Hey! How have yall been? No big speel this time! Unto the story!
If you wish to support me, I have Twitter! It is kuro945235232, it is a place where I will post updates and stuff! It also has a link to how to support me! To my and my discord server, I also try to update my progress there too!
—
A humid breeze drenched the cavern Izuku had wandered in, the heat was unrelenting and caused the young hunter to unfasten a button or two on his overcoat; he needed to either fix the coat or replace it soon, however. The puddles of what Izuku hoped was water littered the floor of the cavern, and in a position much like praying to an altar with what appeared to be the corpse of Rom the vacuous spider, was a large shimmering being. Its pale scales reflected what little light lit up the large cavern, its tentacles, hard to count from the position, draped themselves on the floor around the creature.
Its size was betrayed by the shifting of the matter near the creature, a mere facade of its true size being held back by the confines it placed on itself.
As Izuku approached the praying great one, its body convulsed, the muscles, used to fragment reality, pulled the hulking creature's body up from its prostrated position. Izuku felt it before he heard it, the sharp pain of something invading his mind, winding its way in until it was lodged and staying. Its head turned to him, its face was split in half, large coral-like protrusions from the cleave-like shape, its eyes surrounded by tubes of flesh and coral-like bone. A sly smile spread out on Izuku's face, as a drop of blood began leaking from his nose.
A sound, like a flute, soft, quiet, calm, but a voice in all ways but from a mouth, "Incredible, a Hunter so developed in the arts of the arcane, that I could sense thee." the flesh flexed upwards, the tubes and coral shifting upward, in a fax smile, "Child of the moon, I am Ebrietas, Daughter of the Cosmos, thee could consider me a distant relative of sorts." The colossal form of the great one slithered its way towards him, the divots in the ground filling in its wake, smoothing out to allow it better mobility.
"I offer thee an occord, oh moon scented cousin o mine~ allow this lesser great one to teach thee all there is to know in the arcane, bereft me of this hidden knowledge of the cosmos, and allow me, in exchange, to bask in the presence of the dreams full moon." As she spoke, she grew closer, until she towered over him, then began to prostrate herself like she had done to the altar, "Oh son of the Moon, thee who claims in its death the finest of secrets, allow this being to be thine helot."
Izuku's eyes strained, the streak of blood from his nose had yet to stop running, and the creaking sound and popping in his ears kept him aware, as the stabbing pain in his head grew worse.
His eyes, with multiple busted vessels, tinged red, glowed in the dim light of the room, green pierced the eyes of the great one. Izuku gave the great one a bloody smile, muttering "s-sure," before his body gave in to the blood loss.
The eerie glow of the mark on the boy's left arm caught the great one's attention, and it felt euphoric as it soaked in the words that were there. The great moon would not yet let its child die, much less with it also being its hunter of choice, so it began flooding arcane into the already damaged neurological organ. The soon-to-be corpse of the child thrashed on the floor, blood drained rapidly from the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Soon the child's corpse will disappear, and time will shatter and reform, relinking the adolescent to their reformed and rehealed body, but the knowledge will stay, and Ebrietas will forget the encounter entirely.
Mayhaps the child's mind will explode countless times before they are stable enough from the wisdom to continue their hunt, and they will return to gain more soon enough.
Izuku felt like he was floating. There was no sound, no taste, no touch, no smell, nothing to see, and no danger to spark that sixth sense. Just nothing.
And when his eyes, which felt stuck together began to crack open, the thick blood that stuck his eyelids together giving way, he was met with a beautiful sight.
The cosmos floated around him, stars and novas shimmering in the distance. Deep black pools of nothing dotted between the serenity of the moving constellations, like rain in the summer, or snow in the winter. It felt inevitable he would see this.
The sounds came next, a solemn drip.
Drip
Drip
Drip
Drip
Drip
Drip
Drip
Like water drip dripping in a puddle.
However, the puddle was nowhere to be seen.
The smells hit him.
Airomatic, citrus, lavender and vennela.
Chocolate.
Spice.
Cotton and wood.
His mom's detergent.
Blood.
Bile.
Guts and intestinal fluids.
The offending scent of brain matter on his face.
Then the tastes.
Sour flavor, like not eating for a while.
Blood.
Nitroglycerin sweat.
Ash.
Dirt.
Flesh.
Bone.
Bile.
Bile
Bile
Bile
Bile
Bile
Bile.
Chocolate.
Bubblegum.
Then in a spark of his nerves, he felt it. His countless scars, each bleeding and raw, all his wounds opened in a moment, his head disconnected from his body, but so did his torso from his limbs, his muscles split and his bones splintered, his nose broke and his fingers shattered.
And he could move, he had been staring at the hypnotic lights of infinity, of the ever-present beyond, that what was behind him was likely just as important.
His muscles strained, and his head moved.
