. But beyond that, there was something else that she feared, above all the other things that could've happened to her because of her Quirklessness.
Reiko might not have wanted to be her friend anymore.
For all of her life, Reiko had been a consistent thing. Are her mother and father arguing over something stupid? Go to Reiko, she knew how to deal with it. Her parents were divorced so she knew the right things to say.
Did someone bully her? Go to Reiko, she could help fend them off and make them not dare harm her.
Did she need someone to confide in after she was sexually assaulted by that villain in the alleyway? Go to Reiko, for she was someone that she could lay her head on and cry on to feel better.
Losing Reiko, her emotional support, would do nothing but bad things. She was Quirkless, which was something that no one wanted to be. If someone who was Quirkless died, no one would care. They'd say that it was bad, but no one cared. They were a third-rate citizen, even below the mutant population.
The only thing that made her life even somewhat worth living were her parents and Reiko. With her father about to be turned into a corpse by her own hands tonight, and her mother slaughtered by her new King to keep up his disguise, the only person she'd have left is Reiko.
And if Reiko thought badly of her, that would mean she'd lose the only other thing in her life that made it worth living.
Or at least, that was what it would be, had it not been for one tiny little thing.
She was no longer weak.
She was no longer some worthless, Quirkless brat.
She was a Demon.
She had power.
She didn't need to worry about it. Now all she had to do was prove her worth. Prove her worth to her lover, to her King. And this was how she would prove it.
She would slaughter all of those who he deemed his enemies.
Realistically speaking, she knew that there were a million other things that she could use to prove her worth. But right now, with the new power she had at her disposal… how could she not? That… and she was hungry. Above all else, her hunger was driving her to do this. She needed to eat, and the only thing she could eat were humans.
And thus, no matter how uneasy it made her feel, she was going to listen to her lover and King.
Walking up to the door, she stepped onto the welcome mat, the automatic door opening, as a bell rang out at the front desk. The Receptionist, Ms. Samaki, a young college-aged woman with short brown hair and fly-like eyes looked at her and flinched. She knew why, but it didn't stop her from frowning. "Uh… Mikan, dear? Is that you? What happened to your eyes, why are they bl—" before the young woman could finish her sentence, her head was cut up into small, tiny chunks, with blood scattering about as the tiny meat cubes hit the floor, and for the woman's body to slump off of the chair in a heap.
But how did this happen? What was used to kill Ms. Samaki?
The answer was simple.
String.
To be precise, a string made out of her blood. A dark red, coppery-smelling string that was as tough as diamonds and as sharp as a finely sharpened scalpel, easily able to cut through bones, muscle, and skin in mere seconds.
This was her power, and while it seemed weak to anyone with a pulse, she was more than happy to have it. String was extremely versatile, especially in combat, despite what some might believe. Her string was special, considering it was coated in a thin layer of blood, hardened blood, and mixing that with String that could become extremely sharp with the flick of a wrist means that it had no problem cutting into extremely durable individuals.
She had no idea why she unlocked this particular ability, but it was what it was, she supposed.
Retracting her string back into her fingers, she walked up to the cut-up head of the receptionist, picking up one of the cubes that contained one of her eyes, as she stared into it with a neutral expression. She knew this was wrong, but her brain told her that it was alright. Mikan stared into the wide, pain-filled eye of the now-dead woman that she knew since she was seven years old, and frowned.
Maybe she should feel some regret; some remorse. But she found it hard to do so given the circumstances. She needed to be stronger. She needed to be on par, or at least in the same league as her King. That was his request, no, his demand. The police station should do that idea wonders.
Without hesitating, she plopped the meat cube into her mouth, chewed, then swallowed. At first, she thought it would taste disgusting, but much to her shock, it didn't. It actually tasted like a finely cooked, medium-rare steak! Maybe it was her brain tricking her into thinking that was what it would taste like, but even so, it hardly mattered.
At the end of the day, she needed to eat as much as possible. And thus, she made quick work of the rest of the chunks on the floor, before staring down at the body of the woman she had killed. Reaching out for the woman's arm, she ripped it off the body and ate the right section of that arm's hand.
She didn't get far, however, as gunshots rang out—rapid-fire gunshots, at that. The rounds were seemingly high-calibre, as they blew holes through her as if she were paper. Her eyes were able to keep up with how fast the bullets were coming and going, and by her estimation, she'd say that around about 30 bullets were pumped into her by the seven or so policemen that flanked her from both staircases.
Some of them emptied all of their rounds from their magazines, and others only shot a couple of times, but the result was that her body was filled with lead. Had she been human, she would've died instantly. Had she been a regular person, she would've collapsed into a heap of dead skin and bones.
