Chapter 4: Up the Dragon Tower (Patreon)

A/N: Was supposed to write this over the weekend but became busy because of an occasion.

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This was the first time Izuku had seen a living creature regenerate after being bifurcated from shoulder to waist. He was certain he hadn’t missed the monster’s heart, an organ most beings need to survive.

Izuku might’ve drawn his sword before the duel when he assumed the monster only had super strength—super speed being a component of super strength because of the force involved.

“What’s the matter? Can’t stand up against Nomu?” The handy man cackled as he gloated like a madman. “Super strength isn’t just his quirk. He also has regeneration.”

Now this was news to him. Last he heard from research studies from quirk analysts before he got sent to The Lands Between, a person couldn’t hold two or more quirks because of incompatibilities. Sure, there were instances of some people dual quirks or even multi-faceted quirks, but they mostly stem from the same source.

It wasn’t impossible for someone to have both super strength and regeneration, but the handyman mentioned a second quirk. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that the monster had more than two quirks.

What if super strength and regeneration weren’t just its quirks? What if it was tacked on with even more quirks?

That was a scenario he dreaded to picture. Just imagining the mind-boggling amount of human experimentation, one must’ve done to create such a being was horrifying. The less said about the victims, the better.

Izuku gripped All Strike’s handle tighter and hefted it over his shoulder. Spine straight and legs tensed, Izuku looked at the regenerating monster, combing all over its body in search of a weakness.

Admittedly, Izuku was a bit of a dunce for not realizing it sooner. Its brain was exposed., something he didn’t notice when they were locked in melee combat.

It was time to rectify that.

“Oh? Mini-boss is still trying to fight the Nomu? It’s useless! Useless!” Handy man continued cackling like his weaponized monster was invincible, but if there was one thing Izuku was sure of, is that invincibility did not exist.

He’s killed Godric, the Grafted. A demi-god.

This monster in front of him was but an ant against that horrible experience.

Calling upon his dragon incantation once more, his left hand transformed into that of a dragon’s claw. He charged towards the regenerating monster, already having attached itself together and mending its wounds. Its beady eyes glared lifelessly at him, and it roared.

Its shriek was loud enough, it managed to ring inside Izuku’s ears, but it didn’t stop his frontal assault. He brought his dragon claw up, and the monster stood defiantly against the enlarged appendage.

It prepared to catch the falling dragonclow, but here the monster made a mistake. Izuku had another weapon in hand.

All Strike sliced upwards, amputating one of its arms. Blood leaked out of the wound, but the monster paid in no mind. It began bubbling again, muscles beginning to take shape of a muscled, black arm.

But it was too late. With only a single arm meeting against the dragonclaw, its defenses broke, and the sharp claws tore through its body again. This time, it went through both of its shoulders and the middle of its head.

The monster split into four parts, blood and gore gushing out of the fatal wounds. Brain matter splattered on the ground, and for once, the handy man was silent as he witnessed the death of his weapon.

All was silent for a moment, and Izuku stared at the gored corpse, waiting for the time it regenerated again.

It didn’t.

“No! What the fuck!? I call hacks! Cheater!” Handy man started raving like a lunatic, his bright, red eyes glaring directly at Izuku. “Nomu had shock absorption! It was supposed to beat All Might! How the fuck did you kill it!?”

Izuku didn’t deign to give him the time of day, instead, focusing on the man with his murderous gaze. Taking a step forward, he catapulted himself towards the handy man, zweihander poised to stab through his torso.

If not for a portal that consumed him, he would’ve been skewered like an animal.

“Shigaraki Tomura, perhaps we should retreat for now.” The portal talked. It actually talked. At least Izuku had a name to put to the handy man. “The Nomu is dead, and our plans are in shambles. We need to leave.”

“No! Not until I kill that fucking mini-boss!” Tomura growled and launched himself towards Izuku like a speeding bullet, hands posed to grapple. For a lanky man that lucked muscles, he was deceptively fast.

Not as fast as the Nomu, however.

Izuku stepped to the side, evading the grab, but Tomura was able to change his direction in an instant.

Not that it stopped Izuku from trying to impale the man on his blade, but the portal once again stopped him by doing so.

All Strike pierced through a black, misty portal, and he felt something stabbing him through the back. Eyes widening, Izuku had to withhold a gasp as he felt his back and insides burn.

Blood leaked from his mouth, and he was too stunned to move, but Tomura didn’t care. His hands grabbed onto his armor and Izuku had to wince when he felt his armor dissolve and rust.

Finally getting out of his stupor, Izuku launched a kick towards the midsection of Tomura, who ate it all and was sent flying. Pulling his sword from the portal, he felt the blade in his back slide out and dropped to a knee.

Izuku didn’t expect that to happen, and now he was paying the price. His own sword, stabbing him through the back thanks to that portal that connected two different spaces like a bridge.

And now his armor was decaying and dissolving, revealing the clothes he wore underneath.

This was very bad. He needed to regroup.

Calling upon Torrent, his trusty steed appeared before him in sparkling blue motes.

“What the fuck!? He has a goddamn phase two!?” Tomura growled but Izuku didn’t pay him any mind. Mounting his steed, he quickly put distance between the two as he grabbed the Flask of Crimson Tears within his pack.