Inch by inch
And he was looking back, his wounds fighting him the entire way.
A pool of red.
Drip
Drip
DRIP
Drip
Drip
Drip
He was the source of the sounds.
And in the pool of blood, the face of that spider. Its face was stony.
His bones sang hymns as his body shredded apart again. And the ocean raised.
But no matter how far the blood raised, the black speck the stone face held that could be likened to eyes never wavered, staring at Izuku with an unblinking gaze.
—
Izuku came to in an unfamiliar bed. There were no beds in the dream…
Or was there? In all his time in the dream, he never really asked.
A quick glance told him he was in some kind of offshoot of the workshop. If not from the colors of the wood, the sounds of metal being hammered in a nearby room, or the distinct smell of gunpowder and blood, it was the fact that the walls of the room were lined with hunter tools.
Many of which were failed prototypes of Izuku's he had thrown out, though, shined and cleaned up with careful diligence.
The pillow of the bed was red, though, from the fact the edges were a soft yellowish-white, he had bled into the pillow and even the bed as he found out as he extended his legs off the bed and stood with a crack of his joints.
He was wearing a basic pair of undergarments, ones he did not remember having. Was this the first time he had been nearly fully undressed since he came to Yharnam? His left arm, which held the silvery-white scars like the rest of him, and the mark his mother had bestowed on him, had a slight change. The scars were there, but there was a light shimmering, as specks of bluish light dotted where his freckles once were. Which extended across his entire freckled body, the mark, which had been already intricate and covering the entire inside of his elbow and upper bicep, had grown exponentially, going from his left fingertips to his left pectoral, shimmering with strange yellow lights and blue glow in the deep red ink. And while it was surprising to see, there was an oddity he had only just begun to notice.
He actually understood it.
Each divot was a word, and each symbol was a paragraph, or perhaps a book within a word symbolized in a single stroke of ink. His hand traced the lines, a sharp spark emanating from the biggest and brightest of them.
It was at that moment, of course, that the hefty door to the room was thrust open with a thud, as it slammed into the wall.
Standing, in an antique dress, with spiraling colors and star patterns, was a ginger-haired woman, who had coral-like horns sticking out of the mess of blood-red curls, their eyes were pitch black, holding no human qualities, and their face was angular, with a light silvery scar running from their forehead to jaw. In one hand they held a cup of a shimmering liquid, in another Izuku's hunter clothes, and oddly enough, in another, less human appendage, a feather duster that danced across the once dusty toms that lined the hall behind her.
Her eyes lit up with an ethereal sparkle of blues and whites that spiraled and bent through her sockets with reckless abandon.
"Thou are awake? Good, thy has slept much too long, though perhaps for a mere infant it is justified." The voice that had made his brain into pasta came from the mouth of the woman, though the movement of her mouth and the words did not exactly line up. A shimmering appendage grabbed Izuku's hand and pulled him out of the room, and in a quick turn, she had begun heading back down the hall, pulling Izuku with her.
"We have myriads of arcane study to go over, but perhaps that may be put off till you are more mature, I was not but an infant myself when I was thrust into arcane study by my sibling, but do not fret dear lord, it shall be an effortless task to get you up to speed at which your mother's blood should allow." Suddenly they were in the main room of the workshop, which had expanded in size once again since the last time Izuku had been there.
And it was more lively and lovely than usual. Paper flowers and animals dotted bookshelves and hung from the rafters, the dreary statue that stood behind one of the tool benches had a flower crown, and standing on a tall ladder, hanging a strand of braided flowers, that was being braided still by the little girl, was the doll.
Walking in with a basket of flowers was the older sister. It was then that Izuku noticed the content smiles on all three of them, a heat blooming in his chest as he stared from what he had just noticed was a second-floor balcony.
Sitting at the leatherworking table was the old lady, her hands curing and working thick patches of leather, and next to her was the skeptic man, connecting bits of chain mail together with delicate patients.
Right outside, Gerhman and Arianna were tending to flowers and other plants. Sitting down on a soft cushion was the chapel dweller, their cloak clean and a frail smile on their face, as their sightless eyes stared up the balcony at Izuku. Additionally sitting at the weapon bench, was an older woman with silvery hair with black roots, a feathered grab downing their body, Eileen. In her hands, her blades, sharpened to a point he had never seen them at before, cleaned thoroughly, and scattered across the table the plethora of weapons Izuku had hoarded, had been cleaned and maintained beyond his own abilities, even his backup cane and his new scythe were maintained beautifully.
Izuku's eyes were taking in the scenery of his little workshop, now expansive and full of people; a giddy feeling spread through him, and a smile, much like when he was watching All Might rescue people on the computer, spread across his face.
It was then that the older sister took notice of him. An eep of surprise came from her as her face went bright red, causing the attention of all the residents to look where her gaze fell.
