A/N
Welcome readers! Last call for any ideas you guys have before the time skip. Other than that though, I don't have much else to say, so please enjoy the chapter!
CHAPTER SEVEN: HERO AND DUNGEON
After getting himself thoroughly beaten into the dirt, Katsuo downed a health potion and posted up against the tree he crashed into for just a minute. Or at least, that was the plan until his exhaustion knocked him out cold, leaving him there for way longer than he should have been. By the time he finally woke up, the sun was going down and his mom would start getting worried in around an hour. Slowly picking himself up, Katsuo noticed the pain was mostly gone, a simple limp was all that remained as he made his way down the street. Examining his body, Katsuo saw that most of the bruises were gone, save for a few scars that were particularly nasty.
As if all the damage to his body and the lingering pain of defeat weren't enough to make this trip easier, Katsuo ended up running into a boy as he rounded the corner, just barely catching himself when he fell. "Sorry about that, wasn't paying attention." As Katsuo's eyes met those of the boy he had just bumped into, the other boy gasped in shock. "It-it's you!"
-HL-
Katsuo did a double take on the boy, analyzing everything he could. He saw the boy's dark red eyes and sharp teeth, his pitch black hair falling down slightly past his ears. And as he finished up analyzing the boy's features, he came to one, irrefutable conclusion. "Who are you?" The boy, clearly flustered, panicked for a moment before giving his name. "E-Eijiro Kirishima! I was there when you saved those girls!" Finally, the pieces clicked together. Katsuo had been so preoccupied with saving those girls that he hadn't even noticed anyone watching other than them. The excitement/embarrassment on Kirishima's face disappeared once he got a close look at the savior's face. "HOLY CRAP WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!" Katsuo cupped his slightly damaged ears from Kirishima's rather loud realization.
After the boy had calmed down to a degree, Katsuo began speaking once again. "First off, ow. Second off, that giant kicked my ass, badly. Couldn't even defend myself. Shoulda seen me a second ago." Katsuo pointed to his badly scarred face for emphasis while giving off a cheeky smile. Katsuo began to keep walking, but Kirishima's hand on his shoulder made it hard to continue. Katsuo looked back, only to see Kirishima's sad face before he asked: "Can I talk to you a minute?" Katsuo would have declined, but the sad look on Kirishima's face kept him from doing so, instead asking if they could sit down somewhere. After finding a nice bench overlooking the setting sun, Kirishima began his explanation.
He described how his fear paralyzed him when the girls were in danger, how he aspired to be a hero despite his weak quirk, which he hated due to a childhood incident where it activated on accident and caused a scar over his eye. Meanwhile, Katsuo sat and listened to practically this guy's entire life story. He didn't want to listen, he just wanted to go home and take a nice, long soak in the bath and forgot about his ass kicking for a moment, but he still listened. It's what a hero would do I suppose. After a few more minutes of monologuing from Kirishima, he sat back down on the bench next to Katsuo, waiting for him to say anything.
After a few long, excruciating minutes of waiting on Kirishima's end, his listener finally began to say something to him. "Let me see your quirk." Kirishima was shocked to say the least. The look on Katsuo's face told him he didn't care, but clearly he did if he wanted to see the boy in action. Kirishima steeled his nerves as he got up, facing Katsuo who was still stuck to the bench from his injuries. And then, Kirishima's body became jagged and hard as rock. Every feature on his face that was soft before (aside from his teeth) was now sharp and pointy. Even the pupils in his eyes were sharp. After a moment, the hardening stopped, and Kirishima sat back down on the bench, his eyes glued to the ground.
A few even more excruciating minutes later, Katsuo, who had his eyes closed after seeing the demonstration, spoke up. "What're you so sad for? Seems like an amazing quirk to have as a hero." Kirishima's eyes widened, his head shooting up to look at Katsuo, who in turn was staring at the sunset. "Your hardened body can be used to protect civilians from falling debris or stray attacks, and it can also be used pretty effectively in a fight. Once again, what's the problem with such a good quirk?" Katsuo knew there was no good answer to the question as he had just proved, but he was interested in Kirishima's answer. "It's not flashy." Katsuo sighed, never taking his eyes off of the beautiful sun.
