Once again, I would like to give a massive shoutout to Forever_Evolve on Ao3 for, yet again, doing something they didn't have to, and that was expanding Sound Breathing for Kyoka's use of it, giving it forms two, three, and six which fit extremely well, mind you. So, yeah, seriously, thank you! Your creativity is insane, and quite frankly I probably couldn't have thought of that even if I tried. At least, in the same way anyway.
A-hem, with that being 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 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 – 5 – The Price Of Peace – Part 2]
The sound of steel cutting through steel filled the streets of the mock city, oil covering the floor as a purple-haired teen slung two giant cleaver-like swords around with ease. The sounds were morbid, screeching and unbearable, and yet, to the swordswoman she didn't seem to care what sound it made. Or, at the very least, she didn't hear the gut-curdling sound of metal-on-metal, nor the violent tearing and clashing.
The way the swordswoman moved, to anyone other than her, looked erratic, messy, and uncaring. The two nunchuck-like cleavers swinging about with careless abandon, treated like toys in a moment where the battle before them should be taken seriously—even if it was an exam, bodily harm was possible. Yet the woman didn't seem to care, or at the very least had no real intentions of putting actual brain power into the idea of getting hurt.
The way she moved with mock charges, abrupt stops, kicks, flips and overreaching slashes that would otherwise present a moment of opening to a real opponent—it all felt haphazard. And yet, if one looked closer it was hard to see the actual openings. But most of the people in the exam didn't nor couldn't see it.
To the onlookers, it looked as if the swordswoman was having fun. Like she was moving to her own rhythm rather than paying attention to what was actually going on. Rather than moving coherently and dodging out of the way in a normal, regular way like swerving, ducking, or anything like that, she moved with her whole body, and in a way, it was almost hypnotizing.
To those who had no idea what it was she was doing, it looked as if she wasn't taking anything seriously. To the other participants, even if the movements were erratic, the teen who was manhandling the swords with such pathetic ease despite their supposed weight, wasn't paying attention to her surroundings.
That, however, couldn't have been any more wrong. In fact, she was more in tune with her surroundings than anyone in the immediate area. So much so that, should her father have been watching her, he would have commented on how far she had come since the first day she picked up the two Nichirin Cleavers.
And on top of all of that, she was, in fact, taking the exam seriously. It just wasn't in the way that most people assumed someone would take something seriously. Because doing that didn't allow for the woman to actually use her skillset to its fullest potential.
And to further emphasize that, it only took for someone to actually stop what they were doing, and pay attention to the fight at hand to know that, even if it looked erratic, each foot placement meant something, each movement that the purplette made wasn't just instinctual, but it was pre-planned in advance.
The reason for all of this was because of what she was doing. What she had been doing the moment she found herself in this street in the first place. When she saw the absolute amount of robots in the area—her chance to show off everything she learned.
She was using a technique. Specifically, she was using something that her father had taught her. And that something being…
"Sound Breathing… Third Form: Serene Grace."
In an almost trance-like state, she sidestepped to the right to avoid an oncoming punch from a single-point robot, and then immediately took advantage of the opening it gave to thrust forward with the right blade and impale the foe, after which she jumped, hovering for a split second above the robot before falling with a perfectly timed downward slash meant to cleave through the robot from top to bottom, all before landing perfectly before using whatever remains as a long-ranged weapon to knock down yet another single-point robot behind the once she dispatched.
The moment she set foot onto the ground, she sidestepped to the left, and avoided a handful of small micro-rockets coming just a foot above her, their source being from a two-point robot. Seeing as she couldn't reliably clear the distance in time to deal with the rest of the threats around her, the purplette used her left earphone jack—the fleshy appendage dangling from her earlobes—to plug into the enemy and propel forward her heartbeat, messing with the robot's internals causing it fell to the ground in a heap.
This allowed the purplette to take out the other threat that she was now evading multiple attacks from, swerving right to block metallic fists, swiping her left and right blades to deflect missiles which should have destroyed the blades, before seeing the opening given to her by the robot, allowing her to charge forward and jam her left cleaver into a three-point robot's face, deactivating it instantly.