That was when Izuku remembered he was still in his undergarments. Before he could rush back down the hall, the silvery appendage began pulling him downstairs. His entire body erupts in a blush. "I bring good news, fellows of the dream, our lord has woken, please don't mind his state of dress, he is but passing through the room of work for a moment… but ogle if you like."
The doll hopped off of the tall ladder, landing gracefully on the floor with a small flourish, with one hand she turned the youngest girl away from the nearly naked Izuku, grabbed the garbs from one of Ebrietas's hands, and began dressing the shell shocked boy, to the amusement of Eileen in the corner. Who began laughing at the display.
"Good hunter, she must have dragged you out of your room in a hurry." And with a final pop, the last button had been locked in place, and straps had been fastened.
"But please Izuku, do come down dressed, you almost put the girls into shock," a coy smile formed on the doll's face as she pinched his cheek, knocking the once catatonic boy out of his stupor.
"Ah- hehe, okay Doll, I'll try next time?"
"Good! Now I do believe Miss Eileen had some training plans she wanted to discuss with you, now off you go!" The doll spun him and pushed him to the form of Eileen, who was still shaking with laughter, through her eyes trailed the form of Ebrietas warily as she trailed after Izuku.
"Good to see you again kiddo. I thought the worst when that woman," she nodded her head towards Ebrietas, "Showed up with you shortly after we had been given the tour by the doll and the old man… You'wer bleedin pretty bad, though I guess we were worrying too much." A tired smile stretched across her thin lips, as the wrinkles under her eyes became more pronounced. With a quick movement, she stood up from her seat, smacked him on the back, and began walking out the main door of the workshop.
"Come on youngin, we got trainin to do."
"Yes mama!"
Izuku's fists bled as his fist met with the brass-knuckled fists of the old woman in front of him. Why didn't he have some himself? Turns out his natural durability was incredibly high. He had already flattened three sets of brass knuckles, and the newest pair was made of steel.
A swift kick went to Izuku's side and launched him across the field of flowers, however, in a blink of an eye he vanished in a puff of blood-red smoke.
A new revelation of an old technique. Quickening was efficient, fast, and by far more versatile than most if not all hunter techniques, and with a slight modification of how he accessed it, he could funnel the power through his marking. Supercharging the already powerful technique.
Though the revelation was not Izuku's, it was Ebrietas who suggested it. In fact, he had been given the advice of using the marking as a catalyst for his arcane arts.
Which made a world of difference.
However, the difference was quickly diminished, as after becoming predictable with how he used his quickening, Eileen had begun kicking his ass in and outside of the sub-plane that was the arcane art…
It was depressing really.
Izuku's body slammed into the rocky ground, bits of rocks digging into his skin, and then a cloud of red erupted from his position, and time dilated as he was launched into the sub-dimension, clipping through the ground and manifesting right behind Elieen.
He didn't even get a hit in.
The dream's power had revitalized the old hunter, making her physically in her prime. Making her speed, even with his new skill, faster than his.
A knee connected with his face, its steel covering cracking his nose.
Another poof and he was under Eileen, his leg kicking her off of the ground she stood on, as the smoke continued to emanate off of him, and then he was gone again, in the air above her kicking down. His kick was intercepted and he was launched towards the massive tree in the field.
"Ha.. ha. I do believe we can call it a day youngin, ya need to get back to the hunt, an I need to let these old joints rest." Eileen said as she climbed back to her feet, the steel plates that covered her knees, elbows and knuckles dented in places, and cracked in others. "Ya got a hard head, which is good, just don rely too hard on hard hitten attacks on people, it works well on mindless beasts, but workin down a human can leave em open an easy to kill."
Izuku coughed out a small plume of red mist, "Thanks miss Eileen… ow…" his coughing fit continued as he tried to stand up, only to be knocked down again by a chop to the head.
Eileen looked him in the eye from her position standing next to him, "What did I say about the miss? Drop it kiddo."
"Gotcha! Gotcha! I get it!"
—
The grotesque corpse of the amygdala layed hole-riddled and oozing shimmering blood in front of the doorway back the way Izuku came, even after leaving and time resetting, the thing was still there… dead for good.
Incredible.
They seemed to have the same temporal anomaly as the greater beasts that can not seem to come back, which was great.
Izuku's venture deeper into the grotesque area that was the hidden section of Yharnham was not fun. In fact, it was by far the grossest thing he had ever found. The carts were full of boxes of flesh… that came to life on the main road. There were man-eating pigs, some of the fastest hounds he had to deal with to date, and reviving mob's men.
He had to sprint down a massive roadway, with tens of the flesh beasts rocketing globs of flesh and blood at him, bullets of mob men, and the eerie feeling he was being watched.
