A Tarnished Hero

After what seemed like an eternity, they could finally see a silhouette up in the far distance. Izuku stood up from his sitting position, a slight grin on his face. Katsuki, meanwhile, scowled as he clenched his fists.

"Fucking finally. Thought this was gonna take forever." The ash blond sneered, rolling his arms as cracks popped along his limbs. "So, how we gonna do this if there are assholes at the top?"

"Same thing we did earlier with those guarding the entrance." Izuku shrugged as he readied his zweihander. "Knock them out if they're hostile or talk if they aren't violent."

"... Eh, sounds good." Katsuki cracked his neck as he readied himself.

The silhouette of the rocky formation slowly grew large and larger as they got closer. The shadow it casted underneath the moonlight hid them beneath its blanket as they slowly ascended. It took at most a minute before they jumped off, Izuku with his zweihander ready to slash any poor fool who decided to give him a hard time, and Katsuki with his gloves hanging on his belt, hands sweaty.

Nobody greeted them at the top, which was quite weird. Mostly, whenever they went through a long wait such as a lift, at the end, there would be someone waiting for them ready to skewer them a new asshole.

But they could see a figure in the distance, hidden within the mist. Its form was low, crude even, and Izuku could see that its arms rummaged through something right in front of him. Approaching it, Izuku's eyes widened slightly when he saw an emaciated figure in rags scrounging through a box, only for it to suddenly look their way and let out a feral groan.

"Huh, didn't expect to see a commoner here." Izuku hummed, blade raised to give the figure a simple beheading to let it rest for a moment. "Thought most of the inhabitants would be sorcerers."

It stood up, body ready to scrap. It lunged at them and Izuku wasted no time bisecting the figure in twain. Both halves landed on the ground, blood pooled underneath the corpse as it breathed its last, its eyes glassy and unseeing.

Katsuki winced slightly. It never got any easier seeing Izuku kill without remorse, but he was slowly getting used to it with a bit of morbid fascination as to how the man himself stayed sane. But then again, was he even sane? Having experienced the Lands Between, even he could say for himself that he was slowly getting broken down, piece by piece, his intentions of being the best of the best slowly losing its merit as he realized the struggle for survival.

And looking down at the corpse of the commoner that Izuku had just struck down made him think back to Japan. Imagining the countless innocents caught in the crossfire between Heroes and Villains made him shudder. It was sickening, and he was all but adhering to the dogma spoonfed to them every day by the mass media about how Heroes were the paragons of society.

He was lucky that he had learned that the hard way when Izuku first died right in front of his eyes after he tried to save his sorry ass. Even after all that he did to him during their childhood, he still tried to save him, to make sure he didn't end up a walking corpse controlled by that fucking Slime Villain.

When he gets back to Japan – and he will, no doubt about that – he was gonna make strides into the Hero Industry, changing it for the better even if he had to drag it kicking and screaming towards a new age. All Might caused a new age all on his own as the Symbol of Peace, reducing the crime rate to near zero, but when he retires, who is gonna pick up the slack?

Truth of the matter was, he saw the writings on the wall. The moment All Might vanishes from the hero scene, things were gonna go fucked. And his egotistic mind was telling him to be there for the fallout.

He may be regretting what he had done in the past, but fuck that if his goal still isn't being number one.

"There's another path here." Izuku said, their eyes roaming to the side as they saw an arch of natural stone. "Wanna see what's indie here before heading forward?" 

"... Sure." Katsuki nodded. He followed Izuku into the pathway, and inside, they saw two more commoners just lounging about, and a giant mechanism that was possibly part of the lift that 

Izuku wasted no time in wasting the two commoners with his zweihander, the corpses dropping to the ground like sacks of potatoes.

"That is one big gear." Izuku noted as he beheld the mechanism that was continuously turning. "You think the commoners were maintaining the thing for the entire time being here?"

"Eh, maybe. Don't know what else they were doing here." Katsuki crouched down and examined the corpses, trying to look for anything worthwhile to take. "Must've been brought here for a reason. This is an academy of sorcery, after all."

"... True." Izuku nodded, then did the same with the other commoner corpse. After not finding anything worthwhile, they continued on, but before going back to the main path, they looked at the end of a wall and found some crystal darts. Pocketing them, they went back to the main path and came face to face with a building leading deeper into the academy.

"Oh, finally. Thought there wasn't going to be another site." Izuku smiled, the familiar feeling of grace touching his very souls as it floated innocently in the middle of the room. Katsuki, still not seeing the site of grace, shrugged and waited for Izuku to be done with his familiar ritual.