Gulping down a portion of it, he felt his back forcefully knitting itself into shape, mending the damages done by his trusty blade. Even his organs that ruptured were quickly patching itself back up to a healthier state.

“And he can fucking heal!? Fuck this mini-boss!” At this point, Tomura was frothing at the mouth at the blatant bullshit Izuku was pulling out of his bag of tricks. Enraged to the point of being completely incensed, Tomura howled as he chased after the vagabond knight-looking Izuku galloping away as he continued gulping down those precious crimson tears.

 Izuku couldn’t help but snort at the amusing scene. Here was a raving lunatic chasing after him raging about how unfair he was, like this was some sort of game. His smirk changed to a frown and his eyes glared at the chasing Tomura.

A game? This scenario? This… situation… A game? One of their victims, the one dressed in all black with that curious looking scarf was looking like he’d be next in line to enter the Erdtree without a physical body.

And this man chasing him thinks this whole thing was a game? Izuku’s eyes twitched.

Steering Torrent to make a 180, Izuku readied his blade and whipped the reins in his other hand, spurring Torrent into a gallop.

All Strike’s tip scratched along the ground with sent flying from the friction it caused. Its ear-grating sound something of an old fried for Izuku, seeing that he’d always do this against those pesky soldiers of Godrick shambling about Limgrave, even if he didn’t want to, but hey, they were trying to kill him every time they see him.

This didn’t deter Tomura, however. The mad howling coming from the man with a hand as a mask annoyed Izuku greatly.

As the two neared each other, Izuku began the motions for an upward swing while Tomura prepared to dodge the attack.

6 meters…

5 meters…

4 meters…

2…

Izuku swung up and Tomura kicked the ground, his form flying into the air with his hands stretched out and palms open. Izuku’s eyes widened and realized that his sword was still in mid-swing, making it near impossible to change its trajectory.

Tomura’s hands grabbed onto Izuku’s armor, and the man hung onto dear life. Meanwhile, Izuku was growling as he felt his armor crumble into dust, and he knew that if this kept up, his flesh would be next.

Growling, Izuku let go of Torrent’s reins and grabbed the lanky man’s hair, nearly pulling it at the roots. Tomura yelped, but he didn’t let go.

Izuku’s armor continued to deteriorate, and he knew this couldn’t continue. Once more transforming his left hand into a dragonclaw, Tomura’s eyes widened when the sharp claws began gripping at his skull.

His grip momentarily loosening, Izuku grasped his opportunity and flung Tomura up into the air then quickly readjusted his sword to pierce through his soft flesh.

Izuku may detest taking lives, but even he knew when to draw the line.

All Strike stabbed through Tomura’s torso and the lanky man coughed up blood as he dangled mid-air, propped up by the sturdy blade of All Strike. Waving it around, Izuku swung down, and Tomura was swiftly tossed to the ground, but before he could impact the hard concrete, another portal appeared underneath him and cradled him to safety.

“Shigaraki Tomura! We must retreat! We cannot risk your death!” The misty portal’s voice sounded a bit desperate in Izuku’s ears, but that was enough confirmation that what he did left some grievous damage.

All Tomura could do was wheeze and cough up more blood, but his eyes never left Izuku still riding atop his mount.

Not giving them the chance to leave, Izuku quickly dismounted Torrent as his trusty steed turned into light blue motes before disappearing and lunged for the two vulnerable foes.

His blade was ready to stab down once more, only for a portal to appear before him and Izuku barely managed to stop his sword from going through it again with sheer control.

Their chance appearing, the misty portal man made another portal before the two of them went in, the portal closing once they were well inside the mist.

The two figures vanished from the spot and only Izuku was left standing in the center, the corpse of the Nomu silently laying on the ground nearby.

First time having an enemy run from him, and Izuku decided that it wasn’t that bad of a feeling. Sure, sometime down the line, it would probably bite him in the back, but for now, he could relish in the fact that the danger was gone.

Now all that was left was to make sure the other black-clad man stayed alive. That said, he didn’t know whether his crimson tears could heal him, and he sure as hell didn’t know how to heal other people…

Maybe the warming stone could do? At least it’s better than nothing.

Izuku was about to grab said item from his bag but then stopped when he heard something pseudo-explode in the distance. Narrowing his eyes in the sound’s direction, he saw a canopy of trees and something smoking coming from the horizon.

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Tsuyu’s day just went from bad to completely worse. Mineta was nearby, some of his fingers shredded and cut from his hand, while Ochako trying not to break out into tears and retch onto the nearby floorboards.

Some of the villains decided that waiting was boring and decided to sink the yacht, to which half of the boat was now underwater infested with other villains.

Mineta was out of the fight, seeing that his eyes were glazed over but still alive, while Ochako was barely keeping herself awake, even with the wounds she accumulated overtime fighting the villains doing hit and run tactics.

She needed a plan to get out of here, and she needed one fast.

A splash of water and Tsuyu had to duck an incoming villain with a shark head that bit air. His body scraped along the yacht’s floors, and he righted himself up as he flashed a malicious grin over at her and Ochako.

“Well, froggie, you have two choices.” The man’s grin turned wide before he let out a spine-chilling chuckle. “Either die, or you could ‘surrender’ to us. We promise we won’t hurt ya. Much.”

Tsuyu’s face darkened.

The villains were fucking predators.