Kirishima's yet another by-product of this ruined society. If you're quirkless, you're trash, and anyone with a quirk that isn't flashy is stepped on by those who's quirk is flashy. It's the same broken society that killed my soul long before it killed my body in that street. "What makes you think a quirk needs to be flashy to make a good hero? A good hero is someone who protects the lives of the innocent, as well as preserves their smiles. As long as you can achieve that effect, then you're a good hero." Through teary eyes, Kirishima saw Katsuo turn to him with a large, determined smile on his face, the skin almost glowing in the sun's final light while his purple eyes shone brightly. "Eijiro Kirishima, I believe you have what it takes to be a hero." The tears were streaming down his face, happy ones, but tears nonetheless.
A small chuckle escaped Katsuo as he finally stood up from the bench, wincing slightly at the pain in his side. Kirishima rushed to grab him before he could fall over, completely willing to help his savior get back home safely. By the time they got to Katsuo's house, the sun had already fallen, and he knew his mom was probably waiting to give him a worried lecture about staying out late without calling first. At the foot of the driveway, Katsuo signaled that he was fine from here, and told Kirishima to stay safe. Before letting him leave however, Katsuo held his fist out, his determined smile back as he gazed upon his new friend. "Go beyond." Kirishima understood instantly, bumping his fist against Katsuo's. "Plus ultra." After dealing with his mother's tears of worry, Katsuo settled back down into the bath, getting the soak he so desperately needed. Plus Ultra.
-HL-
Katsuo had become a sort of legend in the tower of dungeons. Tales of a lone adventurer clearing entire floors by himself began to circulate throughout the town on floor zero. Of course, there were people who didn't believe it was possible, but those who did believe were the ones who saw it happen right in front of them. Eventually, the guild caught wind of this mysterious adventurer. "We need to find him immediately." An old man with a gruff voice and snow white hair was sitting in his office, watching the streets attentively as his secretary jotted something down. "But sir, we don't even know if he's real!" The old man thought for a moment. "Maybe, but if he is, we need his help with the upcoming dungeon break. The rumors heard by my men say he was last seen on floor 5. Start the search from there and find him. We need to catch him before he gets to a floor we can't clear safely."
The old man's words were final, his secretary affirming his command and running out, gathering all of the adventurers she could find. As she began doing so, the old man saw a peculiar young man in the street, his purple eyes almost commanding respect. tm "Hmmmm."
Meanwhile in the dungeons, Katsuo had quickly made his way back up to floor 5, where he fought his way through minotaurs. They were just as strong as the boss on floor 1, but it didn't matter. Katsuo was strong enough to make his way through them easily. Twisting, turning, slashing and stabbing his way through the masses, he eventually found his way up to the dungeon boss. It was a giant, at least 20 ft tall with a large frame. An even larger stone sat on its shoulder, apparently it's choice weapon. Katsuo wasted no time initiating his attack, running up to the giant and sliding across the floor, cutting through its tendons as he scraped by. The giant howled in pain before recovering quickly, smashing its block of stone into the floor, the ground breaking beneath it.
The shockwave of the crash caused the rest of the flooring to also shatter, flying into the air with Katsuo riding one of the pieces. Seeing the perfect opportunity, he went in for the kill, activating his jump barrage skill to jump from one piece to the other, making cuts in the giant as he flew by. However, the giant was too strong, and so it smacked Katsuo out of the air, who landed on the wall. In an instant though, Katsuo jumped back off the wall and aimed for the giant, this time cutting straight through the nape of it's neck with one final blow, sending it to the floor. The giant disappeared upon impact with the ground, turning into a cloud of black dust that slowly but surely dissipated, allowing Katsuo to spot a mana crystal where the giant had just died.