His sprint came to an end as he dashed under an archway, where suddenly, the continuous hale of projectiles stopped. As he looked back, the hoards of flesh and bone had gone still, looking to the sky… and so Izuku turned his attention to the moon.
The blood moon had vanished, and a super moon had taken its place in the sky, massive and blinding. However, its surface began… dripping. The stench of blood became overpowered with a stinging smell, as the liquid dripped and the surface of the moon began to be covered in a shimmering film, Izuku's eyes had a hard time staying open.
It was like when you cut onions, and the mist irritates your eyes, only worse. The smell was indescribable, it made something in Izuku retch and heave, and made his reflexes scream run.
A hand poked through the film on the moon. Then two. Long spindly arms, elbows, a head… Another arm and the torso. And then suddenly, as if gravity had begun acting on the figure in the moon, the film burst. And a beast with thousands of limbs, fused together and pulling in all directions fell from the still dripping moon. It was gargantuan, the ringing of six bells from the rafters above came through the horrid sounds of a baby's wail, as the beast forced itself into what could only be described as its natural stunning position. Torsos and feet, hands and thighs poked out of its body, grasping, kicking, clawing at everything and nothing.
Izuku sprinted to the stairway, it wasn't as tall as the rafters above, and those bell-ringing bitches had begun throwing flames at him.
The phantom muscles of his glove flexed as he used his hand to help in launching himself up the staircase, and in moments he was on the rafters, and a line of three bell ringers was in front of him.
A shroud of red and all three were headless, their bells taken from their still clutching hands.
Coming around the bend in the rafters, the young hunter began shifting between planes, only for a fleshy wall of hands to swipe at him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw it, on its back most congregation of limbs, had made a leverage point to lift its upper body up, and had begun using its numerous limbs to try and kill the green-haired hunter.
Which was complete and utter bull shit.
Three more heads hit the ground and the young hunter launched himself off the rafter into the air, his scythe embedded in the arm of the beast, and in both hands, he clutched an item he had almost forgotten about, a small alien bug, an emissary of the cosmos. Its position on his glove of tools allowed for easy access, and as his height reached its peak, he funneled arcane from his mark to the creature and called to the beyond.
Hundreds of shimmering blood-red stars flared into existence, surrounding the boy, and with a fling of his arms, the hundreds became thousands as the stars shot off towards the reborn mess of limbs and corpses. Each star explodes into sharp spines of blood and craters in the flesh of the creature, burrowing deep in the copious layers of flesh and sinew.
His feet hit the ground and Izuku took off running, a flow of adrenaline pumping into his system as he ripped the scythe out of the dismembered limb of the creature.
With a crack of his neck, Izuku called to the near-endless flow of blood beckoning to it, commanding it to sheath his blade in a sharper coat, and he began dismembering his prey.
—
*Flashback*
It was four days before the slime villain had caught Izuku for the first time. And much like how the villain had smelled like the sewer, Izuku had the smell of trash and rubbish as he weighed through a small mountain of trash. He needed some pocket money, and the Hatsume auto shop always needed scrap for their crazy daughter. They had not actually met formally, and she called him part collector, but other than Mina, she was the closest thing Izuku could call a friend.
And her family fed him regularly.
And we're upper-middle class. So they always had something for him when he needed it. Which was a bonus.
But he needed some more cash, a new All Might figure had been released and they were being sold in a little comic shop he frequented… and they were signed!
So he needed around double how much he had at the moment to buy one. But thankfully, Hatsume needed extra parts, and the better the parts the more of her allowance he could get!
So that's why he was hip-deep in a garbage pile, moving old and rusted machines off to the side for deconstruction. It smelled like absolute butt, but it wasn't the worst thing he had gone through.
Chirp*
Izuku's phone vibrated in his pocket, the tell-tale sound of Mina's contact sound making him almost fall on his ass. He quickly sat down the microwave he had dislodged from the pile and pulled out his phone, which had been decorated with a few more scratches than before, and was now adorned with a Midnight phone case.
***Mina***: Hey Zuku! How would you like to hang out on Saturday? I know you don't got much pocket money so don't worry about it! It'll be in me~ you'll just need to repay me some other time!
Zuku (#^~^#): oh ya, sure? But I can scrounge some money together for then. What do you want to do?
***Mina***: we'll, you know how Midnight is holding a tour of her new building? Well… I GOT TWO PASSES! And I'm inviting you to go with me!
Zuku (#^~^#): oh shit! Really?! That sounds fun! I'm so down!
***Mina***: then it's a date!
The sounds of a teen falling into a trash pile filled the air shortly after that message was revived.
—
Izuku clutched the thick parchment of a letter, sealed with wax. He had to make it to Cainhurst, where the crown of illusion was kept.
The crown of illusion had been used to keep the castle safe from the executioners, a cast of the hunters that hunted and slew those who wielded and held the royal blood of the queen. The crown's enhanced connection to the arcane was why Izuku needed it, both for Flora's quest, and so that he may… reuse the arcane metal.