From her rear, two more single-point robots tried to jump her, only to miss just by a fraction of a second as she ducked forward, spinning around on her heel to face them. The purple-haired teenager sucked in a breath through the gaps in her now wide toothy grin. Her blood began to pump faster, her muscles tightened and her veins have bulged ever-so-slightly.
She felt like a robot killing machine!
The two robots prepared themselves to attack again, seconds away from lunging forward in an attempt to adhere to their programming, but it was of no use as by the time the teenager breathed in, their metallic graves had practically been dug. Raising both of her arms above her head, cleavers in hand as she raised her chin in such a way that her grin looked almost condescending. The gleam in her violet eyes reflected arrogance, and truthfully that was how she felt.
"Sound Breathing, First Form: ROAR!"
And in the end, she was right to feel arrogant, as she slammed the two cleavers down with a mighty BOOM! The two robots were diced in half in one swoop, circuits buzzing and oil collecting in puddles around the halved robotic bodies.
All of this took place within the span of a handful of seconds, and to the on-lookers, it looked like a blur moreso than a battle. It was, quite frankly, ridiculous how fast such a frail-looking person could move. Though, she was far from frail. But with a passing glance, you could assume otherwise.
"What a rush! Heavy Metal all the way!" Kyoka quipped, exhaling as she rolled her neck from side to side. To her, that was what the whole scene had felt to her. Her hearing was wicked sharp, no doubt boosted by her Quirk: Earphone Jack, which amplified her hearing more than it already would have been without them. It was a trait inherited by her family's bloodline. Or, well, one of them anyway. Her great-great-grandfather was a lady's man, having three wives and all that jazz.
The cacophony of sounds that played in her mind when she fought resembled a rock concert. And it wasn't a stretch to say it was a little over-dramatic. But, her family was always one for a musical inclination. So, for her, battling was like a concert of her very own. Her father practiced with the swords to honour a tradition. Kyoka practiced with them for future use.
Kyoka had racked up a total of 39 points in her 4-minute excursion in the practical exam, and she wasn't done yet. She was hopping from one battle to another, utilizing the Total Concentration Breathing: Constant as she ran. Her father had taught her it as it was a staple of the Jirou family—or, more appropriately, the Uzui Bloodline. She didn't know where this particular practice came from, only that Sound Breathing and the swords that her ancestor used in tandem were somehow connected to it.
Ever since she was six years old, her father passed down the family training ritual. At first, she believed it to be pointless, that it was just a waste of time. Back then, there was no real reason to practice the rituals. The dances. All of it. To a young Jirou Kyoka, it meant nothing.
But as time went on, and as reports of people winding up being eaten slowly came to the surface, they realized that it was important. Her father told her stories that he had heard from his grandfather, and Uzui Tengen before him. Stories of flesh-eating monsters that came out at night. And if that had been what Ten-Hii-Ojiichan had been referring to then she would do everything in her power to learn what her father was trying to teach her.
And so, that was what she did. She even contributed to it by adding a sixth form. She had gotten so invested in that now, she could never see herself parting with her Nichirin Cleavers that used to be her ancestor's.
All of that training. All of that hard work… it was being put to work here. And she was going to do what it took to protect humanity. If Demons were really coming back… then she was going to need to step up and make her ancestors proud.
"If only I was allowed to bring my Exploding Stars… Ah, whatever, regulations are regulations, I guess…." Jirou thought as she passed by large imposing building after large imposing building, heedless of what came her way as she kept the blades at her sides, her grip on their hilts tight so that they wouldn't fly out of her hands, and her pace steady.
Her breathing was steady, controlled, and measured. She covered what felt like several feet in a handful of seconds, and by the time she made a sharp left turn down another section of the street, she kicked off forward, spotting a group of single-pointers hoarding around what looked to be a boy with round balls for hair.
He cowered, terrified of his surroundings, and yet despite that there were several stuck robots near him. Some three-pointers, and a few two-pointers scattered about. Nothing too big. If she added up the amount it would be something like 25ish points. The kid's head was bleeding which was most likely because of his ball-hair Quirk.
