A Tarnished Hero

"The fuck were those things?" Katsuki pointed at the mangled body of what was once a puppet he had exploded into pieces. The crossbows it used were collateral from explosion radius, bits of wood and metal scattering around the floor.

"First time fighting those things?" Izuku's amused grin didn't help wonders for Katsuki's increasingly irate mood. "I don't know what they're called, just know that they're a pain in the ass."

"Yeah, I saw that." Katsuki grouched, his boot coming up to stomp the intact head of one of the puppets without remorse. His hand came up to his neck, his fingers rubbing against it. "Fucking hell, nearly had a bolt clip through my neck."

"Anyway, let's tie this one right next to those outside. At least he'll have company when he wakes up." Izuku approached the downed sorcerer, All Strike laying right beside him. During his charge against the other puppet, Izuku had thrown his trusty zweihander – pommel first – directly into the face of the sorcerer. He didn't want to skewer the poor man, plus, he thought it was funny.

Grabbing the unnamed sorcerer by the scruff of his neck, he dragged the man across the floor, the carpet and his silky robes ensuring his poor rump didn't get scratched from the friction. Once outside, they gave him the same treatment as the other two, then went back inside the building.

"This way." Izuku gestured towards the left side of the hall, leading into a corridor that went both ways. A hint of gold caught his eyes heading left and he immediately pursued, leaving Katsuki a bit confused at the sudden act. At the end of the hall, he found another Site of Grace. It was just as warm and soothing as all the others.

"Izuku? The hell you doin'?" Katsuki followed him, his boots stomping along the concrete floor.

"Just found something." Izuku replied while holding out a hand in front of the Site of Grace. Katsuki was clearly confused as to what the armored greenette was doing, but this wasn't the first time he'd seen him doing this.

It was a point of curiosity for the ash blond whenever he saw Izuku doing this in one seemingly random place. But with how many times he'd done this during the past week, he'd gotten used to it already.

Doesn't mean it didn't confuse the hell out of him every time he did that.

Izuku felt his hand tingle at the sudden surge of warmth coming from the Site of Grace, his lips threatening to split his face in two as his chest heaved up and down in a slow and relaxed manner. Slowly getting on a knee, his worries all washed away, as the only thing his eyes and body could focus on was the Site of Grace once lost, now found once more.

"Whooo… That felt good." Izuku grinned, his hand waving around the golden Grace hovering above the ground, bobbing up and down as motes golden light orbited around. There was also a streak of golden aura trailing above and into a ceiling, guiding him to his journey's end… for this place at least. "Didn't expect to find one here, and it's been too long since I've seen another."

"Find what?" Katsuki suddenly popped up from behind him and Izuku had to stop himself from beheading the ash blond due to his instincts.

"Not really important to you…" Izuku started, only to trail off for a bit. "Actually, maybe it is. This spot right here, if for some reason I die, head back here and wait until I revive. Also, grab my bottomless box, it has all of our supplies inside so you won't go hungry."

"... Riiight… How long should I wait exactly?" Katsuki crossed his arms and Izuku hummed for a bit, before he snapped his fingers.

"Maybe about a day or two, up to a week." Izuku concluded, only to get a quick outburst from the ash blond.

"A fucking week!?" Katsuki growled. "The fuck am I supposed to do during that time!?"

"I don't know. Train, maybe? Unless you want to go out into the world all alone without Torrent. Or explore this academy all by yourself. Just don't complain if you die and don't come back." Izuku shrugged and walked forward, sidestepping the ash blond who was standing still with a big frown on his face.

Shortly after, the ash blond followed Izuku, still a bit peeved at the thought of him dying and leaving him all alone for who knows how long.

Continuing along the corridor, Izuku noted statues of some kind of bird nesting every second pillar. Boxes of crystals sat pretty on one of the tabletops along the wall, resting beside a large empty cage. Torches and candles lit the pathway, while chandeliers hung overhead.

At the very end of the hall, a window filtered in light coming from the moonlight beyond the thick fog. It was also a bit confusing, seeing as how before they rode up the lift, the sun's rays were bathing the land in its rich, orange light, but now it just wasn't present, replaced by the moon that was somehow larger looking than it was a night before.

