Been watching The Boys recently, and I gotta say, I love it. Lowkey was one of the best shows ever. I'm on Season 2, and all of the heroes are scumbags. (Except Queen Maeve, even if she has her fair share of problems. Oh, and Black Noir. I will stand on the notion that has done nothing wrong, and yes, we're ignoring the comics).
Anyway, gonna make a reference to it here. With that said:
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 BOTHER YOU, TURN BACK NOW!
IF THE WARNING DOES NOT APPLY TO YOU…
THIS STORY 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!
[Volume 4 – 3: Creating The Moons – Part 3]
Izuku would've liked to think that he was starting to get used to this whole "Demon King" thing. He would admit that at first, It was weird to feel and hear other Demon's thoughts. It was why, originally, he was against making more than a few Demons at a time. But when he learned to shut some of those thoughts out, and only tune into other thoughts and or voices when he needed to, he became a lot more open to the idea.
Hence why he decided to take the initiative and start up his rendition of "The Twelve Demon Moons" from chronicles past. The original Muzan only left behind a tiny sliver of himself to tell him that it was something that he had once done before withering out into the ether. A final message, he supposed to whomever might take over his position as Demon King should the impossible ever come to fruition.
The original Muzan, though, wasn't immune to Sunlight. Izuku was. He was born with that immunity, which made him think about his own heritage. Demons were naturally weak to it, yet due to him being born with Immunity, his Demons weren't given that weakness.
It was why now he stood outside of his old apartment building, in his Izumi disguise. As for why that one specifically, it was simply because it looked the least like her old self, whereas her Muzan form was just an older Izuku with black hair. Izumi gave her some creditable deniability, as after all, Izuku Midoriya was only ever to be said to be missing.
All she hoped right now was that Bakugo wouldn't see her and ruin it.
She was still dressed in her suit and tie, with the fedora still firmly planted on her head. The suit, though, wasn't exactly meant for women. It was tight around the chest, and it was rather annoying. Thankfully, she didn't need to breathe. Otherwise, she feared the buttons would've popped.
She was considering getting a female version of this suit. It was one of her favourites, and she didn't want to trash this one. It was far too good. Far too comfortable.
She wondered if the constant switching of genders made her something. She had heard the term "transgender" being thrown around when she asked about what it would mean to change genders.
Was she transgender? At least, when she was in this "Izumi" form?
No… that didn't sound right. Transgender was a permanent shift. Not a fluid one.
Honestly, Izumi was confused about herself. It wasn't as if she hated being in either form. She was comfortable in both her Izumi form, her Muzan form, and her main Izuku form—though she hardly used that one as of late.
Even though she was a Demon, she was still trying to figure out what she was to society aside from being a villain. She was a McDonald's worker and a very absent student—which now that she thought about it, she hadn't been to school in a long time. Maybe she could find a Demon there?
Maybe…
Slowly, she climbed up the outside stairs to the eleventh floor, and once she made it to the floor in question, she travelled down the outer hall and finally stopped in front of the entrance to her old apartment. She could hear shuffling about from within as if someone was now living in it.
A frown took up her visage. Of course, the landlord rented it out. Why wouldn't they?
She didn't like that very much.
Call her vindictive, or petty, but as far as she was concerned that was her mother's tomb. Yes, her body was buried elsewhere, but that apartment was her mother's final resting spot. To disturb that was to be signing one out a death warrant.
Yet, she couldn't bring herself to burst the door down and kill whoever was within. She had a moral code to stick to. Only fake heroes, any villain stupid enough to get in her way, those who would hurt the weak, and predators. Her other demons though, she cared not about what they did. While she would've liked it if they stuck to that set of morals, she wouldn't force it on them.
Maybe in the beginning, sure. But given how many Demons there were now—six in total, excluding herself—it was going to become too much. Besides, humanity needed to know fear, right? Demons were just that, Demons.
Maybe he could turn whoever lived inside into some fodder Demons? "No, that would be a waste of blood," she ruled out, hissing. There was no longer a reason for her to be here anymore. This was only just a pitstop anyway.
