Chapter 21: Viewing - Undead Asylum 4
A/N: Longers chapter so far...
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"…" everybody was silent at the memory of Izuku dying. They all looked at him with stupefied expressions, while Ochako looked at him with worried eyes.
"Get used to it, that won't be the last time I die," Izuku said solemnly with a tired grin.
["AGH!" I wake up panicking, touching the location where my chest got stabbed. I patted it down and saw no hole, no blade going through it, no blood leaking, heck there wasn't even a hole in my clothes.]
["What happ--!?" I took a good look at my arm with wide eyes. My mouth was hanging open, too shocked to even comment about what happened. My skin was all dried up, thin and frail, what's more, it felt cold to the touch.]
"What the hell…" Yagi murmured in shock at the appearance of his student. The horrifying visage of Izuku was similar to his, bar the rotten skin.
"Dude… That's…" Kaminari tried forming some sentences but was unable to, while Mineta was busy gaping at the form of their strongest classmate.
All the girls blanched, turned green, and asked for paper bags, except for the heroes and the girls who saw Izuku's form in the hospital.
["What the hell…" I murmured under my breath, my arms shaking from pure shock and fear. 'Why is my skin dried? Why do I look like those… Undead in the corridors?']
[I just stared at my skin; The rotten, dried skin plastered on my body. Then I noticed something else…]
[I couldn't breathe…]
[More specifically, I didn't need to breathe. It was like my body refused to take in the oxygen and use it to supplement nutrients to my organs. No, it felt like it was unneeded. I surveyed the area around me. It was the bonfire area just past the room with the giant monster.]
"Die and head back to a bonfire?" Aizawa questioned with surprised eyes. Even if he was used to some dark things, seeing a teen die like that in the first person was terrible.
"The last bonfire used," Izuku corrected, in which Aizawa nodded.
["… Wait… Didn't Oscar say that I'm an Undead as well?" just remembering that important detail from Oscar, I try to recall the writings outside the cell where I was kept.]
["… Undead revives…" I mutter, and for the first time since I arrived in this hellhole, I felt relieved. Relieved that I won't die permanently, and hope that I can get back home no matter how long.]
["I'm going home… Just wait…"]
"That's… Not a good mindset…" mumbled Present Mic while Aizawa nodded in agreement.
[I stepped forward and into the corridor where the Undead, no, Hollow with a bow was posted in.]
["Ghk!?" I winced in pain, an arrow suddenly lodged inside my shoulder. Looking up, I saw the same Hollow that I killed earlier, getting ready to shoot another arrow at me. I ducked into the cell where I picked up my shield and pulled the arrow out of my soldier with great difficulty.]
Everybody winced at the action. Heroes knew how painful it was to forcefully rip out something lodged inside your body during hero work, so they could empathize with Izuku here.
["Khk… Gh… ARgghhh!!" I yelled as the arrow was pulled out and tossed into the floor. I slumped back on the wall, the pain from being pierced still on my mind. "Aghh…"]
[I rustled through the satchel that was on me since I arrived and took the Estus Flask. I took a sip, endured the brief pain of burning, and sighed contently as the pain began to disperse. Once the pain was gone, I placed the Estus Flask back in my satchel for future use.]
"Very useful indeed," commented Nezu with a chuckle, and in response, Izuku gave him a laugh.
"It is, isn't it?"
[The other students who were glancing at Izuku were incredibly worried about his nonchalance, but they didn't know the full story of Izuku yet, so they shut up for now.]
["Note to self… Never let your guard down…" I established my first rule, and probably the most important rule when traversing these lands. Peeking out to the corridor, another arrow flew past me and hit the wall nearby.]
"Good, never let your guard down. A lesson I will teach every one of you in class," Aizawa stated to his students.
[It was at that time, I ran forward, never stopping. The Hollow knocked another arrow and fired. I raised my shield and blocked the incoming projectile. Seeing that its attack didn't work, it begins to run away, but I didn't give it a chance to.]
[I sprinted and held the knife in a reverse grip. Once close, I gave it a backstab into its neck, the Hollow instantly crumpling down to the ground.]
[I look at the corpse for a moment, the feeling of repulsion slowly dying and fading into oblivion. Before, I would feel horrible, but now, after tasting death and extreme pain, I felt indifference.]