So here he was, in the room of the clinic he had woken up in, the dry bloodstains of his old blood still marred the floor and gurney. A fresh corpse of a celestial emissary lay next to the doorway, and seemingly, no one living inhabited the old clinic.
Izuku let out a sigh as he used a pocket knife to cut through the wax seal, and he began reading.
'To the one chosen for this long night, Izuku Midoriya.
Head to Hemwick Crossing, the royal stagecoach will be ready to depart shortly, and it would be a shame to miss this opportunity no? The beasts are grotesque, and the materials grand.
I beseech you, kill off the festering corpse that is the martyr, and the castle will be in your debt.
Do not hesitate, the coach leaves soon.'
The slightly blood-stained paper seemed to have been written hastily before it was delivered, how Izuku didn't want to know.
With a crack of his neck, Izuku headed out of the clinic and bent down to hold the hand of a messenger, and with a whisper, he was at Hemwick. His scythe blade clicked into place, a fan of blood-red smoke billowed from his arcane mark, and Izuku began his dead sprint to the meeting place, the dancing witches being bisected as the cold smoke soaked into the ground.
As Izuku arrived at the crossing, only a small amount of fatigue hitting him from keeping up the red mist quickening for the entire sprint, the sound of hooves cracking old stone roads caught his attention. And emerging from the fog a black stagecoach approached, as well as the reek of rot and decay.
The coach slowed as it approached the silvery red-haired hunter, and the door on the side creaked open, revealing the empty interior, with moldy and rotted furnishings. Covering his nose and mouth with his hand, Izuku entered, and the door slammed shut as the horse turned the coach around, heading for the broken bridge. Though, as the bridge edge began getting closer, the pressure on Izuku's eyes took hold, and sleep crept over him.
…
As the young hunter woke from his slumber, the chill of the piled snow on top of him took hold, causing a shiver to run through him, It had been a long time since he had seen snow, as most snow days in his world he had to stay inside his already cold house to keep from freezing.
The crystal flakes pecked his cheeks as he pushed out of the small hill of snow that had taken root over him, the shivering in his own skin felt more foreign than the constant feeling of blood on his face. He wanted to see the snow over the city line of Musutafu, from the tallest building.
With a crack of his neck, he headed up the stairs, not sparing a glance at the rotten corpses of the horses or the destroyed coach. And the gates opened to him like they had missed him, with sorrowful creaks they let him through. In the courtyard of the grotesque forms of once, human beasts roamed the barren snowy area, their skin pale and white, hair long and dragging across the ground, walking on all fours, their limbs stretched and joints wrong. Their bellies were bloated with red glowing blood. Blood lickers, journal entry thirty-four of the executioner's scribe, fast and agile creatures, jaws that could shatter steel and limbs that could rip a human apart easier than paper. Tongues so long and sharp they could stab into you and rip you open while draining you of blood. Eyes that while crying, showed no remorse and hunger that never ended. They would drain hundreds of humans of blood, only to grow so bloated that they couldn't move. Ripping open their stomachs only pissed them off, and made them faster, cut the limbs, then the head, then back away, even while disconnected, the heads could kill for nearly an hour, and with enough blood, they could come back. Some even developed the ability to ferment blood into venom and poison, and shoot it out.
A smile graced Izuku's face, a grin that looked more like a grimace in pain than an actual smile. How he had wanted to see what his weapons could do to such ferocious creatures, but he needed to hurry, he wanted to continue his quest, experimentation could wait for a while.
That does not mean he didn't slaughter every one of them before he headed into the castle proper. Spearing their heads on the weapons of statues that were placed haphazardly around, their tearful eyes watching his every move.
The castle's insides were beautiful, the poor cleaners cowered in fear as he walked past them, dirtying their floor, and snatching items and such from chests, the only thing to stop his ascent of the castle was the ghosts. If they could be called that, they were dispelled easily with a slice over their open neck wounds.
The living gargoyles were a bit of a scare at first when he found them, but they were quickly clipped of their wings and shoved off the sides of the castle to their deaths.
Items were taken, ghosts killed, and the poor cleaners, when they decided to fight, were trisected and left to dirty their clean floors.
As Izuku kept his quick pace, he found a few items of intrigue. However, there was a set of gauntlets in a room full of the most sorrowful spirits, their cries louder and more angry, so strong they could shackle him to the floor but were dealt with swiftly. And the gauntlets were a sight indeed, a small amount of arcane energy, and the wraiths of hundreds of nobles were able to coalesce into seeking orbs of hate and malice, and how they cleaved through the living and dead alike, exploding into bursts of heat, before returning to the gauntlets.
A fine new tool!