Regardless of that, Kyoka's grip on her cleavers increased as she lunged forward, narrowing her eyes as she closed the distance between both herself and the group of robots. All of them were still circling the boy, who was still cowering. He could possibly get in the way, but even so, she still had to take down the robots. And so, upon barging in between the group of five-or-so robots, she shifted her grip from the hilts to the chains of the swords.
"Sound Breathing, Fifth Form: String Performance!"
And thus, there was chaos. The blades flung about in a chaotic, yet also mesmerizing display of personal awareness as she constantly bounced about from robot to robot, ducking and diving between position and position, hacking and slashing everything she came across. The blades hacked and slashed through the metallic flesh of the single-pointers, slicing and chopping their limbs and destroying their circuits all with incredible ease.
With each step, in a split second, all of the robots fell apart, oil covering the ground as she ceased the movement of her blades by clamping down on their hilts and moving with them to a grinding halt a few inches away from the boy, who had now been looking at her with a gleam in his eyes.
Kyoka looked back at the purple ball-haired teen, flashing him a smile before jetting off to find something else to do. She couldn't keep still. Not when she was in this much of a good mood. There were more robots nearby, and with more robots came more points, and with more points came a higher chance of getting into this school.
xxXXxxXXxx
On the other side of the cityscape, loud booms and bangs tore up the streets as Katsuki blasted apart robot after robot with reckless abandon and a wicked grin plastering his face. With force to knock down structure supports, Bakugo wasted no time in dispatching five single-point robots who had been grouped together for some reason or another.
This was supposed to be their exam? Seriously? This was pathetically easy. At least, for him. His Quirk was good at dispatching enemies with pathetic ease. Sure, he wouldn't use real, lethal force on his enemies like this, but these were robots. He was allowed to go as hard as he was.
And yet, in the back of his mind, every time he blew apart one of the robots, he couldn't help but see Ito Kaneki. In the back of his mind, he knew that Ito had become a monster, but that still didn't mean that he felt guilty. Not for blowing him apart about a handful of times. No. Guilt for not continuing to be his friend.
Maybe, if Ito had someone to keep him grounded, Ito wouldn't have turned out that way.
As the robots fell before him, Bakugo spat on them. He didn't need to think about them that way. These things were machines with no sort of soul. They had no lives outside of being destroyed, so he didn't need to care.
He looked up at the scoreboard and saw his name in the first slot. 63 Points, just underneath this Jirou Kyoka individual, who had a healthy 43 points. A whole 20 points less. "Damn…" Bakugo thought, rolling his neck from side to side. His arms were starting to get a little tired. 63 points were good enough. He didn't need to take down any more robots. He knew that was probably more than enough to get into the school.
But, at the same time… what if it wasn't? What if he needed more? The blond shook his head, staring at the ground. He was in first place, he didn't need any more points. Besides, being a hero wasn't just about defeating villains. The old him would've thought that way, but he wasn't that disgrace, now was he?
With that in mind, he decided to go look for people who needed help, his expression drawn into a neutral gaze as he jumped upward and propelled himself using his explosions. With each burst of flame and smoke, Katsuki felt his muscles brace the impact, growing more and more tired. But, he had to keep going.
A part of him wondered what Midoriya would do. Would he be the same if Midoriya hadn't faked his death?
No. No, he probably wouldn't have been. He probably would've blamed Midoriya for what happened to Aunt Inko.
Speaking of Midoriya… "What is he doing right now?" Midoriya had become sort of an enigma. Ever since the death of his father, Midoriya disappeared. His mother was shell-shocked from the event and hadn't left the house in days. Every creaky floorboard, every new sound, and every new sudden movement made, caused his mother to jump and cower in fear.
"That fucking monster… the monster that killed that shitty bastard traumatized my mother…. I will never forgive her!" Katsuki thought as he gritted his teeth, stopping dead in his tracks as several robots—around 6 if he counted correctly—jumped forward from an alleyway. "An ambush? These things know how to plan…. I mean, that's some pretty advanced programming..." Katsuki counted the types of robots. They were three-pointers and single-pointers, two of which were three-pointers while the rest were single-pointers. Nothing too special but worth adding to his point count. They came to him, after all.