"… Should we be worried?" asked Sero with a twitchy frown.
"Not really," Izuku said with a stoic gaze. "You'll know why soon."
['I don't want to die again… I don't want to feel that kind of pain again…' I thought as I continued upwards and into the arch where the fog gate was at before. The cell door was still impossible to open due to the rubble still giving me the sight of the corpse of the late Knight Oscar.]
[I ignored the corpse, for now, it wouldn't do to waste time and headed up the stairs, and then the rumble started.]
["You've got to be kiddi—" I dodged to the side, only this time, I stuck the landing and avoided the tumble down the stairs. The boulder smashed into the wall inside the sewer where Oscar's corpse lay still. I look up and see the same Hollow that killed me earlier with its broken sword.]
"So… Everything gets reset when you die?" Ochako asked with a curious face.
"Either I die, or I rest in a bonfire, everything gets reset. Don't ask how, I have no idea either," Izuku stated, causing the students to sweat-drop at his claims.
[I growled in anger, which surprised me. 'I haven't expressed, nor retaliated against those who physically and mentally abused me. Heck, I didn't retaliate against Kacchan… Katsuki even when he used his quirk on me daily, so why now?']
"… Bakugou," Aizawa's chilly voice echoed throughout the classroom. The students who heard the chilly voice froze in fear. "Meet me with the principal after this."
"Indeed," Nezu chirped cheerily from the side, though if you looked at his eyes, you would notice that he wasn't cheerful, not at all.
Bakugou nodded nervously. He may be an arrogant asshole, but he knows when to be nervous, as shown by his nervousness when his mom blew a fuse at him when Izuku's mother told her of his suicide attempt.
[Shaking my head to forget that thought for the moment, I focus on the Hollow with a dangerous weapon in hand. I slowly trek up the stairs, dagger gripped tightly in my hand. Once close, the Hollow lunged at me.]
[I sloppily blocked the attack with my shield, surprised at how heavy the attack was. My shield-arm was pushed down due to the blow and I staggered. I noticed the Hollow moving in to attack, but I was too slow to respond because of how extremely inexperienced I am when it comes to fighting.]
[It wasn't too surprising that the Hollow managed to stab me again. What I wasn't expecting was for it to stab directly into my eye.]
"Holy fucking shit…" Kaminari murmured with wide eyes, while the rest were too speechless at the violence ongoing on-screen.
["ARRGGHHH!!!!" I yelled out, stumbling back into the ground due to the extreme pain I was currently experiencing. 'Flask! Flask! Where's the FLASK!?']
[In my panic to grab the Estus Flask out of the satchel, the Hollow stepped in to deliver another attack. I noticed, but due to my haste, I tripped and the blade slit my throat. I collapsed into the ground as I lay there, bleeding to death.]
"…"
"… All of you okay?" Izuku asked with the same expressionless gaze.
"Are we okay? How about you!? How the hell are you ok after that!?" Mina, the usually cheerful and bubbly teenager who was scarred by the horrifying events in the USJ screamed out. "I lost a fucking horn and almost died, and I still can't get over it!"
"Mina, calm down!" her friend Hagakure Toru said while holding her shoulders.
"Trust me on this, you never get over it," Izuku said with the same expressionless gaze. Mina thought as if his eyes were staring deep into her soul. "You learn to ignore it, and get used to it."
His words dropped the entire room into a chilly silence.
'Therapy won't work with Izuku, he's too far gone," Aizawa thought grimly. Mina sat back down while tears were dropping from her eyes, her mind reliving the time where she was almost killed by those sword-wielding villains back at USJ.
Todoroki Shoto, who was silently observing the interaction, pursed his lips and looked at his left arm, or what was left of it.
[After a few more seconds of unexplainable pain, I blacked out and opened my eyes again to see the same sewer area where the bonfire was located at. I patted my eye, then my neck to see for any damage.]
["Hehehe… Hahahaha… HAHAHAHA!" I laughed maniacally. 'What the hell was I thinking? Hope? No matter how many times I die? FUCK THAT!']
[I cradled myself in the corner, crying silently at my horrifying experiences with death. 'The pain Katsuki gave me wasn't this painful! The feeling of slowly bleeding out… The feeling of having your eye punctured…']
["JUST WHO THE HELL CAN ENDURE THAT KIND OF PAIN AND SUFFERING ONLY TO RETRY AGAIN!?"]