"So, what'd you expect from a place like this?" Izuku asked suddenly, their footsteps echoing throughout the corridor. "I expect magic and something along those lines, but I've been pleasantly surprised multiple times during my travels in the Lands Between."

"Dunno, just arrived here a week before," Katsuki remarked, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "Something I didn't plan, so now I'm tagging along with your sorry ass 'cuz I don't wanna kick the bucket."

"Eh, fair enough." Izuku shrugged and ignored Katsuki's grousing. A week may be a short time, but when in the Lands Between, being able to survive for a week without once getting a major injury was a miracle, in and of itself. It might be because of Izuku doing his damnedest to ensure that Katsuki didn't get his head chopped off, or it might be because of a deity watching high and above. "Anyway, I see something along the left wall. Another passage?"

"What else? Unless there's a secret wall, I fucking doubt this corridor would be a dead end." Katsuki rolled his arm, his bones cracking along with the action. "No other entrance further in otherwise."

The two of them approached the new passageway and noticed stairs going downwards and outside, a door non-existent in the archway. The two of them looked at each other for a moment, before nodding and heading down, their steps light and careful.

Izuku readied All Strike, just in case puppets decided to jumpscare them as they exited the building, while Katsuki raised his arms, palms sweaty and ready. The moment their boots stepped on dirt, their eyes roamed left and met with gravestones as far as the eyes could see. There were also some… lanky human-like things lumbering about, their groans a brutish rumble against the ears.

"... What the fuck…?" Katsuki murmured under his breath, but that proved a mistake he shouldn't have made. Glowing blue eyes tracked their position, and with a grumble that sounded more threatening than the last, it lunged at them. "Holy shit!"

Katsuki's reaction was quick, his sweaty palms pointing in the direction of the thing's direction and letting out a giant explosion. It erupted into flames and chunks of meat, dried flesh raining from the sky as Katsuki slumped on his ass, his eyes wide.

"Didn't expect to find zombies here…" Izuku crouched down and inspected the remains of the blown-up zombie. "But then again, zombies and magic go hand in hand together when talking about a fantasy world such as the Lands Between."

Meanwhile, Katsuki's breaths came sharp and quick, his trembling hands betraying the shock he tried to hide because of the devastating result his explosion had wrought.

"First time seeing someone blow up like that?" Izuku asked and Katsuki mutely nodded. "Yeah, that'll get ya. Anyway, up you go. The noise we made might've alerted whatever else was in the cemetery…" Izuku helped Katsuki up, the ash blond cautiously looking around the slightly foggy cemetery.

And what a big cemetery it was. It stretched as far as the eye could see, more of the land hidden behind walls of buildings towering into the dim sky. And what's worse, they could see more glowing eyes shambling across the dark land.

They were also heading their way.

"Well… Shit… Didn't expect to be fighting a horde of undead inside a magic academy… Good experience though." Izuku grinned, his zweihander at the ready. "You ready to fight a horde of undead, Katsuki?"

Katsuki looked at Izuku like he was a madman, before realizing that, yes, he was completely serious. Sighing, he turned his red eyes towards the incoming horde of shambling zombies.

"If I turn into one of them when bit…" Katsuki began, only for Izuku to interrupt him with a raised eyebrow.

"This isn't a virus. It's magic, and it's probably the same thing as the soldiers we fought getting up here." Izuku pointed out, not worried at all about the zombies slowly getting closer and closer to their position. "They were probably already dead when whatever made everybody semi-immortal happened. And this is the end result."

"... Fuck it." Katsuki murmured, trying to shake off the lingering shock of blowing something so human-shaped to bits. He breathed in deep, and exhaled just as long, before a ferocious grin overtook his face. "Might as well see how strong my quirk can get."

"That's the spirit!" Izuku patted the ash blond on the back. Stepping forward, the two of them roared their challenge as they met with the horde of undead.

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The more they went deeper into the cemetery, the more the horde of magic zombies swarmed them, their groans eerie enough to send shivers down anormal man's spine. However, both Izuku and Katsuki were not normal men. Izuku was as broken as a plate he had accidentally dropped during his early childhood years, and Katsuki was just built different.

How else could a person explain his treatment to Izuku during their early years if not built different?