But she was no longer human. So all this ended up doing was annoying her, because unlike what she was expecting, there was no pain. It was odd because bullets should typically hurt a lot. But for her, it was different. If she could compare it to anything, it would be as if she had been pinched a few times and that was it.
"Really?" Mikan muttered, looking over to her right and left as shocked and terrified police officers lowered their weapons out of sheer disbelief. "Was that all you had?"
Just as she was about to deal with the pigs who dared to get in the way of her slaughter, much to her shock, one of the officers charged, shouting at the top of his lungs like a meathead would. The police officer in question was a large one with big arms and a well-built physique with stones on the ends of his fists.
If she remembered correctly, that was Taigasuke Kirishima, the father of one of the students at the school she went to. His Quirk, from what her father had told her, was Stone Knuckles. It was about as simple as it could be—he had Rocks on his Knuckles that gave him a boost in strength.
It wasn't hero worthy, but it was good enough for close-quarters combat with a regular mook.
Unfortunately, she wasn't a regular mook.
His fist slammed into her sternum, sending a ripple across her flesh that would have otherwise winded her. But, much to Taigasuke's shock, she didn't even flinch. Narrowing her eyes, as Mikan's wounds began to regenerate, she grabbed Taigasuke by the head and popped it like a grape, blood spraying all over the place as a result.
And thus, after his death, almost as if his head was like the cork being popped off of a champagne bottle, the massacre began.
Her movements were quick, her sharp-as-knives strings were accurate, and the fools stood no chance as she sliced them to ribbons. While she was moving as fast as a regular person, she was still more than capable of dodging several bullets being fired at her. Those that hit and punched through her body simply healed as time went on. As she sliced and diced through the group of 7 or so officers, she took large chunks out of their flesh as little snacks, the rest of which she'd finish up later.
By the time she was done, all the officers that had come from the second floor were dead. Not wasting any time, Mikan moved up to the second floor, and upon reaching there, she took no chances by instantly gunning down the hallway, laying down a large net of blood-red strings to act as a snare trap. Any officers that had been in the hallway were minced into bits by merely being grazed by the string, and any officers that came out of the closed-off rooms were ensnared.
To which, Mikan was left with a rather glorious sight.
Grabbing the ends of her string net, Mikan smiled with an almost sadistic glee in her eyes. As the police were about to open fire, Mikan with what felt like practiced ease, even though she had never done this before, lifted the net, uttering a sentence that almost seemed like a Special Attack Name.
"Blood Soaked Net…"
And within an instant, every police officer in the hallway was turned into thin slices of flesh and bone, blood coating the halls as half screams filled the air. 25 officers dead, corpses littering the floor and blood flowing freely. Mikan couldn't help but smile.
Unfortunately for her, She didn't get to relish in the death, however, as a hole was punched right through her head via a direct blast of what she thought to be a shotgun. Due to her lack of eyesight and now immense dizziness, she fell down face-first in a puddle of blood that wasn't her own. However, despite that, she was able to hear the conversation going on behind her.
"Is that... Mi-chan?" That was her dad's voice, shaky and filled with dread as a gruff-sounding voice off to her left, Deputy Tsugikuni, spoke up next.
"Yeah, but her skin's all discoloured and… she has claws. What the hell is going on?" Tsugikuni muttered, his footsteps echoing and circling to be in front of her. She could hear her dad crying, and it broke her heart. Even still, she was resolute in her desire, and thus, she wasn't going to let that stop her from what she was about to do next.
In the blink of an eye, Mikan lunged at Tsugikuni, shocking the man as the hole in her head regenerated, albeit rather slowly. Grabbing his lower jaw, Mikan ripped it off in one clean swipe, before slamming the rest of his head into the wall, splattering it like a watermelon. At this point, the rest of her face had regenerated, allowing her to stare down at her beyond-terrified father.
"M-Mi—"
She didn't let him talk, because if he did then she knew deep in her heart that she wouldn't be able to go through with killing him. And so, she gave him a relatively painless death, and that was by shooting a string through his heart, killing him near instantly, as he was only able to cough up blood before his eyes glazed over.
She looked down at her father's corpse, and couldn't help but feel the corners of her eyes burn with tears. Mikan truly didn't want to kill her dad, but her loyalties to her lover, to her King, to Muzan, and the power that he had bestowed upon her… no, they didn't mean more than her family, but it was what was going to allow her to take control of her life again.
She had no ill will toward her family, truly she didn't. But sometimes, something had to happen that others weren't fond of. Case in point, this….
So, if this had to happen, why did she feel so wrong?
Mikan shook her head, wiping the tears out of her eyes as she looked behind her. 15 more police officers stared her down, their weapons drawn and faces discoloured and pale with fear. Her mood shifted from upset and angry to full-on furious.