Launching himself forward, the robots prepared to fire at him with their plastic bullets and smoke rockets, but before they could fire even one...
"STUN GRENADE!"
Bakugo's hand came an inch away from the center robot, that being a three-pointer, as the metal casing of its head caved in, shutting it down. Then, jumping back, Katsuki unleashed yet another explosion to his immediate right, which a single-pointer had started to attack from. Several bullets shot out from his left as he hopped to the right, swinging his whole body into one of the robots, placing a hand on it as he unleashed an explosion, blowing a hole through its core as it shut down.
Katsuki avoided a right hook from the three-pointer, followed by several smoke rockets hurtling toward him. Katsuki shot out an explosion, preemptively detonating the missiles, which seemed to shock the Three-Pointer. Using this to his advantage, Katsuki thrust both of his palms forward and eclipsed the rest of the robots with a massive explosion large enough to take up a few feet around the blond teen.
"Another 10 points… 73 points…" Katsuki thought, looking around him as a golden blond-haired boy crept out from the alleyway. He had sparkling blue eyes—they were quite literally sparkling, not in a romantic kind of way-golden blond hair, and a strange belt around his waist with a light blue gem in the center. He was wearing a white shirt with a fluffy v-neck collar, along with a pair of black pants.
"Merci, monsieur! I was about to be hurt by those things, you saved me! Bonne chance with the exam!" The strange teen said, running off to find more robots as Bakugo blinked. He understood some of what he said, but not enough to actually respond. Still, a sense of pride for saving the guy. "Heh… ain't that a trip…"
Katsuki continued forward, trying to find something to do as he blew up any robot that came in his line of sight. At some point, around the 7-minute mark, Katsuki felt like he wasn't taking the exam seriously. In all honesty, he would be inclined to agree. He stole a few robot take-downs because the people who were fighting them weren't exactly having the best of time with them, all of which earned him scathing looks and angered shouts.
Hey, it wasn't his fault they were failing to take down the robots. And besides, at least they walked away without any damaged or broken bones. In the back of his mind, he thought about how some of these people's Quirks were weak. Well, weak for combat anyway. Some of them—like the one with tape elbows—would be good for capturing villains, though.
The person with the voice animal summoning Quirk was pretty cool, too. Bakugo saw the rock-headed teen control several dogs, mostly German Shepards, and shut down the robots by hitting buttons that were located on the backs of their heads. How he was able to get a bunch of dogs into the building was beyond him, but he found it interesting.
Bakugo was leaning against a wall in an alleyway, rolling his shoulder as he sneered. When Ito slammed him against that wall his shoulder had been completely dislocated, and when the doctors reset it they told him to make sure that he regularly took pain medication as well as to use his Quirk less. The problem with that was that this exam was coming up, and, well… he wasn't going to miss that chance.
And now, here he was, 7 minutes into the exam with his shoulder hurting like a motherfucker. He rolled it a few times, trying to get the pain to go away and all that did was make it slightly worse. On his way to this alleyway, he had assisted a few people by taking down an extra robot they couldn't. One of the guys was a guy with a Quirk that made his skin rock hard.
The guy's name was Kirishima. Kirishima Eijirou. His hair was a bright red and his eyes were a shade of crimson red—just like Midoriya's. Unlike Midoriya's, his pupils were normal. They were round, not cat-like.
Katsuki frowned. Cat-like irises. He remembered that both the girl who murdered his father and kidnapped Eri, and Ito, had cat-like irises. It could've been a complete coincidence, but Midoriya also had cat-like irises….
"No, you're overthinking things, Katsuki," the blond bomber thought, shaking his head. He couldn't get Midoriya out of his head. Midoriya's Quirk was strange. For the longest time, he thought that his Quirk was just Cat-like eyes. But now he found out it was shape-shifting. He also had some sort of super strength if what he saw in that alleyway was anything to scoff at.
Or, perhaps, he had a weapon on him. What he didn't see. Either way, the fact that his Quirk was shape-shifting was a little strange. He never displayed that ability back in elementary school, and he never corrected Katsuki back then either. Why? Was it because he didn't see a need to?