A zombie lunged towards Izuku; jaw open as its rotted teeth glinted underneath the moonlight. Said jaw was promptly flying through the air along with the entirety of its head as Izuku decapitated it with a simple swing of his zweihander.

The zombies around it were not exempt from the wide slash, their heads, and for some of them, their bodies sent flying through the air as organs and blood spilled from their open wounds.

Meanwhile, Katsuki was busy dealing with another horde on their tail, his explosions blasting the rotten carcasses into bits and pieces. He ignored the stench and the seldom chunk of meat slapping against his face after every explosion, but he sure as hell didn't like it judging from the way he cringed every time it happened.

As he was busy recoiling from the explosion he had just given off, the upper half of a zombie that still hadn't lost consciousness grabbed onto his legs. Its jaws were wide open, ready to take a chunk of meat from his body.

Immediately, Katsuki bent down and grabbed the zombie by the head, his hands feeling the rough and decayed skin of the zombie's scalp. Not paying any mind to it, he set his quirk off and obliterated the zombie's head, bits of grey matter splattering across the soft ground.

The headless zombie slumped to the ground, unmoving, and Katsuki let out a breath he was holding in. Looking back, he saw Izuku mopping off the rest of the horde with his zweihander, as well as his newly acquired skill.

A literal fucking dragon breath.

A spectral dragon head formed over his head and not a second later did it begin spewing flames that could melt stone. Some of the headstones were scorched black, but surprisingly, they remained intact. The zombies on the other hand? Not so much.

However, probably wasn't used to using his flame breath that much, as the next moment, he was jumped by a zombie and bitten in the neck without much resistance. It must've had a strong set of jaws as his armor proved worthless against its teeth, Izuku feeling the pain coursing through his nerves.

As natural as it was for him, he ignored it, but there was something else that was being sucked out of him. His magic reserves, or so he called it.

Eyes widening at the prospect of having his power sucked out, Izuku grabbed the zombie by the head and immediately crushed it like a grape. The zombies' teeth remained lodged into his flesh as its body went slack.

Prying it off of him, Izuku rummaged through his pack and withdrew his wonderful Flask of Cerulean Tears, before gulping down a sip. He placed it back inside once he was done and went back to scorching the rest of the zombies that remained.

A few seconds later, the area was clear of moving undead, their charred remains laying still on the ground. Izuku huffed, his chest and throat still burning hot from the dragon breath he had abused against these magic zombies.

Yes, he was calling them magic zombies because they also suck magic as well. Kind of on point for a magic academy to have undead that sucked out magic… or sorcery in their terms. Izuku continued to call them magic just to differentiate the spells and the reserves required to cast said sorceries, or in his case, incantations.

"You gonna do anything with that bite wound?" Katsuki pointed out as he bent over, hands on his knees as sweat dripped from his chin. His clothes and armor were drenched with rotten blood, the stench coming from him incredibly nauseating. That said, it didn't affect them one bit, already having been used to the smell from their other fights where gore splattered all about.

"Was going to." Izuku replied as he rummaged through his bottomless box, retrieving a golden, glowing rock that was warm to the touch. Tossing it to the ground, Izuku felt its warm embrace soothing his soul, his wound beginning to heal, albeit slowly.

Katsuki scooched closer as well, recognizing the stone that had healed him, his classmates, and his schoolmates whenever Izuku went full harsh taskmaster during their training. He didn't sport the grievous injury that Izuku had gotten from the bite, but he did have bruises and cuts from the tight grip and harsh nails the zombies had.

"Didn't expect you to get fucking bit like that." Katsuki started after the two of them laid silent for a few seconds. "Your new… power that distracting?"

"Yeah." Izuku nodded, eyes staring at the warming stone that continued to offer its warm glow to heal the two of them. "Felt like I had no control over myself while breathing out the flames. Couldn't move my arms to defend, or my feet to reposition. At least with Dragonclaw, I could still move how I want... but using Dragonbreath…" Izuku pursed his lips, eyes narrowed as he focused on the warmth. "Maybe I just need more practice with it."

His piece said, the area descended into silence once more, save for the humming of the warming stone giving them refuge. Once it ran out of juice and Izuku and Katsuki felt their bodies refreshed, they continued on, most of the cemetery still waiting to be uncovered.

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