Mikan pointed her fingers outward and shot ten extremely sharp threads of string toward ten of the officers, which immediately caused the officers to fire blindly. None of them hit their mark, which sealed their fates. The ten that were targeted by Mikan were impaled through the heart, resulting in them dying instantly.
This caused the officers to start firing faster, if that was even possible, panic most likely filling their bodies. It only made what she was about to do even more hilarious, at least in her mind anyway.
She used the bodies she now had at the ends of her strings as battering rams, reeling them back by crossing her arms in an X over her chest, then flinging her arms outward to the left and right, slamming the ten bodies of the pigs she caught, killing the other officers by crushing them to death.
Mikan waited and waited, and waited, just to make sure that no one else would show up. No one was able to sound the alarm in the time it took for her to begin the attack, meaning that her plan had worked. Everyone within the building was now dead, all 50 police officers of the Musutafu Police Force were deceased.
As she looked around the area, she heard her stomach grumble. All she could think about now was food.
She was hungry… she had expended a lot of energy on this first outing, and if she didn't eat soon, she'd collapse.
But it wasn't as if she didn't have to go very far. She had an entire feast before her. One of her own making. Her mouth watered, as she consciously licked her lips.
Now, it was time for the feast.
xxXXxxXXxx
Izuku had to say, after looking through Mikan Tsukauchi's eyes, he was rather impressed with her efficiency and dedication to proving her worth and loyalty to him. He was sure that she would have a hang-up or two about killing her father, but as it turned out, Mikan seemed to be able to do what was told of her, no matter the ties to that person.
Then came what her abilities were.
Her power wasn't insanely strong like his, but it was definitely interesting. A part of him had a sense of déjà vu upon seeing it. The red-eyed teen assumed it had something to do with his first coming of Muzan's memories seeping into his own. There was probably a Demon in the past with a similar, if not the exact same kind of ability.
Perhaps the Tsukauchi's were distant relatives to this Demon? Maybe, or maybe not. Honestly, Izuku didn't know, nor did he care.
Back to the memories of the old Demon King, he found that most of them were practically useless. Although it was interesting to know that he was the reason that humanity had found out about how the cell worked, which would explain why the papers about cells weren't credited to any well-known scientist.
Aside from that, though, there was one memory that stood out, one that was tied to the abilities that Demons gained. They weren't quirks, that much he already knew. They were reliant on blood, which made sense. He didn't know what to call them, so he was at a loss. Then, he found this particular memory. And this memory contained exactly what he was looking for; that being the names of these newfound powers that had developed in the Demons he created with his blood.
They were called: Blood Demon Arts.
While he himself has his own, which was the same as Muzan's, that being Biokinesis; meaning, he had complete control over himself and other Demons, after some brief experimentation, he found out that he could manipulate his cells to do anything. That got him thinking: Quirks were biological, meaning that he could, theoretically, in this new age of Quirks, create for himself random Quirk Factors, essentially giving him the perks of being a Demon along with an infinite amount of Quirks all at his disposal.
Oh, how funny would it be if he gave himself Bakugo's Explosion Quirk? Or, perhaps even Endeavours Quirk? Maybe something completely bizarre, like Hawk's Quirk? The possibilities were endless!
He was the Apex, he was practically this world's god. No one could hurt him, no one could kill him, and he had infinite abilities at his beck and call. There was no hero that could take him down or kill him, and his regeneration was near instant, meaning any wound that would be inflicted upon him would simply heal instantly.
However, thinking back to the idea of giving himself random Quirk Factors, there was a part of him that didn't know what that would entail. There was probably something else to it that he would have to figure out at a later date, but for now, he was content knowing that it was a possibility, rather than just a stupid theory.
Power was what all life wanted to achieve, but there was always a cost. No matter who the person seeking it was.
Although, that did make him think if he had already done that or not. After all, from what he was aware, the Original Muzan did not have the ability to manipulate people using speech. This led him to believe that his Silver Tongue ability was a Quirk. What other explanation could it be?
Then there was another thing that he had to consider. His overarching goal in life. While he didn't have to decide right away, it made sense to give himself a temporary one, right? He had already revived his friend, so that was scratched off the list. Unfortunately, his goal to kill Bakugo failed, as someone had killed Ito, which should've been impossible, might he add.
That scared him for a second. Demons shouldn't have been able to be killed in modern times. That was what made him look back on his past self's memories.
Nichirin Blades. Metal that could kill Demons.
Someone knew of Demons prior to him and knew what it took to kill them.
When he put two and two together, his body almost froze over with fear. He could be killed, that was what he had learned by going over those memories. And in this world of Quirks and superpowers, it should've come as no surprise that there was something out there that could kill him and his fellow Demons.