She was meant to be meeting Shigaraki anyway—that imputant brat. She didn't know what All For One saw in him, but whatever the case was, the moment either of them outlived their usefulness, she would kill them. All three of them.
Case in point: if this USJ attack plan didn't grant her a boon.
She wasn't given all of the details. Just the fact that Shigaraki had the idea to attack the Unforeseen Simulation Joint on the 20th, which was a week after classes at U.A. began because All Might was there.
By then, she wanted to have his Twelve Demon Moons fully established. She had about a week and a few days before that happened, and she already had six demons. She already had an idea of who Upper Moons 1 through 4 were going to be due to present power levels. 5 and 6 were pretty obvious, assuming Kota had yet to wake up and wasn't entirely confused as to what was going on.
That left Lower Moons 1 through 6. She needed to somehow find enough people to turn into Demons and get them to a decent level of power so that he could turn them into Lower Moons. She had an idea of where she'd get some, but she didn't know how to go about it.
At first, she considered going to U.A. as a secret agent. To turn whoever she could into Demons. But they'd notice. She knew they would. Call it a gut instinct, but that would be letting the cat out of the bag far too quickly. Either because of security cameras or because someone else would see.
As she walked down the stairs, keeping an eye out for people to potentially turn, she was met with far too much mundanity. So many Quirks, yet all of them were too pathetic. Oh, sure, she could think of a few people she would turn to, but she couldn't find them. She had heard about The Vampire of Shibuya, but they were just as illusive as she had been.
There was, of course, Gentle Criminal and La Brava, who she had caught Eri watching from time to time. They seemed like a good duo. In the past, the old Demon King had a duo of Demons as one Moon. Maybe the same could happen with her? It was a bit of a stretch, and it would require both of those two to acclimate to her blood, but it was worth it to try at least once.
After making it to the bottom of the stairs, she continued her walk around Musutafu. She glanced over to the beach and frowned. It was still filled with rubbish, though it was slowly being chipped at. Someone was cleaning it, so that was good. She remembered that her mother hated the fact that the beach was as disgusting as it was.
There was a part of her who wanted to meet the person who was cleaning up the beach. But, at the same time, she didn't care for who was doing it. Only that it was being done. She took another step forward, but before she could finish, she was lifted off the ground, and she now found herself in the air.
"Sorry, young chum! We need you for something. A video of epic proportions. You don't mind, right?" A gentle, firm, yet young voice filled her ears as she looked over her shoulder, and was met with a head of silver hair. The attire he was dressed in was rather old, kind of like a butler of a manor. Grey and black striped pants and a pair of purplish shoes.
The appearance looked familiar. "Gentle Criminal. Ha. How perfect of timing is this?" She thought, as Izumi snickered. "Well, that makes two of us, doesn't it, Gentle?"
"Wha—"
As soon as they landed on the next rooftop, Izumi grabbed his collar, and using the momentum gathered by their trip in the air, twisted her body as fast as she could. With her superior physical strength, she was able to throw him onto the pavement of the industrial building they landed on, and before he could get up, she pinned him to the ground with a firm stomp.
His face was as she expected. A well-taken care-of beard with faint bluish-purple eyes. His hair was refined and brushed to perfection, and his beard was excellently trimmed. If she hadn't known any better, she would've assumed he was in his mid-50s, but she knew better. He was at least in his early 30s, closer to his late 20s.
She could also now get a better look at his appearance, given how fast they were going before. He wore a dark purple jacket with an enlarged collar—the very thing she used to whip him to the ground—and upon further inspection, his coattails were just as big. His pants were loose fitting and were pinstriped white and black. He had cuffs around his wrists which barely went up to elbows, and they were a greyish white. His gloves were a deep purple, with golden studs on the knuckles.
"A-Ha…, you're quite strong! Are you a hero student, by chance?"
"Far from it, Gentle," Izumi said, taking her foot off him as he slowly picked himself up, dusting his clothes off before looking at her.
"Then, who are you? Ah, a villain, perhaps?" Gentle questioned as Izumi shrugged.
