Chapter 38
- Location
- Home
Venturing the Wild – 38
"What do you mean Midoriya was kidnapped after you tried to fight Stain?" Aizawa, known more usually as Eraserhead, was suffering a migraine from the multiple news he had gotten in the last few minutes.
The situation in Hosu was a complete mess and it was only getting worse and worse the more info he got. He was feeling like a lot of it was Midoriya's fault too for some reason. He trusted his hunches.
It had started when Gran Torino, who should have been looking at his problematic student, contacted him to tell him the kid had run off. Unfortunately the older hero had been occupied in helping Endeavor in dealing with the Nomus.
And that turned out to be the first problem, an unknown woman had come in and easily taken the bioweapons, making them disappear and leaving without another word. There had been no more news of the kid until Ida and Todoroki were found assisting another Hero, Native, who had been ambushed by Stain.
The two had been immediately taken in for interrogation. Good news was that they were okay, but that was it. The bad news appeared to pile up each time someone opened their mouth.
First Ida had admitted to having hunted Stain to take revenge for his brother. The fact that Midoriya and Todoroki had come to his aid was almost respectable if it wasn't so damn stupid. Things had gotten more complicated when an unknown had literally fallen into the situation and not only healed everyone, including the nearly dead Native. But they had also taken Stain out single handedly.
He was doubting if the villain was even alive, he had seen a few pictures of the crater left in the alley and the blood in it. Then the man, who had most likely and very easily killed a highly dangerous villain, had grabbed Midoriya and yanked him through a green portal before disappearing through it too.
It was even more troublesome because correlating the testimonies of witness, civilian and hero alike, the man could transform into a bird and had been seen carrying the same actions as the mysterious woman. The same woman who some further investigation had revealed to be a person of interest, and possible villain, in a small case a few days prior.
So now he had two students caught in a semi-illegal act, a student missing and possibly in hands of villains, and a pissed Endeavor because the hotheaded hero couldn't deal with someone else taking all the credit and not even staying around to be screamed at.
He took a deep breath in and exhaled. "Ida, hand Todoroki the phone." He ordered.
"Teacher?" He heard the more level-headed student, and that was becoming debatable, after a moment.
"Todoroki, tell me all the details, I feel like the official records are incomplete and missing important information." He practically ordered.
"… I got to the alley second to last. Stain quickly showed to be capable of dealing with multiple assailants and used his Quirk to efficiently take us out one by one." The boy spoke and the man could see a shadow of his father in the way he described things. "The unknown fell in and started to dismiss Stain, treating him almost like a non-threat. He later admitted to have done this on purpose."
Aizawa found himself nodding along, some villains tended to overreact to such actions, of course it was quite a dangerous course of action as many overreacted explosively too.
"While dismissing and ignoring Stain he also had Native take a drink of something from a silver bag, he also handed each of us one too, seeing as Native started breathing better after I drank it before Midoriya and Ida did it. It healed all of my injuries and restored our energy." There were lots of alarms going off in Aizawa's head upon hearing that, however there had been no mentions from the doctors that had inspected them. "However the most curious thing was that Stain's Quirk stopped working the moment he handed us those packets. I still have mine and I will happily hand it over later."
"And you kept this from the police and investigators?" Aizawa asked.
"Sir, I know enough to know that handing it over would most likely never reach your or the principal's hands." Todoroki said as a matter of fact tone.
"Okay, I will talk with Nezu so we can run a study on it." He said. He could almost imagine the boy nodding in his usual manner.
"Oh… there was something else that the man said before disappearing." Todoroki suddenly spoke up. "I don't fully understand why, but after looking at Midoriya he said 'Who thought it would be a good idea to stuff seven and a half souls in a human body without preparations'."
"That's…"
"Any idea, teacher?" Todoroki asked.
"I think I do have an idea, but it will take time to investigate. For now you and Ida rest, we'll see to having you brought back to UA as soon as possible."