"Ugh, why am I thinking about him? I should be thinking about the exam," Katsuki frowned as he stood up straight, walking out of the alleyway. Just before he did, someone came rocketing toward him, back facing him as Katsuki switched his stance on a dime, planting himself on the ground as he caught the person.
"Fuck…" The person muttered, getting up as the boy groaned, "Ran out of time…" With that said, the person, a guy, looked over his shoulder as light blue eyes met ruby red. A small smile took up the teen's visage as he spoke, "Ah! Thanks for catching the fall," the guy said as… explosions popped off in his palm. Bakugo raised an eyebrow as the guy rolled his shoulders. "Hope you don't mind if I copy your Quirk. It seems pretty powerful! I'm sure with a great Quirk like yours you'll make it in! And with it, I hope I can make it as well."
The boy was wearing a light yellow jacket over his shoulders, along with a plain black and white striped shirt, coupled with a pair of blue shorts and white knee-length socks. On top of that, he had a stopwatch on his wrist that read: 3:00.00, before he tapped the "start" button, which made it start a rapid countdown. "See you in the U.A.!"
And just like that, he left. Bakugo blinked, confusion taking up his mind as he sighed, "That… was interesting…"Bakugo muttered. He couldn't help but note that he was running into a lot of people with either decent or powerful Quirks, "I guess U.A. attracts the best of the best for a reason…" Bakugo thought, biting his tongue.
It was around that time when the ground began to shake, and Bakugo looked up, only to see a giant hand grip the side of the building that he had been hiding between.
"Fuck me… this is the big guy, ain't it?" Bakugo ran out of the alleyway the moment he realized that, and he was lucky that he did, as a massive chunk of buildings came crashing down in the alleyway that he had been relaxing in.
If he hadn't moved any sooner….
"Jesus Christ! Are they trying to get someone killed?!" Bakugo's mind roared as he looked up at the towering beast of a machine. It was in the street opposite to the one he was in, but by God that did not stop him from seeing the freakishly huge titan.
It easily loomed over any building that he was near, standing at least 9 stories tall. It was coloured bright green, and it had a giant number 0 painted on the side of its head. From what he could see, it had six massive red glowing eyes. Aside from that, he couldn't see anything else.
There was a part of him that said "Try and take it down" but the rational, reasonable side to him said, "fuck that, that is NOT worth the effort." He was inclined to agree with the rational side. And so, he booked it, running as far away from it as he could. He already had an injured shoulder to deal with, he was not going to deal with trying to fight that—even if it was possible, which it most certainly wasn't!
As Bakugo ran, he dove into another alleyway opposite the one that led to the robot and ran down it, passing by another three-pointer. He went to destroy it with an explosion, only to see a cleaver carve down the middle of the machine with a screeching, irritating shrill. Bakugo didn't cover his ears, though. He had been used to those kinds of noises because of his Quirk.
Moments later, a girl with purple hair leapt over the machine before, and he couldn't believe he was seeing this, in mid-air, she stabbed both halves of the machine that she had already cut in half, and seemingly without breaking a sweat tossed them into another three-pointer which was promptly destroyed after the fact. All the while, the teen landed gracefully and with a smirk on her face.
She exhaled, looking over at Bakugo before huffing, "You're the guy from the bus, yeah?" the teen asked as Bakugo blinked, looking at the girl over to two destroyed robots, then back to the girl.
"Yeah… uh, question, what's your Quirk?" Bakugo asked as the teen raised an eyebrow.
"Not even gonna ask a girl their name? Damn…" the purplette mumbled before she cracked her neck from side to side, "Earphone Jacks, why?"
"How the hell are you so strong then!?" Bakugo nearly shouted as the purplette stifled a laugh. Bakugo was getting irritated, just like how he used to be whenever someone flippantly answered him. Sharply inhaling, the blond calmed himself as the girl sighed.
"That's 'cause of a technique I know. Boosts the body's physical abilities. If we both make it into the U.A. I can teach you if you want?" The purplette said before placing the two arm-length cleavers on her back, holstering them on the leather straps that had been stitched into her jacket.