"I doubt you would want to find out. Though, if you must know, yes, I am," Izumi replied as Gentle swallowed down something—her guess was the building tension in his shoulders. "You don't need to worry, though. I won't harm you. But, I do have a proposition for you. Should you be willing to listen," Izumi said as Gentle raised an eyebrow.
"I'll hear you out after I make this video of mine—it shall be spectacular! Is that doable?" Gentle replied as Izumi tapped her chin. Why not? Shigaraki could wait a little while, after all. It had also been a while since she had fun.
"Very well. You required assistance, did you not? Is your other half not here?" Izumi questioned as Gentle smirked.
"You watch our channel, I take it?"
"My younger sister does, yes. I check what she watches from time to time, and she's rather fond of you. She finds your antics funny, and I can't help but think the same, though less amusing and more interesting. A form of protest against the larger picture, yes?" Izumi supplied as Gentle's smirk changed to a heartwarming smile.
"In a sense, yes. I'm glad your sister is a fan. We don't have many of those these days. Oh, and yes, we do require some assistance. Most don't like it when I approach them, so I've opted for kidnapping. It is… unbecoming of a man such as I, but if you are willing to help, then I suppose it was unnecessary," Gentle said, bowing his head. "I apologize, ma'am. Truly."
"Apology accepted. Now, shall we?"
With that, they were off. She was able to keep up with him, despite his prowess with his elasticity Quirk. As she hopped from building to building, matching his speed as he bounced in the air like a practiced gymnast, he spoke up.
"So, my dear fellow, what's your Quirk?"
"It's called Progenitor, as for what it does, I can't say," Izumi replied, bounding off the ledge of another building as she landed with cat-like grace. "Perhaps should you accept my offer, I'll be willing to tell you."
"Haha, I see. Keeping your secrets close to your chest! That's rather smart, young lady," Gentle quipped as he pressed a finger to his ear. "Ah, La Brava wants to meet you in person. She's already at the meeting place. Do you have a codename that we can call you by?"
"I do, but that one wouldn't fit for this. So, for this time and this time only, you shall call me Shadow. It was my old villain name before the news gave me my current moniker," Izumi answered—and yes, that wasn't something she made up on the spot, but she digressed. Gentle hummed, side-glancing her as if picking up on the fib, but made no mention of it.
"Very well, Shadow. Let us make haste!" With that, he bound off further and faster, to which Izumi easily matched his speed. In this month alone, she had eaten well over enough people to grow in strength tenfold. Her latest victim had been an American hero visiting overseas named A-Train.
He was a piece of shit. Killed a poor man's girlfriend while trying to "rescue" someone. It turned out he was trying to get to a couple of drug dealers and was secretly working with the dealers to move the product behind the eyes of the law. Needless to say, once he came to her turf, she dispatched him rather brutally—savagely, even.
The Americans were launching an investigation, much to the HSPC's dismay. Not that she cared. No one would catch her, that was for sure. Her DNA constantly changed so it was hard to get a match to someone. Especially her, given her nature as a Demon.
When they landed at the meet-up spot, Izumi was landed with all the grace of a jaguar, whereas Gentle fumbled the landing a little. It was clear that he wasn't used to fast landings, but having watched his content from time to time with Eri, she figured that was the case.
"Ah! Gentle, are you okay!?" A young, very preppy-sounding voice filled Izumi's ears as she looked across from her. A small, yet mature-looking woman approached. She stood around 3'7, or around 111cm. She had raspberry pink hair which was worn in a pair of two high pigtails, which ended at the sides of her waist. Her bangs were swept to the right, and they were pointed.
She had very heavy black eyeshadow around her eyes, and she had pink eyes with black irises. Her outfit was rather elaborate, consisting of a big white bow at her neck, a matching pair of thick white gloves, and an indigo shirt with large buttons. Her sleeves were long and had upturned frilly sleeve cuffs, alongside a pair of white pinstriped pants which were almost as poofy as a clown's pants.
She had various heart motifs on her costume—her earrings, her golden belt, her boots, and even on her shirt at the very bottom, acting as a buffer between her belt and her pants. One could even say her ponytails when joined together formed a heart if one imagined it.