He jumped from rafter to rafter and landed on a small, hidden bridge, and made his way to the largest roof, where sitting on a wooden throne, the martyr sat. His old decaying form, cleaned to life by the arcane in the crown, a mere puppet of the man he used to be, led only by the soul he locked in the crown. Izuku's smile, one more of hunger and joy from his ascension of the castle, fell a bit…
He ascended the castle already?
Shaking his head, a frown took hold. A waste of an arcane item-
What was wrong with him today?
Actually.
His hunts, how many has he been on again?
Another shake of his head, and he stepped on the roof.
Izuku gripped his scythe tight, as the frozen form of the martyr began to move.
Shards of ice cracked and fell, as bone came to life under leathery skin.
The hunter grinned at the new challenge.
But the boy frowned, saddened by the state of the man.
The hunter won once again.
With a shout, the young hunter tore across the roof, red smoke searing the snow back into vapor. The executioner's gauntlets flared with anger. As orbs of hate coalesced around the shimmering-haired hunter. The scythe went low, as the hate went higher, the skulls, full of rage and mindless vengeance, chared the corpse's face, and the scythe cut through legs.
A sword speared through the young hunter.
But in a flare of red, he was gone, and a clink of a vial was all that sounded as Izuku reappeared in the air, whip out, ensnaring the poor corpse in razor-sharp vines, and with a mighty tug, tore through the man's skin.
And in another flash, as the sword struck the place Izuku landed, he was gone.
The hunter re-appeared, his scythe calling to the blood, sharpening the already razor edge. In a slash, a jaw, and a hand were dismembered from the foul cadaver.
Smoke billowed.
Izuku reemerged. His whip sliced through the poor man's arms, legs, and chest.
And once again, as the man attacked, the hunter emerged from the blood-red smoke, and in a final strike against the corpse, beheaded him.
The hunter snatched the crown and watched as the smoke around the castle dissipated, revealing a stairway up, to the queen.
The young hunter headed up and made his way to the queen, he wished to have an audience.
"Visitor… I claim no subjects, but here lieth Our throne. Kneel afore us… or get thee gone."
The hunter- or was it Izuku at that moment? Bowed deeply at the base of the throne, a sharp glare from the metal masked queen spoke volumes, so he bowed deeper.
"Visitor… Moon-scented hunter… I am Annalise, Queen of Castle Cainhurst. Ruler of the Vilebloods, and sworn enemy of the church. Yet, Our people are murdered, and We are prisoner to this wretched mask. What is it thou'rt in search of?"
The young hunter answered, "I am on a quest from the moon, your excellency, and came to claim the crown of illusion. But the Vial-Bloods hold great power over blood. I wish to join you, to learn more about it." The voice that spoke was too calm, too composed to be Izuku.
A small surprised noise escaped the queen, "Very well. Drink deep of Our blood." With little hesitancy, the queen offered her pale arm, blood running from a fresh wound, and soon the drops of blood fell into Izuku's mouth. A fiery heat spread across his body but vanished in seconds.
"Feel the spreading corruption burn. Now, thou'rt too a Vileblood. We two, the very last on this earth. We await thy return. For the honor of Cainhurst"
The hunter was pleased, the burning in his veins a sign of a job well done and as he stepped back on the roof the red took over his vision.
—
*Flashback*
A day before the slime villain attacked. Izuku had met up with Mina. It was two days before the "date" but Izuku needed to show Mina the figure he had bought.
So here he was, nearly skipping down the street in what he could only imagine being actual happiness. It always came to be when he and Mina hung out, though, it was never at his house, for many reasons. He was a few blocks from her house, and there were people watching as he made his way. A red-eyed kid with black hair, a tall guy who didn't seem to notice where they were walking, Bakugou, and a very sickly blond man who had an incredibly hunched-over posture. It was truly the baker's dozen of random people out today.
… Bakugou? Odd, Katsuki had no friends out this far in the city, and the last time he had been there he had been chewed out by Aunt Mitsuki for being so far from home.
Izuku was a block from Mina's house, taking a shortcut between buildings when he realized he should have been way more careful when he spotted Bakugou. Because if Kachaan was anything, he was a bully.
Izuku never made it to Mina's house that day. His phone had died long before he could get back home and get even thirty minutes of sleep before school the next day. And his All Might figure, the newest and rarest one yet, had been trashed.
He layed in his bed, a bruise the size of his entire chest grew purple and yellow as he watched the dingy light flicker off, as power had been cut to the house…
Maybe the next day would be better… He could only hope.
It was not. Meant to be, but that was already known.
He woke up to thirty messages from Mina, his shitty phone at only twenty percent charge from his little amount of time home, a migraine had begun from his lack of sleep, and a sour smell had begun to accumulate on his breath. He should eat soon. He hadn't in a while.
And like all days, he headed to school, hoping things would be better.
They never were.