Landing safely on the ground, Katsuo grabbed the crystal and went to sit on one of the giant pieces of rubble left in the wake of his fight. Before he could trade it in the shop however, a group of armored soldiers ran into the room, circling him and pointing their spears at him. Katsuo, unfazed by the sudden intrusion, merely slipped the crystal into his pocket and stepped off the stone, gazing at the soldiers one by one. They tensed up at his gaze, almost like instinct, but they stayed ready for a fight. "Is this another rookie crushing?" Katsuo had grown accustomed to something like this happening at random. After his first trip onto floor 1 being incredibly successful, groups of adventurers who didn't like new blood cramping their style would sometimes try to bully him into quitting.
Of course, none of those weaklings stood a chance, and Katsuo always came out on top. In fact, Katsuo must have gotten popular among those clowns, because the attacks stopped after some time. Either that, or they were too busy recovering in the hospital to come after him again. Either way, he didn't think it would happen again. And he was right. "You don't have to worry, these hard-working men are merely for safety purposes." Katsuo turned his gaze to the entrance of the boss room, spotting a woman in office clothing coming towards him. Sensing no ill intent from anyone in the room, Katsuo settled down.
"I apologize for startling you. The soldiers are only there in case you were dangerous. I mean, you are, but you don't seem like the type to hurt innocent people." The woman waited for Katsuo's response. "So what are you doing here?" The woman smiled at his question, signaling the guards to lower their weapons but stay vigilant just in case. "The guild master would like to meet you."
-HL-
Katsuo was going to decline at first, but soon decided that whatever was happening might be worth his trouble. And so, he found himself in the office of the guild master, sitting right across from the man himself. He was old, with wrinkles all over his face and snow white hair to match. However, he exuded power, and if Katsuo had to guess, they were probably on the same level, in terms of raw power. However, Katsuo had no doubt in his mind that the old man's experience could easily allow for Katsuo's defeat. Never underestimate the elderly. "Mr… Katsuo, was it? Thank you for taking time out of your day to come see a doddering old fool such as myself."
The guild master spoke with a gruff voice, analyzing Katsuo's movements as he readjusted himself in the seat. "Please, sir, I have all the time in the world." It wasn't necessarily true, but it was close to it. The time in the scenarios was way less compared to the time in the real world, with 4 hours in the scenarios only equating to around 10 minutes on Earth. Recognizing it was his turn to speak again, the old man continued. "It would seem the rumors about your strength are true. My secretary informed me of a battle between you and the fifth floor boss, where you came out of it with only a few scratches. Is that true?" Katsuo nodded his head in affirmation, much to the guild leader's delight.
"That's good then, because I'm afraid I need your help. You see, once every 5 years, something called a Dungeon Break occurs. It's when the monsters from each floor of the dungeon find their way down to floor zero in an attempt to leave the tower. I'm sure I don't need to tell you how disastrous it would be if the monsters got out of the tower. Fortunately, only the monsters from floor ten and below can make it down here, but it still poses a threat. I want to request your help in defeating the monsters tomorrow night when they make it down to floor 1. Of course, you will be rewarded very handsomely, and your reputation will also skyrocket. I wouldn't dream of asking if I couldn't pay you in return."
Money, reputation, and heroism are all well and good, but Katsuo only wanted one thing out of this fight implicitly. Experience. Killing an army of monsters coming in his direction just sounded like a whole bunch of experience collecting right in front of him. Leveling up would certainly make his job a lot easier, and Katuso could trade the money into the system and invest in two new daggers. His old one was starting to wear down a bit. With another determined smile on his face, Katsuo stuck out his hand, meeting the guild master's above the table. "I'm in."
New quest has been generated.
Title: Tower of War. Type: Special.
Requirement: Defend Floor Zero of The Tower.
Reward upon completion: 10 Levels (+ experience gained from killing monsters)
A/N
And finished! I've decided to do one more chapter about the Tower of War quest, and then time skip to the UA entrance exam. From there, Katsuo's position in MHA will affect the timeline in drastic ways. Hope you all enjoyed this one, stay safe, and have an awesome rest of your day!