Bakugo frowned, scanning the immediate area as the sound of a building collapsing off to his far right rang throughout the mock city. There were no more robots in the immediate area that weren't all deactivated or butchered by some sort of power or another. Some of the robots were still steaming from being short-circuited by something. If he had to guess it was some sort of electricity Quirk.
"Yeah, yeah, sure… uh, is the exam almost over or—"
"IT'S ALL OVER! THIS IS THE END OF THE EXAM! EVERYONE, PLEASE EXIT CALMLY AND QUIETLY. RETURN TO THE BUS YOU WERE ON WHEN YOU GOT HERE! IF YOU NEED MEDICAL ATTENTION, THE MEDICAL STAFF AT U.A. WILL COME TO SEE YOU NOW!"
And with that announcement, the exam ended. The purplette snickered to herself before turning her back on Bakugo and beginning to walk away, "C'mon, we gotta go. We can talk more on the bus if you want?"
Begrudgingly, Bakugo grumbled and followed after the girl. However, he couldn't help but notice that she walked with an air of confidence. Her hands were inside her pockets, and her head was held up high. Even though she should be tired, she didn't look to be; And if she was, she wasn't showing it. It was admirable in a way. Even he was tired, and he didn't get tired all too often.
The exam had beaten him over with a stick. If this was what hero work was going to be like, then he was going to need to train even harder. He needed to increase his stamina, somehow. "Perhaps that technique has something to do with how she isn't tired…" Katsuki mused, scratching his chin in thought. He could feel a few hairs starting to form. He grimaced, "Really? Of all times now I have to start growing facial hair? Heh, whatever. I'll get rid of it when I get home."
And thus, that was how his day ended. The bus ride back to the main center wasn't eventful. While he did talk to the girl he met—her name was Jirou Kyoka, as she had informed her—it wasn't about anything important. The only thing they talked about was their performance during the physical exam. When they got off the bus, they went their separate ways.
Katsuki, in the back of his mind, really wanted to meet her again someday. If not for the fact that they would be in the same school, but for the fact that she held good company.
xxXXxxXXxx
When Izuku stepped out of the portal, instead of finding himself in an office like he had been expecting, instead, he found himself at a bar. A dusty, dingy, derelict bar. Well, derelict wasn't the right word for it, but it was dusty. The bar hadn't been cleaned in what looked like days. Even at a surface level, he could see dust piling up on tables, and unwashed glasses decorating the counter behind the bar.
Although he did have to give the mistman credit where credit was due, if he was running this place by himself, it looked a hell of a lot better than what he had originally assumed a bar to look like. There were no split drink stains and no fragments of broken glass anywhere. To that end, the bar looked cleaner than what he had imagined a single-owned and operated bar to be.
"My apologies for the slight mess. I have been in a rush today, so I have had no time to do a proper wipe-down of the place, Hero Cannibal-san," the mistman said, stepping beside Izuku as the teen nodded. As soon as the man was done speaking, he couldn't help but notice a man side-glaring at him at the bar table.
He was a thin man. His red eyes blared through the fingers of a severed hand which rested upon his face. On his shoulders, neck, waist, and upper and lower arms were more sets of hands. There was even a hand on the back of his head. The man was also very pale, though not due to illness, but due to a lack of sunlight. His hair was a light blue, and his slouched position made him appear a little pathetic at first glance.
"This brat is the famed Hero Cannibal?" The man rasped, glaring at Izuku with a level of contempt he had only seen once before in Bakugo, back before he had changed after Izuku's supposed death. "This brat's just a poser. Why the hell did you bring him here, Kurogiri?"
Izuku brought his expression up to a snarl, baring his teeth. In the blink of an eye, one of his bone whips snapped forth, tearing off one of the man's many severed hands, specifically the left one on his neck before he reeled it back in, catching it in his right hand. The man looked startled, recoiling slightly as he felt around his neck.
"Next time, I'll sever your head from your body. Maybe I'll even carve up your body and make hamburgers out of it. Though I've always preferred raw food to cooked food," Izuku threatened, keeping up the guise of him being human to earn this man's trust. Tossing back the hand to the man, the blue-haired villain put it back in place, all the while he measured a glare toward Izuku.