He thought back to Natsumi, to Uraraka, and now to Mikan. All of them were Demons, too. Ito died before he could show his true potential, which saddened him. He thought that perhaps Ito would be one of the stronger Demons.
It just meant that now he needed to create more at a faster rate. He was going to need to find people and stop being as picky as he was. He had to build an army. Maybe not right now, but he had to make sure humanity understood their place in his eyes.
Beneath him.
That was for later, though. He still needed a base of operations that wasn't an apartment building, and he still needed more resources. He knew that at some point he was going to have to stop being moralistic. Innocent people were going to die, it was inevitable what with him being The King of Demons. The more Demons he created, the more they were going to spread and kill innocent people.
Besides, if he was going to be what he wanted to be, then he was going to need to become a lot more "okay" with killing the innocent. Even if it betrayed his promise to his deceased mother. The one he should not have killed.
Frowning, Izuku sighed. "Stop focusing on the future, focus on the now…. What to do, Izuku? What to do…."
Right now, all he wanted to do was to rid the world of Fake Heroes and rule Japan from the shadows, just like Muzan had done all those years prior. Well, Muzan didn't rule per se, although he very well could have. Seeing as The Original Muzan was seeking immunity from the sun, and seeing as he was born with immunity, he had to find a different goal.
And his goal was to rule Japan, then eventually, the whole world, from The Shadows. To be the villain that everyone feared. To show the world that humanity was nothing more than insects. After all, all the humans he had met that he didn't turn into Demons, were all terrible people. Selfish individuals who liked picking on the weak and discriminating against those they didn't care to understand or want to understand.
"Isn't that right, Mrs. Tsukauchi? Humanity truly was a mistake. Ah… but that hardly matters, now does it? After all, there'd be no point in discussing such a macabre topic, don't you think?" Izuku spoke as he stared into the eyes of the woman.
Or, well, what was left of her, anyway.
In his hand was the head of Mrs. Tsukauchi. He had already devoured her body, and when he did, Izuku found out that she had been pregnant for about one week. A part of him felt appalled with himself for eating this innocent woman, but at the same time, this was a Tsukauchi. One that had seen his face, knew of his identity as Muzan Kibutsuji and knew where he lived.
He could not afford to keep her alive, especially if she said anything to the heroes. Not that he feared them, but he quite liked the secret life that he had built up, and he wasn't about to throw it away when he knew he could get rid of the people who threatened him. And thus, he rationalized, she had to die.
"Still, it is not easy on the conscious…." Izuku thought as he picked off the last remaining speck of flesh on Mrs. Tsukauchi's head before tossing her remains into the pile of bones by the kitchen. Placing two fingers on the side of his forehead, he activated his mental link to all of the Demons he had created and spoke to them telepathically.
"I know this is sudden, but all of you need to make your way to my apartment as soon as possible. Uraraka, bring Eri with you, Mikan, come when you've finished with your prize, and Natsumi… don't be late, please."
When he was done, he looked toward the back door of the house, which was down a hallway past the kitchen. He wasn't going to use the front door, because it wouldn't be hard for anyone who was randomly passing by to see the news that the Tsukauchi's were dead and that random passerby to describe him or his potential disguise to any nearby heroes.
Sure, It was the dead of night, so no one should've been able to spot him, but he wasn't going to use the front door, no matter how "smart" it could've been. After all, he wasn't stupid. He knew all that would do is cost him and make him pay for his hubris. The last thing he wanted was for his face to be plastered all across Television.
Thus, Izuku walked down the hallway and stood at the back door exit. He hesitated for a brief second, before getting an idea. He switched into his Izumi disguise, just to add that extra alibi in case someone did see him. Now, he was a she, and it worked with his public image. People were now assuming The Hero Cannibal was a woman. Which… yes, he did read the online forums from time to time, and now he understood what it felt like to be objectified.
And he, or rather she, hated it. It was gross, and it made her want to puke. The last thing she needed to have asked about her female form was how "tight" she was or how big her breasts were.
Maybe she should change Izumi to look like a child. That would turn them off, right?
Right?
Either way, it hardly mattered. The internet was full of degenerates. That much she already knew. Oh well, the less she paid attention to it, the better. Back to the topic at hand, Izumi stepped out of the house, closed the backdoor behind her, and frowned. She didn't want to be pegged as the Mcdonalds' employee or the new student at the school, and get expelled and fired. She needed the money, after all.
Izumi hopped over the rear-facing fence, landing in a thin pathway that connected most of the backyards from this street and the next. Thanks to the cover of the night, she didn't have to worry about running into anyone or having anyone spot her.
It didn't take her very long to get to the sidewalks of the neighbourhood, and when she did, she made a beeline for her apartment. After all, she had a meeting to do with her allies.
She just hoped things would go exactly as they needed to go.
-To Be Continued-