After ending the call he moved as fast as possible towards Nezu's office.
"Aizawa, anything new?" The principal asked.
He nodded and sat down, quickly communicating all he had learned, not just from his students, but also from his own contacts.
Nezu hummed and nodded all along. "So we've two unknowns, possibly more if the other woman that was seen going along the suspected villain, a possible portal user different from the one used by the League of Villains."
"So what do we have here?" Aizawa asked.
"Honestly? No idea, and that worries me too much." Nezu admitted.
"There's something else, the man apparently took a look at Midoriya before taking him and commented about him having seven and a half souls shoved in him." He said and Nezu froze.
"That's…" Nezu tapped on his desk before reaching for his phone and making a call. "Let's wait a moment."
Toshinori walked into the room, looking confused. "I came as fast as possible, what's the problem?"
"Yes, but first I want you to answer something." Nezu spoke calmly. "How many people had One for All before you?"
"Well… my teacher had been the seventh wielder before passing it to me." He answered. "Why?"
Nezu let out a soft sigh. "Because someone looked at Midoriya and apparently commented about him having had seven and a half souls stuffed into him, before kidnapping him."
"Whu-what?!" Toshinori practically swelled in surprise before quickly shrinking with a bloody cough.
"Yes, it's the most confusing thing." Nezu said.
"And what about Midoriya having been kidnapped?" Toshinori asked.
"Unfortunately we've no idea why they would, especially as the kidnapper had just saved him, Ida and Todoroki from Stain moments prior, all points to the man not having planned it." Nezu explained. "All we can hope is that he's okay and not being tortured."
"AHHHHHHHHH!" Izuku couldn't help but to scream.
"Please, stop screaming, you shouldn't be able to feel anything." The man with his hand buried deep into Izuku's chest spoke calmly. "Don't make me knock you out."
He slowly closed his mouth and tried not to react to the fact that someone had simply stuck a hand into his chest and acted like it was nothing new or surprising. At least he was right and Izuku didn't feel anything.
"Ah… may I ask what you are doing?" He asked fearfully.
"Observation is all well and good. But sometimes one needs to get your hands dirty." The man explained. "Oh, don't misunderstand, your soul's not dirty, it's just a saying."
"Ah-I see… What are you expecting to find?"
"Oh, I'm not expecting to find anything, I'm just doing some damage control." The man answered happily. "I will-"
"We." Magnus interrupted them from his spot a few meters away.
"We will hunt down the remaining soul and see about fixing this whole mess." He finished explaining as he pulled his hand out.
"...Wait, you will hunt All Might?!" Izuku cried out.
"All Might?"
"Number one hero, big dude, very strong." The woman explained.
"Oh, that makes it easier, I was going to scan for similar Souls otherwise." The man mused. "Anyways, yes, otherwise his Soul will most likely collapse. I doubt people here can survive on so little Soul."
"All Might's going to die… oh... right the injury." Izuku's surprise died down quickly, it was most likely a question of what would kill him first, not if the hero would die.
"So have you found anything interesting, bro?" Magnus asked.
"Hmm, yeah, the oldest soul is more like one and a quarter, but it's old enough there's no separating those anymore." He explained. "I think we should move, have you told the rest?"
"Akira's just visiting a few dojos, I think Ranma may have infected her with the training virus." The woman joked. "So she's on her own at the moment."
"Team Maus' doing their usual tour through shopping malls, though they will come if called. Same with Ruby, she's mainly slipping around some hospitals with her medical groups." Magnus said. "Orange just found All Might's location if it helps."
"Wait, you will just break into UA?" Izuku cried out.
"It wouldn't be the first time I break into a learning institution." Magnus commented. "At least I'm not aiming to destroy the current society this time." He nodded and took a long sip from his mug.
"Wha-what's that?" Izuku asked, curious.
"The blood of my crushed enemies, collected as I listened to the lamentation of their women." He answered.
"What?!"