"You little brat…! Who do you think you are?! Some sort of Boss?!" The now apparent man-child raged, slamming his hand atop the bar counter as Izuku frowned.
"Is this… man-child really your leader?" Izuku asked Kurogiri—the mistman—who sighed. Before he could speak up, the TV in the back of the bar sprung to life with the words "AUDIO ONLY" on display.
"He is merely the face of The League Of Villains, Hero Cannibal. I am the mastermind behind this little group here. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. It isn't every day one gets to speak to someone who has climbed the ranks of the underground, enough so that the commission is willing to give you the threat rank of SS, is it not?"
The baritone, cool, calm, and collected voice behind the TV spoke as Izuku narrowed his crimson eyes. "Hmm… I see. The leader was not willing to come to see me in person. Perhaps they are sick and injured? If they are a powerful villain, then that makes sense. The other reasonable conclusion to bring is that they are a coward. Either way, it is a relief that the person I am talking to is at least competent."
"Sensei, do you actually believe this kid? Is he really the Hero Cannibal? This… This brat?!" The man-child ranted as the voice, "Sensei", chuckled darkly.
"I am very sure of that fact, Tomura. Besides, why else would he come if he did not wish to keep his anonymity from the public?" The voice noted as Izuku bit back the urge to curse. So he had been right, if he hadn't come, then they would've outed his identity. "Although, I must ask… why work for Mcdonald's? If you are as powerful as the media makes you out to be, surely you wouldn't stoop as low as to work for someone else?"
"Yes. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't subject myself to this," Izuku began as he snapped his fingers, shifting his form into Izumi. She placed a hand on her hip, her expression one of annoyance. "But because of… one of my abilities, that being the shapeshift, I'm taking advantage of it. I live a double life. One is "Muzan Kibutsuji, the fast food worker and schoolboy," and the other one is "Izumi Sugimoto, the Hero Cannibal."
The voice chuckled. "And you would so freely give out that information?"
Izumi frowned, taking her hand off her hip as she sighed. "You already know one identity, and I doubt it would be difficult for someone to spot the similarities between myself and my alter ego. Thanks to Quirks, anything can be possible. The Hero Cannibal, whose Quirk isn't known, having the ability to shapeshift makes a lot of sense when you realize that my identity has never been uncovered."
"Hmm… A reasonable deduction. You're smarter than you look. However, you mentioned that shapeshifting is one of your powers. Please, explain…" The voice asked though it was more of a demand than anything else. Still, though, Izumi remained undeterred from the silent demand.
"Now, now, sir. I don't think I should give away all of my secrets. I'm not that easily tricked," Izumi replied as she put her hands behind her back. "Now, I would like to know why I have been summoned here. It isn't often that I show myself. Rightfully, I should kill you all for the sake of my anonymity. But, I'll humour you, just this once. So, go ahead, what is it you wish of me?"
There was a brief moment of silence in the room. In that silence, Tomura began to scratch at his neck. Kurogiri's yellow eyes narrowed, and the voice on the TV stayed silent. Almost as if they hadn't expected Izumi to be so direct and honest.
Truth be told, Izumi wasn't expecting this meeting. She hadn't been expecting anything like this, and never in her right mind thought that she would meet other villains. Although, she was honest about killing everyone in the room should she dislike the reason why she was summoned here. She didn't know everyone's strength, their Quirks, or their overall abilities. But, if they were bold enough to summon her here, and have the gall to threaten her so openly, she ought to not judge them to be weak.
"Very well," the voice finally spoke up. "It is only right to give you that courtesy. I simply wished to speak to you and to extend an olive branch. I have many connections within the criminal underground that spans the globe, the likes of which only some villains would dream to have. You are a competent villain in your own right, one that as I previously mentioned, managed to climb the ranks to become an SS-level threat in a relatively short amount of time.
"Even The Hero Killer Stain is only an S-level threat. You have only been active for four years, whilst he has been active for a little over a decade. It also speaks to your level of strength due to your young age. You were soundly defeating heroes who would otherwise be twice your skill level at if I am to assume correctly, twelve years old. That is beyond impressive.