Izuku hovered a palm over the site, his palm going warm, a stark contrast to the chill of the mist outside. It circled around him, and closing his eyes, he knelt down before sitting before it, his mind being at peace.

"Katsuki, if I die, you wait here, alright." Izuku said and Katsuki nodded, fully noting that the armored man said it with nary a hint of amusement. "I don't care how long it takes, you will wait here with my bottomless box until I revive."

"Yeah, yeah." Izuku waved his hands around. "No need telling me not to be suicidal like your ass used to be."

"... Wanna say that to my face again?" Izuku frowned and Katsuki stiffened at the sudden slip of the tongue.

"... Sorry. Bad habit." And amusingly, Katsuki was being genuine about that. Izuku snickered and patted him on the shoulder.

"Just messing with you." Izuku smirked, hands going back to warm himself with the site of grace. "I know I was a bit suicidal, rushing in to save you from the Slime Villain."

"And I was an ass for trying to bait you into suicide. No need to victim blame here, Izuku." Katsuki's words caused Izuku to shrug.

"Just let bygones be bygones." Izuku waved him away. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to do something privately. Can you please go out for a minute? This won't take long."

Katsuki looked at Izuku for a bit with a scrutinizing gaze, then shrugged.

"Fine. Just don't take too long." The ash blond moved to head out from where they came from. "It's fucking cold outside."

Like Izuku believed that. The ash blond wasn't affected by the cold that much due to the nature of his Quirk. But then again, the mist outside wasn't normal, so maybe there was an effect?

He pondered for a bit until Katsuki stepped out of sight, and hopefully out of earshot. Once he was away, Izuku stared at the site of grace silently, until a figure materialized before him.

"Tarnished." Melina greeted him with the usual blank face she had. Smiling, Izuku acknowledged her with a nod and waved his arm at her.

"Melina. Been a while." Izuku started, knowing that for the spectral girl, it wasn't a while. She was always with him, always watching, always observing.

"Indeed, it has." She approached him slowly, kneeling beside him as she stared directly into his eyes. "Never would I have thought to see a regular human – albeit one with powers not known to this world – thrive in the Lands Between."

"Well, yeah. Katsuki has always been a stubborn idiot." Izuku chuckled a bit. "Give him a goal he agrees with, and he'll chase it like the mad dog that he is." His smile turned into a frown as a pensive look overtook his face." Hey, can I ask for you a favor?"

"A favor?" Melina tilted her head slightly.

"If I die, would you mind keeping Katsuki company?" Izuku's request caused the spectral girl to blink. The two went silent for a moment, before Melina broke it with a question of her own.

"Why?"

"Just to make sure he won't die while I'm not around. I still need to get him back home to Japan. Dying alone with no one knowing what had happened to him is not something I would wish for him, even with all the shit he put me through in the past." Izuku stared at the hovering site of grace, its golden glow washing over him in droves. "Plus, maybe you could teach him some things here in the Lands Between. Maybe teach him some sorceries if you know some?"

"... I am no sorcerer." Melina said with a slight frown. "However, if you wish for me to do so, I may try to learn the most basic of basics. We are, after all, inside one of the most well-regarded places to learn such a thing."

"Are you, perhaps, interested in the art?" Izuku scooched closer, and the spectral girl sighed for a bit.

"It was a bit of an interest to me in the past." Melina closed her lone eye, the marking evident on the other closed just as mysterious as it was the first time they met. "Albeit, with all that has happened, I haven't gotten to trying."

"... Well, maybe now you could do so." Izuku shrugged, eyes turning away from the hovering grace and onto Melina. "At any rate, I think it's time I converted some of my runes."

"As you wish." Melina stood up and held her arms out. Izuku knelt in front of her and reached out for her extended arm. The ritual following that was a bit longer than before, due to the stockpile of runes Izuku had collected without dying even once.

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"Alright Katsuki. I'm done." Izuku called out for the ash blond just loitering outside. Not a moment later, Katsuki came in with his hands inside his pockets, a scowl decorating his lips.

"Fucking finally. Thought you were gonna take longer." The ash blond groaned as he shivered. "It's fucking cold outside, you know?"

"... Oops." For his part, Izuku looked a little bit guilty. His body was no longer that of a normal mortal, so he didn't realize that Katsuki was affected by the chill of the mist… But then again… "Don't you have resistance to significant temperatures because of your Quirk?"

"Bitch, I can deal with heat." Katsuki looked mightily offended by that. "But fuck the cold. I may put up with it, but never in my life do I want to wear a shit-ton of clothes just to not get a cold."