"He's joking, it's just coffee." The woman sighed. "Stop trying to scare him."
"But he overreacts to everything? He's like a squeaky toy." Magnus laughed. "Hey kid, ever seen a giant f-"
The woman smacked the back of his head. "Stop that, no matter how much he reacts like a small animal, he's still a person." She sighed. "Don't trust him too much, he's playing things up, he's a lot more controlled."
"Then why is he doing it?" Izuku asked.
"The actual reason is too complex to explain." She answered. "Basically we three siblings rarely hang out without our father for a reason, and on top of that the Nomus ticked my Milo off."
"You don't want to tick Milo off, that's the events that go down in history books as 'It was a very bad idea' and in geography books as 'that's when we rewrote the maps'." Magnus joked. "Also people get reshaped into cactus and other succulents."
"Uh… what do you mean reshaped into cactus?" Izuku asked with trepidation.
"Milo doesn't kill, okay, he can't kill, it's antithetical to him. He can still kill by proxy, but he's rarely happy about doing it." Magnus quickly answered. "But well… he's the family's most powerful healer, and he's the definition of 'don't fuck with the white mage'. My brother will heal you as easily as he can take you apart and keep you alive. So he usually just reshapes people who get to tick him off into cactus and keeps them on a shelf back at his place."
Izuku was trying to wrap his mind about it, he couldn't understand how a Quirk could do that.
"Hey Claire, do you think Milo will let me fight All Might? I've been itching for a good romp." Magnus' words broke him from his musing.
"Whu-what?!"
"Maybe after he's done with him." She answered.
"But then I won't be able to make him think we killed the bunny boy."
"Bunny boy?!" Izuku didn't stammer.
"Hey Milo, think you can let me fight All Might before you heal him?" Magnus called out as the other man stepped through a portal.
"No, and yes I heard your discussion with Clair." Milo answered. "Now let's go."
"You can't fight All Might! He's the strongest Hero! The number one!" Izuku cried out.
"Oh kid, you've no idea what we're capable of." Magnus said lightheartedly.
"I agree with my brother, plus I wouldn't mind a good fight too." Her words were accompanied by a grin.
"Magnus, you will go first, you're still the most charismatic of us." Milo said.
"Pfft, you two are just being lazy, you have more than enough skill on it as I do." Magnus laughed. "But I won't pass up the chance to scare some people."
A green portal opened in front of them. "Well then, show time." And with those words the man jumped through.
"Will… will he be okay?" Izuku asked.
Claire snorted. "Oh, don't worry." She grinned. "They won't even know what hit them."
Magnus' presence was hidden under a pretty potent Lie as he landed on top of the school. In his opinion it was a mix of functional and overdoing it. Was there a need to make the main building look like a giant H for hero? Though if the building was still usable it didn't really hurt that much.
Orange had already acquired all the plans for the building and even marked his target, made easier by the excessive security system installed all over the place. Not that he blamed them after getting infiltrated by villains. And here it was getting infiltrated again.
The Lie made anything that tried to read him would see the same area as if nothing had changed, as long as he moved fast enough it wouldn't even create a blip in the most sensitive system. It made it easy for him to sneak into the principal's office and help himself to a cup of tea as watched the people discuss the subject he was responsible for.
"...but Midoriya-" The skeletal dude was swiftly interrupted by the white-furred chimera.
"And we're doing the best we can, but without any leads, running out will only complicate the matters, Toshinori."
The third man in the room looked like a mix between a lazy mummy and someone that burned the midnight oil all day around. He was rubbing the bridge of his nose and sighing tiredly.
"Nezu's right. Until we get anything new we can't do anything about it. We don't even know their objectives." The man spoke in a very tired tone.
"All you have to do is ask." An illusion of Magnus said from a couple meters away from him.
The three of them reacted instantly, showing they were all extremely experienced. Even the small principal had pulled a gun from somewhere. But he was also the first to realize the one that spoke.
