4- The Judge
-Lowkey skimped out on some science, explanation at the end of the chapter
Crack!
His fingernail chipped off as he carved a scratch into the wall.
Twenty-seven.
At least, he thinks it's supposed to be twenty-seven. It's hard to keep track of the days here.
He would know if he was on track if he got his book in three days because he was told he'd get a book on day thirty. What book? He didn't know. The only thing that the people who dragged him to his cell told him was that he'd get one on day thirty.
It could have just been some lie. He really hoped not.
The twenty-seven days he had spent in here had been dreadful. Nothing but grey walls all around him and the dull noise of machinery. There was a measly mattress in the corner, hard and much too small to fit anyone, leaving him to dangle his feet off the edge every night. He had a toilet, uncomfortable and too small, which rarely flushed, leaving the stench of filth to envelop the cell.
And of course, the ever-present ceiling-mounted machine guns dangling over him. Sensors connected to his brain would alert them if he tried to use his quirk in any capacity, and he would have a bullet in his head before he could scream.
He hated it. He didn't even have a window to look out of, as he was nearly six levels underground. The only thing he could do was try to work out, miserably fail, eat the measly meals that came twice a day through a series of slots in his thick cell door, and try to think about anything to keep his mind off of the stench of his own feces.
He had spent the first day screaming in rage, which had quickly dwindled down into sobs. The next week was him trying to do whatever physical activity he could, anything to prevent that cloudy feeling in his head, before he gave in to it, wallowing in his misery for the next week. After that, he tried to distract himself. He tried to think about something that made him happy. His friends, which he had had very little of, a cool book he read once when he was eight, a pretty cat he found on his porch once, which left very shortly after. It was all just a distraction from the real thought that lingered over him. His family.
How he hated the woman who had killed them. His family. She took it from him. He hated her. He hated how Tarrlok had been too weak to stop her.
The remaining weeks were spent dwelling on his rage.
Scratch
One hundred and nineteen days.
An Encyclopedia of Demons Worldwide by Tokiue Jin. Published in 2089 by the Benkyou corporation. Illustrations by Megane Keiko. Exactly nine-hundred ninety-three pages, including the front and back. No table of contents, one entry per page.
He had been given the book three months ago. He'd finished it within the week but memorized nearly every detail to memory.
Page six hundred and seven. Belphegor, the Jewish demon of discovery.
Polished, shining shoes, made their way down a hallway in the upper levels of the Tartarus prison, illuminated by the bright sun shining through the windows.
Kibishii Ken was the picture of perfection in a human. Neat to a fault, organized, disciplined, and unrelenting. He straightened his tie, pushed down a cowlick, and perfectly adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose. The warden of Tartarus had to look perfect after all. What good was an unorganized leader?
Stepping into the impeccably clean meeting room, he cleared his throat. "Well," he addressed the other high-ranking officers at the table, "It is about time we show the newer inmates what they can expect to experience here."
He was slid a folder as a woman stood up and turned on a projector. "We've attained five new inmates in the last year." A pale woman with long, flowing blonde hair appeared on the screen. "Firstly, Kayoubi Aka, age twenty-five. Capable of lighting her hair on fire and manipulating it like a whip. Attempts at cutting it have failed, as it regrows very quickly."
A picture of a man with slanted eyes and sharp features, covered by dark, greasy hair, showed up. "Next is Ki Kenkou, thirty-two, with the capability of gaining a temporary resistance to the last attack dealt to him. Any attack dealt to him should be done with the intent to cripple or kill, as to not allow him to adapt and recover."
A thin man with scraggly blond hair and an overgrown stubble showed up. "Huáng Jiànkāng, forty-five, can progressively turn all the blood in the average man's body into solid gold within three minutes if allowed continuous skin-to-skin contact. Inmate must be in full hand-covering shackles when outside of cell."
A woman with short hair and wild, flitting eyes showed up. "Tabemasu Hito, thirty, capable of unhinging her jaw to the size of a full human and digesting nearly anything she consumes within minutes. She likes eating people, and is fully capable of it. Inmate must be muzzled twenty-four seven and fed through a straw."
"Finally, Noatak. Seemingly fifteen. No legal records of him nor the family he claimed to have exist. No family name. No legal or medical information. Quirk appears to be proximity-based blood manipulation. Inmate must wear full hand-covering shackles, and legs must be shackled in a way to reduce him to a shuffle, as to not allow him to close any distance. Must be kept at a distance of at least fifteen meters away at all times." A picture of a boy with bronzed skin, long greasy hair, and shaky blue eyes appeared. "One touch can and most likely will result in death, caution is advised."