Overall, her appearance was very heart and love-based. It made sense, given her Quirk applied to those she loved, aptly named Love. Again, information someone would have if they regularly watched their content.
"Ah, I should be fine. I've brought our helper! Isn't she lovely, La Brava?" Gentle said, getting up with the help of La Brava as he dusted himself off. La Brave side glanced at her, before shrugging.
"She's okay. What's her Quirk?"
"She calls if Progenitor! I don't know what it does, though," Gentle said as La Brava looked at Izumi fully, raising an eyebrow.
"Well? What can you do?" La Brava asked as Izumi smirked.
"Well, what are we going to do? I'd rather not use my Quirk if it's something pointless and empty," Izumi replied as La Brava sighed.
"We're robbing a bank. We need the money. Is that too much for you to handle?" La Brava asked sarcastically as Gentle raised an eyebrow.
"Why are you being so hostile to her, La Brava?" Gentle asked as La Brava scowled.
"She's fake. I can smell it," La Brava huffed as Gentle turned to Izumi, then back to La Brava.
"She's not fake. She's very real, I can assure you. Skilled, too. She kept up with me rather easily and I'm sure there's more," Gentle rebutted as Izumi sighed.
"You can smell me?" Izumi asked as La Brava nodded.
"Yeah. I don't like your smell. You smell awful. You have blood on your hands. Lots of it. What are you, some sort of serial killer?" La Brava spat as Gentle frowned.
"Come now, La Brava. She's far too young to be a serial killer. She's only… uh, how old are you?" Gentle asked, turning to Izumi.
"16."
"She's 16, La Brava! Come on, I—"
"And for the record, I've killed well over 90 people," Izumi interrupted, halting Gentle's sentence as he shot her a surprised stare.
"Wait, you are a Serial Killer?" Gentle muttered, looking her up and down. "I… Oh no…."
"'Oh no' indeed. This is why you vet individuals before you hire them to rob banks. Though, now that you know, I suppose I cannot allow either of you to come from this unscathed. Assuming you refuse my deal, that is."
"Gentle," La Brava hissed, taking a step back as Gentle followed in her footsteps. "What have you done?!"
"I—"
"Oh, please. You needn't be afraid. I won't do anything to you just yet. Let us rob this bank, and then we can discuss everything," Izumi said, gesturing to the laptop that was sitting on the edge of an industrial fan. "Unless, of course, you're having second thoughts about my assistance," Izumi continued, her eyes gaining a dangerous hue as she tilted her head ever-so-slightly.
"Like hell! We—"
"Accept your assistance!" Gentle interrupted La Brava, who shot a surprised look his way.
"Gentle?!"
"La Brava, please. We shouldn't make this situation any worse than it already is. Even if I dislike our assistant, I would rather not know what she would do if we deny her service," Gentle said as Izumi clapped her hands together, a faux smile on her face.
"In that case," Izumi began, before shifting to a smaller, child-like form, and taking on a male appearance. As the transformation completed itself, the clothes on his body became too big. He looked down at his enlarged sleeves and frowned. "This is… rather vexing."
"Is that what your Quirk does?" Gentle asked as Izuku glanced at him.
"An aspect of it. Part of my Quirk gives me complete bodily control over myself. I can re-arrange my organs, create new ones, and alter my body entirely, even to the point of altering my gender to suit my needs," Izuku replied, rolling up his sleeve cuffs and pants cuffs. "It does not apply to clothing, though, which is frustrating, to say the least."
"I bet you use that to lure in your victims, right?" La Brava spat, earning a smirk from Izuku.
"Attentive, I can see. No wonder my baby sister likes you more than Gentle," Izuku replied as La Brava huffed, looking away.
"Let's just get this over with. Gentle, you ready?"
"As ready as I can be. Come, Shadow, let the fun begin!" Gentle said, as Izuku followed after Gentle. He grabbed a camera from his pocket, and as soon as he did, he pressed record.
The robbery was quick and efficient. They snuck within and silently broke into the vault with La Brava's assistance. Cameras were shut down as were security systems, and as they stole, Izuku made sure to suppress any would-be guards. Gentle had a "no-kill" rule, and Izuku stuck to it, only chopping the back of people's necks to render them unconscious.