"Stop." He called out, but the mummy had already launched an attack with his wrapping and the skeleton guy inflated into All Might to try and punch. Of course both attacks went through and scattered some papers off the desk with the might of the blow.
"Rude." Magnus' illusion said as the two heroes looked surprised by this. "Good reflexes, but rude."
"What?" All Might said in surprise.
"That's just an image." The principal spoke as he tried to calm down. "I don't smell anything from it."
"Good senses." The illusion said as he eyed how the chimera's fur slowly went down.
The illusion dissipated only to appear a few meters away.
"What are your intentions?" Nezu asked coldly.
"Asking already and you haven't even presented yourself." The illusion said and chuckled. "But where are my manners?" He turned towards them and bowed. "I'm Magnus, The Traveler. And right now I'm just visiting family, it's just that someone managed to tick my brother off, and let me tell you, someone's going to have a very bad time."
"What about Midoriya?" The skeletal blond quickly asked.
"You mean the bunny rabbit you stuffed with seven souls and half your own?" Magnus asked, once more disappearing and appearing a few meters away. "We'll be fixing that, but for that I will need you to die."
Internally he chuckled at their reaction, and how quickly they got ready for a fight. After a moment of lingering silence he broke out in laughter. The illusion disappeared and revealed his true body, none reacted to the difference as he was still hiding his full presence.
"Oh god, your faces." He laughed. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I mean, I do want to fight you, All Might. But right now it wouldn't be a fight."
Nezu placed his gun down once more and glared at him. "Interesting, I don't hear any lies in your words." He turned towards the mummy. "Aizawa?"
"My Quirk's not doing anything, most likely I would need to look at him directly." The mummy answered.
"I would say it's very fearless of you to come here into my school like this, but if this is just an image…" Nezu mused.
"Who said I'm just an image?" Magnus asked back. "And if I want privacy?" He started to grin. "It's the first time I'll try this, but let's give it a spin."
"What do you mean?" Nezu asked.
But instead of an answer, it was actions that spoke as Magnus pulled on his Domain and expanded it to encompass the room.
"Nor Day or Night," the first words reverberated with Reality, "Nor Truth or Lies," the three heroes froze in abject panic, "Let the Show Commence, Let the Carnival Begin," the Room became his Reality, "P̸h̴a̵n̶t̶a̶s̴m̴a̸g̶o̷r̷i̴a̵ ̴o̷f̶ ̶t̷h̸e̴ ̵T̵w̸i̵l̶i̵g̷h̸t̸."
All Might tried to punch him, but his fist came short as the room expanded. The distance between him and the heroes stretched into Basketball field. The roof rose up by dozens of meters and all doors and windows disappeared as the light became all encompassing.
It wasn't a new technique, he had been capable of expanding his Domain, he technically tapped into it when he went full Titan. But it was only after having acquired the knowledge to create pocket dimensions and the creation of the Magical Creatures Demesnes that he had gotten the insight to combine the technique into something much grander. It would have been much more exhausting to cast if he hadn't started with such limited room.
"What did you do?" The mummy asked as he looked very hard around. Magnus could notice the man doing something, but it didn't seem to be having much effect on anything.
"I set up a proper fighting area, so Milo, do your thing." He called out, getting a confused look from the heroes.
"The things I do for you." Milo popped into existence and touched All Might's back.
Magnus couldn't help but grin, he had allowed his brother to step inside. But he could also see how his brother's Psychic Power had basically twisted reality to teleport. He could have stepped into his Domain with some work even if Magnus denied him.
The big blonde breathed in deep as his brother proceeded to heal him completely, which was quite impressive because most people would have been dead all along given the amount of organs he was missing.
"Done." Milo announced and disappeared from the spot he had been occupying.
"Great news All Might, you're completely healed and back to your prime, so you better fight me if you want to see the little rabbit again." Magnus Lied with a grin full of fangs. "I don't know what terrible things could happen to him otherwise." It surprised him that his taunt didn't work completely, the Hero had enough experience to not fall completely for it.