—
Izuku's eyes focused on the room around him, a pounding headache clouded his senses for what felt like a moment, and when he came to consciousness lying on cold stone. The area looked familiar, like the church he had sent the survivors to. But the lingering smell of incense was gone, and the overpowering stench of copper layered the dimly lit interior.
He was definitely not in the church he thought he was. There was a severe lack of any signs of anything once living here.
Izuku's eyes glanced to the only exit that was open, and he continued to the doorway, looking out to the massive root-like growths that had grown out of the ground.
A cool presence entered his mind. "My young hunter, I welcome thee to the hunter's nightmare-"
"The what?" Izuku cut off Flora, intrigue plaguing his mind.
"Shush child, I was attempting to convey what it was. The Hunters Nightmare is a land created by the hatred of my sister and her orphan. As well as their followers. Here you will meet, and slay some of the grandest of foes, and find secrets about Yharnam you could not fathom, things not written in your books." She silenced for a moment as Izuku cut into the flesh of an ancient hunter who wielded old tools.
"How did I get here mother? I remember… well I remember spaces in my memories in my last few hunts. The spaces became closer and closer until I killed off that poor martyr, and then I was here." An unfamiliar weight fell into Izuku's hand as he lifted the Beast Cutter from the now-dead hunter's hands, its weight mighty and its many weighted whip blades reminding him of his favorite weapon.
"I removed your protective barriers from the blood lust, most of which were erected when you killed for the first time and fought off the call of the blood. I apologize for not telling you." She spoke almost quietly as she told him this, sincerity in her voice. "But you are here now, and the orphan and its head are yours to claim."
Izuku landed hard as the bodies of two old hunters fell hard to the stained cobbled roads. His hunt led him to a cemetery full of beasts, and the commotion of his slaughter of both beast and hunter made many of them rush from their positions higher up the staircase.
"I… do not blame you mother, but… can I get a warning next time you mess with my mind?" His footsteps squelched in a pool of blood as he headed up the narrow staircase, and at the top, a ball of flame began rolling down towards him. But missed him as he quickened through it. A slash of silver flashed through the air as the six beasts who crowded him became headless.
"I can do that my child, do not fret. I shall leave you to the hunt."
"I… I love you mother." A quiver shook through his voice while saying that. The large stone door in front of him flew off its hinges as a large hunchback with glowing purple eyes and hundreds of fleshy tentacle-like protrusions grasped from its face. Its large ax called a toll of a cathedral bell with every swing it attacked him with.
"You, I hold dear to me too my son." The cool presence left his mind, as he ripped the colon out of the bulbous stomach of the hunchback. Its body fell limp as the last spurt of blood-drenched the floor.
Izuku walked further into the near-replica of the grand cathedral, the burning body of a cleric beast held a pendant on the far end of the room. Could be important.
…
Izuku's clothes were drenched in deep crimson as he walked past a tall man and opened the side door to the cathedral he woke in. It wasn't a long way from the flaming beast to that hallway, only past turrets that shot bursts of bullets, and a handful of old hunters. And for some ungodly reason blood lickers.
The worst blood lickers at that, they shot streams of acidic blood at him anytime he tried to get near.
But all the things in the path were dead, and he had made it back to the shimmering blue lamp, and found another human with no want to murder him… In the murder dream… he won't complain.
Izuku headed over to the man in question, and the man spoke, their heavily clothed face hidden, and angled away from him.
"Hmm. You're a hunter with your sanity, aren't you? Must've taken a wrong turn then, eh?" Their voice was tired and old, and incredibly skeptical. "Well, we're more alike than you think. This is the Hunter's Nightmare, where hunters end up when drunk with blood…" A sharp laugh slipped past their lips.
"You've seen them before. Aimless, wandering hunters, slavering like beasts. This-" He waves his hand to the outside, the stream of blood guarded by hunter and blood licker alike, "Is what the poor fools have to look forward to. So, don't be brash, turn back before it's too late… Well… Unless you've something of an interest in nightmares?"
"I… Well to be honest. " Izuku glances back at the way he came, "I'm honestly finding them interesting! This area is outside of time, holding areas that don't match nor make sense! And being the home of endless hunting… it's quite interesting."
"Ahhahaha! Yes, I see… Such a young mind being so inquisitive. You sense a secret within the Nightmare, and cannot bear to leave it be." Another sharp, almost bitter laugh exited him,
"As if the spirit of Byrgenwerth lives on within you! Such inquisitive hunters will relish the Nightmare." A solemn seriousness entered his tone, "But beware, secrets are secrets for a reason. And some do not wish to see them uncovered… Especially when the secrets are particularly unseemly…" The man quieted after that, a forlorn look taking over his eyes.