By the time it was said and done, they came back with five bags worth of money, each with 100,000 Yen. When they returned to the rooftop, Izuku shifted back into a more grown version of himself, i.e. reverting to Izumi.
As she shifted, fixing her pants and sleeves, she observed La Brava and Gentle. During the entire robbery, Gentle was uneasy around her, which made sense. She understood that, especially because La Brava had unwittingly, and literally, sniffed her out.
Which was why she expected Gentle to pull a knife on her and put it to the back of her neck. "Understand I'm only doing this because I'm afraid for mine and La Brava's lives," Gentle said, his voice shaky as Izumi sighed.
"The last person who pulled a knife on me didn't meet an ideal fate. Be smart, and put it away. I will not ask again," Izumi replied, her voice cold as Gentle swallowed audibly. He was afraid, not that she blamed him. Slowly, he put the knife away as she turned to face the pair. "Good. Now, the deal I was going to propose. Seeing as we've worked together at least once, I would be a fool to not at least give you the surface information, starting with my 'Quirk'."
As Izumi said that, her Bone Whips came out of her back, two of which acted as a seat for her whereas the other two hung over her shoulder like poised stingers, both of which were discretely aimed at Gentle and La Brava, not that they picked up on that detail.
"Progenitor is the name of my 'Quirk', and as I've demonstrated, part of its ability is to let me shift and alter my appearance at will down to the cellular level. I can also regenerate even from a small clump of cells, almost like a cancer. Due to this, I can create several temporary Quirks for myself to have. They last for maybe five minutes, but I can constantly bring them back if I want them to. I would explain more, but that will only happen if you accept my deal," Izumi said, looking at Gentle and La Brava.
"That's a very powerful Quirk. You could've been a hero with it, yet you choose to kill people. To what end? Why?" Gentle said, a nervous tick to his voice as Izumi smirked.
"Well, due to my unique biology, I cannot ingest human food, cooked or raw. I would've starved to death a long time ago had I not discovered what it is I can ingest without starving myself. Though, I doubt it's hard to figure out," Izumi said, looking over to La Brava, whose face had gone ashen pale.
"Y-You… Oh my god, Gentle, She's the Hero Cannibal!" La Brava all but screamed as Gentle's eyes widened to the size of saucers.
"Wha—"
Before Gentle could finish his sentence, Izumi jabbed both Gentle and La Brava with her injector whips, dumping well over 5 millilitres of blood into their bodies, humming all the while. It was a shame she had to act with haste, but so be it. Otherwise, they would've fled.
"Assuming you acclimate to my Blood, you two will make a fine pair of Demons. Should you awake, you will be loyal to me, and me alone. You will forgo your previous morals and do whatever it takes to become strong. For that, you will go to Osaka and consume as many vagrants, villains, heroes, and other undesirables as possible. For your Lord commands it."
As she finished, she pulled her injector whips away whilst also returning the whips she was sitting on and walked over to the camera that Gentle had in his hand. It had been dropped when he crumpled to the floor after being stabbed in the neck. She stepped on it and crushed it underfoot, sparks of electricity flying from the device before it sputtered into death. What kind of fool records his crimes, especially ones like that, and uploads them to YouTube? Minor and petty crimes she understood, but full robberies?
With it destroyed, Izumi turned her back to Gentle and La Brava, their bodies still convulsing. That was a good sign. If they hadn't acclimated to her blood, they would've already melted into sludge.
With a leap of faith, Izumi fell to the alleyway below, and as soon as she did, a portal opened up next to her. It was Kurogiri, and stepping out of the portal was Shigaraki, who she could tell wasn't very pleased with her. "You didn't show up," Shigaraki hissed.
"I was preoccupied. Now, I am free. We should discuss matters elsewhere, should we not?" Izumi replied cooly, earning a snarl from Shigaraki.
"Fine. But this better not happen again, brat," Shigaraki snapped as he re-entered the portal with Izumi following after him.
-To Be Continued-