The Hero still charged ahead, forcing Magnus to block the punch with both his arms. His body practically got launched back and bounced a few times. He had been right, this would be very fun.
"Can you help, Aizawa?" Nezu asked.
The man winced as the shock wave from the punch reached them. "I don't think I'll be of much help, my Quirk doesn't seem to be affecting anything and at this level of brawl I would most likely become a liability." The man admitted.
"Don't worry." Milo spoke calmly, surprising both of them. "And calm down already."
"Ah… hello teacher, principal Nezu." Midoriya waved as he spoke shyly.
"Midoriya are you okay?" Nezu asked succinctly.
"Ah- yes sir." The boy quickly replied.
"He calmed down once Magnus stopped teasing him." Claire offered from the other side. "Honestly kid, you should realize when people are screwing with you."
"Who are you?" Aizawa asked through gritted teeth.
"I'm Claire, this is my brother Milo, the one fighting over there is my brother, this is Ruby," she gestured to the pink-haired woman, "those are Lydia, Moisha and Romeo," she pointed to the three eating popcorn, "and that's Akira." She finished by pointing to the woman by her side.
"Where did you come from? And why are you all here?" Nezu asked, looking stressed.
"It's not everyday that," Milo took a moment of silence as his brother moved at Light speed and punched All Might back, the shock wave reaching them a moment later, "that you get to watch a fight on this level. And honestly my brother's a damn battle junkie."
The three popcorn eaters nodded as they pulled a bucket of popcorn each. "We train with him almost daily and we have never seen him hit anyone that hard, so it's nice to sit back and watch."
"Oh, I've hit him that hard a few times." Ruby offered. "And been hit the same way. It's definitely an… experience."
Aizawa frowned. "Excuse me, but you don't look like the type capable of doing that kind of damage." He pointed towards All Might and Magnus who were duking it out. Their punches were weaker, but that kept them at punching distance of each other.
"Oh, that's simple." She waved it off and there was suddenly a second Ruby behind her. She was nearly three meters tall and built like All Might, her skin was a pale gray and rough like rock, but her figure still held her natural femininity. "I do have a few ways to achieve such physical power."
Milo didn't miss how Nezu's claws seemed to have dug into the armrests of his chair. "You all aren't human." He said and twitched.
"Principal? What are you saying?" Aizawa asked, confused, but Milo simply nodded.
"Yeah, the only human here is Akira." He answered easily.
"Wait, you three aren't human?!" Midoriya cried out.
"Never was, never will." Claire answered. "Ruby's something else, but also not a human either."
"I've more in common with a statue than a human being," Ruby said, "though like this I do count as human, or close enough."
"And those three are Wererats, so kinda based on humans, but they were born that way." Milo said. "By now they are a whole species and the curse's practically part of their genetics."
"And what are you doing here exactly?" Nezu asked.
"Oh, we had just chosen this World to meet since it had been a few years. But then I found that someone was butchering people to make monsters and took it personally." Milo explained with a fake smile.
"… the Nomus." Nezu realized.
"Yeah, once I've finished with the kid's soul issues, and that big lug, we're going to hunt those that created the Nomus." He waved a hand and showed the asleep and restrained villain they had found earlier. "I will hand these over once I'm done with them."
"Shigaraki." Aizawa spoke with surprise.
"Yeah, he was apparently behind the attack, so once things are over here we'll hunt the guys truly behind it." He smiled. "Of course after my brother gets his fill of violence."
His words were accompanied by a sudden and deep Thump sound as All Might was sent flying back from a punch.
"And by the looks of it, he's getting serious, I will most likely have to heal All Might again once he's done." Milo mused.
"Why do you think that?" Nezu asked inquisitively. "You have never seen All Might fight for real."
"And my brother is a weapon user." He answered, Magnus's whole presence changed in a second. "Just sit back and prepare for a show."
.