…
Izuku was not one for running, but the constant fighting in the area was getting annoying, so yes, he sprinted past a few… ten to twenty people to get to the next lamp in the area, the little messengers waving and reaching toward him. He ruffled their heads as he lit the lamp, a delighted murmur spread through them as his hand swept by each one. At first, he thought there was just an unnecessarily large amount of messengers in the area, until he noticed them popping up around him to get their heads ruffled. It was cathartic. Eventually, he needed to leave the comfort of the lamp and its messengers and head deeper into the nightmare. He had collected all kinds of interesting gear, some of which he wanted to take apart as soon as he found a greater beast.
Izuku's footsteps went from thuds to his boots sinking into a slimy wet blood-filled mud. A constant flow of blood leaking from a large doorway-like tunnel, and as he headed deeper, a massive room filled with piles of corpses.
A raspy voice called through the air, seeming to gurgle on blood and other viscera that dripped from their mouth, from their skinless body. "Ahh, ahh, please... help us... Ah… An… An unsightly beast… A great terror looms!" a breathy wheeze escaped its mouth, "Ahh... Ludwig the Accursed is coming. Have… have mercy... Have mercy upon us…!" Suddenly, the skinless man was crushed under the weight hooves of what was once an icon of holy justice.
Izuku had read about this man more times than he ever realized. Ludwig is one of the best church hunters, a bringer of justice, and a slayer of some of the grandest and most grotesque beasts. Or at least. He was.
In the place of a man once considered incredibly handsome and fearsome, stood a man horse amalgamation. Like someone tried to splice the man and his fersom steed together and had no idea what would go where. Two heads, one more human, longer and angled like a horse, but with the facial features of a man. And another head, if you could call it that. More like a tube of flesh full of eyes that shimmered in the depths of the bloody crevasse of what could have been the horse's head. Four hooves stuck out at odd angles, two from the back, one to the side, and one on the ground, humanish legs kept the beast stable, with clawed hands that held up the heap of the flesh on its chest. A few strands of church hunter garb clung to its body, as well as a large cool colored sword that was stuck to its bag.
With a horrendous scream, it charged. Its speed was incredible for its lack of coordinated biology. It slammed into the wall where Izuku had been mere milliseconds before, matching his own speed, and maybe even Eileen's. Izuku's whip cracked, leaving a shimmering silver streak that slashed into the exposed broad side of the once-great hunter. A fearsome grin spread across Izuku's face.
The beast lunged again, crashing into Izuku, but giving Izuku an opening to swap his cane for his scythe. He pressed the barrel of his gun into the beast's head, slicing down with his scythe he shot into the hundreds of eyes, causing the white and clear liquid to splash out, and soon flooding the socket with blood.
In a puff of red smoke, Izuku was behind the beast, cutting at its ankles and thin legs, leaving deep gashes, while shooting into its broader areas. It let out a human scream as it spun on a dime and swiped at the young hunter, but a bullet to the eye sent the beast staggering back, and Izuku poofed again. Izuku appeared behind the poor man, his whip wrapping around the second neck, and sawing into it as Izuku wrenched the tight sharp whip to cut the entire chunk of flesh off.
Izuku watched the beast fall, his confusion taking hold. This was the best it had?
Suddenly a wash of sharp frigid air swept over the room, and the blade ignited, lying next to the beast's head. Its eyes opened, aware, unlike how it had been when it was feral. It stood, its limbs working in unison to assume a somewhat human-like standing position. It held the blade in front of its face, eyes full of recognition, "Aah, you were at my side, all along. My true mentor… My guiding moonlight.." Its voice, unnatural, seeming to come from multiple voice boxes.
Its eyes locked onto Izuku, the blade, giving off energies like his mom, flared angrily in response to its master's will.
Its massive body swung the sword with practiced finesse, causing a wave of energy to launch at Izuku, who dodge under it, running towards the beast. Izuku grabbed a belt out of one of his bags, covered in oil pots he flung the belt of ten oil bombs at the beast and a Molotov. It caught on fire in a massive shockwave but was still standing, launching countless waves of arcane energy. With a clench, twenty fiery red balls of arcane launched at the beast, combining three arcane tools for a more efficient attack, they tore into the beast, causing spires of blood to shoot out, tearing flesh and stone in its wake. The two hunters, one chosen by the moon, and one by the people fought with arcane and blade, the pool of blood on the floor grew inch by inch, flooding out of the room and draining into the bloodstream that flowed through the nightmare.
A quick and final strike of Izuku's whip took the beast's head off, ending the long battle. The messengers pulled a lamp out of the ground, allowing Izuku to light it, begging for head pats.
—
WOOHOO! Holy hell that took a while, but I hope I didn't leave yall waiting too long, every time I find time to write something seems to come up, but hey i got a gift!
If you are looking to join my discord or support me, search my Twitter kuro945235232 , where you will find links to everything! Sorry for the wait!