The warden hummed, crimson eyes flitting across the presentation and the files he was handed. "Very well. In five days, we shall perform the demonstration." He looked at the woman who had given the presentation, "Sashiko, I trust you to arrange for it."
She turned off the projector and bowed to the man. "Yes sir!"
Page four hundred and sixty-two. Alastor, a sadistic Christian demon.
Scratch.
One hundred-
His nail chipped off as it dug into the wall.
And twenty-three.
He stared at the blood that ran down the wall.
Everything was held in blood.
Your blood decided everything about you. If just a bit of your blood got messed up, everything about you could be ruined.
He stared at the blood slowly flowing down the filthy wall. It was the embodiment of life.
He brought his face close to the blood and lapped his tongue against the rough texture of the wall.
Page three hundred and four. Zagan, a demon of change from the Pseudomonarchia Daemonum.
Noatak's eyes latched onto the moon, shining bright in the sky. He was strapped onto some machine that wheeled him through the halls, up the elevator, and outside. Two guards walked a fair distance behind him, another three ahead of him. He wasn't told anything no matter how much he yelled.
"Welcome inmates!" As he finally took his eyes off the sky, he saw a man in a neat suit standing atop a massive, twenty-meter-high wall. He looked around as his restraints automatically unlatched themselves, finding the same wall surrounding him on all sides, encasing him within a massive industrial facility lit up by floodlights. "I," the man continued, "Am Kibishii Ken, the pro-hero Judge, and the warden of this esteemed prison." His voice effortlessly carried through the distance between them. "All of you," he gestured to some people beside Noatak that he hadn't even noticed were there, "are criminals. Rule breakers. Crooks. Enemies to the law." A few of the other people, evidently prisoners with their orange jumpsuits, scoffed. "And as such, like the animals you are, you will be punished. This will be the last time you see the sky. You have killed, robbed, destroyed. There is no excuse for that."
The man spread his lanky arms out. "However; I am nothing if a just man." A portion of the wall below him began to split open, revealing an expansive stretch of a bridge as he brought out a mask to place over and cover his whole face. It was a striking white color adorned with intricate, darker gray detailing, subtly accentuating its features. On the forehead, a large red dot stood, as if glaring down at them like an eye. "If you believe yourself righteous enough to pass judgment, I implore you!" The gates opened with a dramatic thud, and the man's voice lowered, "Come face The Judge."
Page eight hundred and forty-two. Asmodeus, considered in many cultures to be the Prince of Revenge.
"Please!" The man begged, tears spilling onto the floor below him. "Please, I have a family!"
She inhaled a shaky breath and swallowed down the lump in her throat. "Kuchai Sato, you are wanted dead f-for," she squeezed her eyes shut as the man howled in despair, "the homicide of over fifty civilians."
"No!" he wailed, clutching at the bullet wound in his stomach, "That's not me! Not anymore!" He crumpled to his hands and knees, snot and tears streaking down his face. "I've changed! Please! Please! Please!"
Lady Nagant tensed her arm as the rifle protruding from it wobbled.
"My baby!" The man wailed. "My baby! Tell him-" he hiccuped, "Tell him I love him!"
Bang!
'I was supposed to be a hero.'
A hero didn't take a man away from their family. A hero helped people.
She had just wanted to help people.
Page nine hundred forty-seven. Asaroth, a demon of corruption.
Immediately, a blond man rushed forward, uninhibited as guards left the premises.
"Bye, jerks!" He cackled as he ran past the gate. "Hahaha!"
Noatak yelped as the sound of gunfire rang out.
The blond man collapsed to his knees, tearing his throat out screaming as blood leaked out of his legs, pooling on the ground beneath him.
The bullets had gone straight through his legs. Easily high caliber enough to tear through a human.
The sound of the man cussing and screaming was the only thing to be heard as the warden looked down on them with a challenging look.
"Well?" He asked, "Anyone else? I promise you, this will be the one and only chance you get at this! Use your quirks! I dare you!"
After glancing around the area, a man with long hair sprinted forward, his bare feet slamming against the asphalt floor. Once again, bullets flew through the air, slamming into the man. But when the man emerged from the hail of bullets, he only had one hole in him, the rest having seemingly bounced off of him.