"... Fair enough." Izuku shrugged then stood up. "By the way, this is the new place you'll be staying at if I do end up dying. Just wait for me to revive here and then we'll continue where we left off."

"... Sure." That ash blond just stared mutely at the armored man, before the two went on their way. Heading into the door that led into a corridor, they were met with a split in the path. Looking to the left, they saw something resembling a library – then again, the entire academy is technically a giant library – and the corridor stretched further into the right.

"You are not supposed to be here." And of course, they didn't forget that one of the sorcerers had met them face to face – or in this case, blade to face because the sorcerer was wielding what looked like a sword and buckler comb. "Identify yourselves or face the consequences."

Izuku and Katsuki looked at each other for a moment, before looking back at the giant-mask wearing sorcerer.

"I have important business with Rennala, the other one with me is just a tag-along." Izuku pointed towards Katsuki, to which the ash blond just rolled his eyes. They could feel the piercing stare of the masked sorcerer, until he jerked and readied his blade. He swung down, faster than what was expected of a sorcerer, but Izuku was able to knock it to the side with his gauntleted fist and drive his other hand into the sorcerer's exposed belly.

The sorcerer doubled over as he gasped for air, only for him to be sent into slumber by Izuku kneeing him in the face. His mask must've been one sturdy thing, because it hardly cracked, but the impact was enough to send him sprawling to the ground, his sword clattering against the brick floor.

"Welp, had a feeling he was gonna do that." Izuku said while grabbing a cord of sturdy rope from his bottomless box. He tied it around the sorcerer and once they were done, they went on their merry way deeper into the academy.

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"That was… quite a workout…" Izuku huffed for a bit, his zweihander resting on his shoulder as he looked at the carnage they had wrought. Bodies of sorcerers, all of them sent into the realms of unconsciousness littered the floor and stairs. "Didn't expect them to be so few, though… Aren't we nearing the top of the academy?"

"Maybe most of them are still dead and are in the process of being revived." Katsuki rolled his shoulders, his armor scratched and nicked from the earlier melee.

After they had dealt with the first sorcerer that was patrolling the corridor, the next area they visited was a nesting spot of sorcerers, with most of them reading through books that were scattered haphazardly. And, surprisingly enough, there was a hostile Great Warrior Jar that Izuku broke with a hint of resistance just because it looked like Alexander.

The following area was also filled with sorcerers, and this time, accompanied by sorcerers with swords and shields. They also used sorceries that complemented their fighting style well. Like enchanting their weapons and elongating their reach.

It was a bit fun fighting them. Sadly, he didn't want to waste time being stuck in the academy longer than he wanted to, plus Katsuki was here, so he had to go all out and just knock them all into la-la land. This time, however, they just left them all where they were downed and continued on to where they were now.

"I doubt it." Izuku hummed, a finger under his chin. "You think they're all out there doing something? Like say research?"

"... Probably, but I don't give a fuck, and why should you?" Katsuki raised an eyebrow at Izuku, to which the armored man responded with a shrug.

"Hey, simple curiosity." Izuku then turned to head for the final corridor, and what greeted him made him frown. "Well, shit."

"What do you mean shi- what the fuck is that?" Katsuki narrowed his eyes. A golden, shimmering mist blocked their path, and he wasn't too keen on approaching said thing that might be bad for his health. Well, it was bad, just not in the way he was thinking.

Unlatching his bottomless box, Izuku passed it over to Katsuki, who began to realize what the armored man was gonna do.

"Wait for me back at where I said you would. It'll maybe take a few hours, maybe even a few days." Izuku said, his eyes not leaving the mist that shimmered all the while. "I've also arranged for someone to keep you company while I'm away. You'll know her when you see her."

"... Alright." Katsuki wasn't normally one to agree quickly, but the tone Izuku had was something he didn't want to challenge, so with a brief nod, he went back to the Site of Grace.

Sighing, Izuku took a step forward, sword ready to raise havoc. Touching the mist with his hand, he felt his palm tingle, the sensation going through his entire arm as he pushed onward. Once he was past the mist, he looked around to see that he was in some kind of giant hall with expensive-looking chandeliers hanging from the ceiling.

And there was a huge red wolf in the center, looking at him like he was lunch.

Okay, Izuku didn't expect that. Maybe it would be easy after all. And then his eyes widened when it casted sorcery. Dodging to the side, he narrowly avoided the flying blue spectral sword, only to immediately block an incoming attack from a pouncing giant wolf.

Yeah, this was going to be a pain.

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