"And so, with that in mind, I wish to ask for an alliance. If you require money, I will deliver it to you via a broker. If you require people to turn into Demons, I will supply you with such. In return, all I ask is for you to answer the call of duty should I have Kurogiri call upon you. However, whether you wish to help or not is entirely up to you."
Izumi froze, eyes wide in shock. How… how did this disembodied voice know? The Demon he killed, he understood, they were a Demon after all. But this… this was different. Before he could ask, the voice chuckled.
"You look shocked. Don't be. I have had a long, long time to study the past. Demons are not new to me and never have been. I can tell you're one based solely on the fact that you have cat-like eyes, along with the multiple abilities you have displayed, the first of which being those lightning-fast whips of yours and your shapeshifting. Two abilities that The former King of Demons was documented as having."
Izumi frowned but showed no signs of anger. His explanation, while aggravating, was sound. It would make sense for The Demon Slayer Corp to have recorded information about not only Demons but the King of Demons as well. Still, though, that did not mean that Izumi was proud to be ratted out like this.
"Demons…" Tomura muttered, "You can turn people… into Demons?" The man-child asked, his scratching intensified. "What does that even mean…?"
Izumi scoffed. "Nothing you'll ever know, because I don't plan on turning you into one. I don't need another child to look after," the Hero Cannibal snarked as she looked back at the TV. "Very well, after brief consideration, I'll take you up on that offer. Now, may I please depart? I have a daycare to be. My little sister is waiting for me."
"Very well. Kurogiri, open a portal to the alleyway where you found Ms. Hero Cannibal." As the voice gave the command, no later did the portal appear before Izumi. Without so much as a "thank you", Izumi exited the bar, the portal closing behind her as she cursed under her breath.
She had been completely outplayed, and even if she did try and maneuver her way around the words of the disembodied voice, a part of her believed that it would've been of no use. Either way, she was already pinned down under the threat of her identity being revealed, and that was something she just couldn't allow.
On top of that, the voice knew she had been a Demon. And now, not only did they have two things on her, but she had stupidly confirmed both. Then again, even if she had denied either accusation, she was sure the voice would have called her out on her bullshit. The voice seemed to be rather intelligent both in how they carried themselves and also how they spoke. There was no pulling the wool over their eyes, even with the use of Silver Tongue.
Silver Tongue didn't work over radio waves, meaning that while she could have convinced Kurogiri and Tomura, she couldn't have convinced the voice. And because of that, her ploy wouldn't have worked. And that was what annoyed her most of all. The voice seemed to have planned the interaction. Almost as if she had been stalked. And if that was the case, the man or woman behind the voice was no joke.
Izumi's blood boiled. How could she have allowed herself to be played like that!? Sighing, Izumi calmed down and reverted into Izuku/Muzan. He was running late, and Eri was probably getting worried. When he picked her up, he was going to need to do some shopping. Eri was a human, not a Demon, and therefore she needed to eat human food.
As of right now, Izuku had no plans for turning Eri into a Demon. The change would mentally scar her more than she already was, and warp her mentality irreversibly. Izuku knew she had been abused by how she acted. She was very skittish around other people and never wanted to leave his side.
Even when Izuku went to drop Eri off at the Daycare while he went to school and afterwards, did his shift at Mcdonald's. He had to bribe her by making her something she wanted to eat for dinner, of which she chose pork stir fry, as Ochako had made it for her when she was staying in her custody after she had been taken away from Bakugo during Ito's… rampage and death.
When Izuku found out who caused harm to the little girl… they would not live to see another day.
Izuku sighed. He needed to calm down. Besides, the last thing he wanted to be was angry and frustrated in front of Eri. If he was, then she would be scared, and that was the last thing that Izuku wanted Eri to be. Anger scared most little children, but for Eri, it was doubly so. It must have had something to do with her abuser, and the last thing he wanted was to remind Eri of her abuser.
And so, after he calmed himself, Izuku turned on his heel and walked out of the alleyway, beginning his short walk to the daycare.
-To Be Continued-