Without even a grunt, the man ran past the gate, passing the blonde and reaching the bridge.
Emboldened, a girl with long hair took a tentative step forward.
Just as she was about to break into a run, the running man fell on his face, gasping and screaming in pain. When Noatak looked closer at the man, he saw his foot, completely and cleanly severed from his leg, lying perfectly still on the ground.
"Two down," Noatak's eyes took themselves off the foot and toward the warden, who lowered his hand from a side-chopping position, "Three to go." He peered down at the three, smiling condescending, "Come now inmates, don't you want to run?"
He did. He hated that dank cell. He wanted to go back to the ranch, back to his home. But he had no doubt that the second he got past the gates, he would either be filled with lead or have a leg sliced off. Or both.
Noatak cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, "W-Why don't you come down then huh? If you're so confident?"
"No."
"Damn."
"Why so scared? It's just me!"
Noatak glanced around and found the area devoid of guards. He supposed the warden was right. But he couldn't just run, there would be no real escape, just a wide stretch of bridge to run across and… whatever was under the bridge. Water!
What else would there be other than water under a bridge? If he could just reach it, he could easily propel himself away. That was a big if though. There was no guarantee he could make it before being sliced in half.
He needed the warden down. He tried to pull the man off the wall, but the resistance was too great. He needed to get closer.
He charged, and roughly tugging himself by the shoulder, flesh tearing off, he flung himself upwards at the man.
His hand collided with the man's chest and… Nothing happened. Noatak's arm trembled with effort as he tried to pull on the strings of the man's blood, but the man stood unfazed, scoffing before roughly kicking him away.
"Please." He adjusted his ruffled suit, "As if someone so weak could control my body. Do you really think," he raised his arm, "I would allow that?" As he swiped his arm through the air, Noatak screamed, clenching his hands over the new bloody gash that appeared on his side. "It's all really just a matter of confidence you see." He calmly said, raising his arm once more, "If I believe myself too strong to let it happen to me," he swiped his arm, cutting out a chunk of Noatak's thigh, "it shall not happen." Stalking towards the boy as he willed his blood to stop leaking, he leered down condescendingly. "You will never escape this prison. My resolve will not allow it. I didn't even need any guards to help me. This demonstration was just to help you understand."
As the man turned around and looked down at the remaining prisoners, Noatak grunted, struggling to keep the blood in. The cuts had gone straight through his body. Taking out a chunk of meat and rib. His eyes frantically darted around as the man went on about never escaping to the prisoners beneath them.
From atop the wall, he had a much better view of the prison and everything around it, including the bridge. One man laid down, cradling his bullet-filled leg, and the other feebly tried to crawl, leaving his foot behind. But his eyes flew past them, locking onto what was below the bridge.
Water. Water in every direction. They were on an island. If he could just jump into the water… No, the man would cut him down instantly, he had no clue if those slashes could get through water.
He needed the man gone.
Giving up on fixing the slashes in his body, he clenched his fists. As he swiped his arm, a small whip of water detached itself from the sea below him and swung itself at the warden.
Quickly, the warden leaped away, but not before he had gained a shallow cut across his cheek. "Oh?" He quirked an eyebrow as he raised his arm, "How interesting."
Noatak flung himself to the floor, narrowly avoiding a slash as it flew towards his torso. Quickly scrambling to his feet, he snarled. The man's belief in his own strength wouldn't allow him to use his quirk? Then he needed to break it. "I'll put this water straight through your heart!" He yelled, his voice cracking, "I'll turn it to ice and impale you on it!" It was a lie, his control over water was unrefined, and he didn't have the slightest clue how to turn water into ice.
The warden stood tall, raising his arm again, but Noatak barely spotted the way his eyes narrowed under the mask.
He screamed as he took a slash to his bicep, but flung the water at the man's face.
Instantly, the warden abandoned raising his arm for another slash and brought his hands to his face. Noatak ran at the man, lunging at him, slamming his hand onto his chest, and knocking him over. Just as Noatak lunged to get another hit in, the warden wildly flung his arm out, putting a gash in the boy's arm and sending him stumbling backward.
The warden grunted as he got up, his suit dirtied and rumpled. "Irritating child."
Ignoring the way his whole body ached and the way he knew he couldn't go for another three minutes, he raised his arms challengingly. "Well? Come on! Are you too weak to beat some kid? Better call those guards you sent off! Or how about you use those turrets!"
"I don't need help!" He yelled with a snarl, flinging his arm out to sent another slash. Noatak barely had to move to avoid it as the man kept yelling. "You fucking brat!"
Avoiding another slash, Noatak landed another punch on the man's face before being sent away with a hard kick to the stomach. Repressing the urge to vomit, he summoned the most cocky face he could. "Is that all? I could do this for days."
The warden let out an animal-like scream, sending another slash his way. Noatak didn't even need to move to avoid it, which was lucky, because he didn't think he'd be able to move anyways.
"How pathetic," he forced out of his throat, "You're like some angry chihuahua."
Forgoing his quirk entirely, the warden screamed as rushed forward, "I'm not weak like you filthy criminals!"
A punch landed itself on Noatak's face, sending him reeling, but not before he managed to lay his hand on the warden's shoulder.
He could feel his quirk activate and wildly tugged on it as hard as he could.
Crunch!
The warden screamed and abandoned his attack to clutch at his arm, now twisted in an unnatural way.
"Look at you!" Noatak yelled, spittle flying from his lips as he threw a punch at the man's face. "You're like some filthy animal!"
Stumbling and falling to his knees, the warden howled in pain. "Guards! Guards! Shoot him! Kill him!"
Noatak barely had to move out of the way of a slash as he stepped towards the man.
"Guards! Guards! Help!"
No guards were coming. The man had sent them all far away in his own self-assuredness.
He laid his hand on the warden's head. The man was nearly the pinnacle of strength. He preyed on the weak. Everyone like him did. A man like that deserved no strength. So he would take it from him, from everyone like him.
Reaching deep into the strings that controlled the man's life, he found something unique, beautiful, and radiant. His quirk.
He screamed as he pulled, blood leaking out of his nose and stomach churning.
Snap!
He gasped and collapsed onto his knees as the warden fell to his face, wheezing and panting.
He barely managed to get to his feet when the warden, now back on his knees, snarled and flailed his good arm, aimed straight for his neck.
The man grunted and shook his head when nothing happened. He flailed his arm again. And again. And again. And again. And nothing happened.
"W-What did you do!"
Noatak walked forward, and tore the mask off the Judge's face, revealing a snarling, bloodied face. "In the end, you're all just animals."
Tightly clutching the mask, Noatak dove into the water.
Page thirteen. Amon. The demon of wrath.
Author's Note-
Lowkey totally forgot what i was talking about in the beginning author note but at least i acknowledged that something in heres wrong.
-For people who might think "Why did he not care when the police shot him but the slashes hurt so much?" adrenaline and blood loss, they numbed him pretty heavily during the police thing, he had like 100 bullets in him plus they didnt go through his whole body
-The demons I list might have different titles or domains if you search them up, their domains and stuff are different all over the place and im not gonna spend 24 hrs researching to find out the EXCACT meaning behind each of them
-I had fun making those random ocs to pad the words
- "Why were his documents deleted?" His dad was pretty obviously a criminal (why would the hpsc come for him otherwise) so he probably kept very few records in the first place, and the hpsc probably covered everything up and destroyed everything after he got arrested to make sure nobody found out his family was real and got killed like he claimed
-Also explanation for chapter cuz i Dont know if i was able to properly convey everything or if ur just kinda stupid cuz the people on this site r pretty stupid
-Him licking the blood off the rough prison wall was supposed to be him hurting his tongue while trying to grab life (cuz licking walls hurts and blood is life)
-Kibishii is very strong, and he knows and believes himself strong. And Noataks quirk is based off of the victims strength and their belief in said strength
- "Erm thats not scientific" be fr most of the quirks aint like why do you just have engines in your legs
-Noatak just lies to make Kibishii question his strength in himself, which makes it easier to repeat that until he is screaming, begging for help because he doesnt believe himself strong enough to fight (even though if he held his belief in his strength he would have hit a good slash sooner or later and won)
-Noatak taking "The Judge's" mask symbolizes him believing himself to be fit to judge people
-You've probably noticed many flaws in Noataks morals, beliefs and the shit he says, thats on purpose (probably) bc a perfect character with perfect morals is rlly boring to write
-Also amon can either be called the demon of wrath or demon of life depending onn where you look and i rlly like that
-I love authors notes cuz I can just yap and yap and yap and if someone complains about it being too long its their fault for choosing to read it
-Love you :3