Everybody who heard his outburst winced at his emotional distress. No teenager, hell, no person, hero, or villain, should go through what Izuku has gone through.
['I was just too hopeful… If I just knew how to fight… Instead of just copying notes… Katsuki was right, I really am just a Deku…']
[I stayed in that corner for who knew how long until I ran out of tears to spend. It seems that even if my body is dried up like a corpse, I can still produce liquid, a.k.a. tears and blood.]
["… I'll… try again…" I stood up, my eyes unfocused. I headed into the corridor where the Hollow with the bow was again, and this time, instinct kicked in and I sprinted towards the Hollow. I dodged one arrow and quickly slit its throat. The corpse fell but I ignored it and headed back up into the stairs with the boulder.]
'He's breaking,' Yagi thought with a grimace. Aizawa had the same thought, as well as the other heroes present.
[I dodged it, then climbed back up the stairs to see the Hollow swinging that damned sword towards me. Instead of blocking the attack, I let it slide right beside me by using my shield and stabbed its eye with my knife.]
[It crumpled down to the floor unmoving, beads of sweat dripped from my chin and into the floor, and in an instinctual rage, I kicked its head once, twice, and thrice to get my frustrations out of my head.]
["… Haah…" I breathed out the air I kept in. I may not need to breathe, but human instinct prompted me to. ]
[I notice a green aura at the spot where I died. Now that I wasn't focusing on not dying, I remember that there was also another green aura when I came back here before I died last time. I held out my hand towards it and noticed the blood pooling below the green aura. When my hand came in contact with said green aura, it flowed right into me and I felt souls coming into me.]
"Hmm… Interesting," Nezu commented with an ever-present smile on his face. "Could you explain to us what that is, Midoriya?"
"It's a bloodstain, MY bloodstain," Izuku said with a shrug. "When I die, I lose all the souls within me, and I only have one chance to get them back. As for the use of souls, they're used as currency, or to strengthen me up using the bonfire."
"Interesting… Very interesting indeed," Nezu chirped and narrowed his gaze at Izuku. "Then, could you tell us how strong you actually are?"
"Hm… Physically, I'd say a level below All Might," Izuku said with a stoic gaze, while everybody in the room stared at the teen with wide eyes. "Overall, though, All Might wouldn't win against me, I have many tricks hidden within me. That includes my semi-immortality."
"So you still revive, even here?" Nezu asked seriously, his smile now gone replaced by a frown.
"Happened in the USJ," Izuku replied.
At the bombshell, all the students and heroes stared at the teen with wide eyes, and most with an open mouth.
'I'll have to keep an eye on him,' Nezu thought as he focused his gaze back on the screen.
[After that, I headed towards the iron door that was blocking my path and tried to open it, only to find out that it was locked.]
[Fumbling through my satchel again, I grab the key Oscar gave me before his death and insert it into the keyhole. The lock clicked, and I opened the door and into a new area.]
[It looks like I was at the top of a wall with degrading parapets. Looking to the walkway to my left, I see three Hollows, two with swords, and another with a bow. The Hollows notice me and I jumped back to cover before an arrow flies past me and into the wall. The two Hollows follow me and I get ready for a fight.]
[Just like the Hollow earlier, the both of them lunged at me with an attack. I realize that I had no chances with blocking or deflecting/parrying, so I opted to jump back and watch as their swords clang into the ground. Taking that to my advantage, I sprint into one Hollow and thrust my knife into its under-jaw, killing it instantly.]
[The other Hollow ignores my killing of its comrade and decides to attack me instead. I try to dodge but was stabbed through the arm because of how slow I was, the blade protruding out the opposite end of my arm.]
"That has gotta hurt," Kaminari winced as he rubbed his arm, along with the others.
"Come to think of it, why hasn't Midoriya used his quirk yet?" Mineta asked with his hand on his chin. At this, Bakugou winced one more time.
"I'm Quirkless," Izuku landed another bombshell into the room.
"Of course you are…" Aizawa said with a frown. Now his attempted suicide made sense.
["GHHHHHH!!!!" I grit my teeth and endured the pain. 'I'm not dying again…']
[I bash my shield on its head, causing it to let go of its sword from the concussion. I then kicked its head to push it back while I remove the foreign material from my arm.]
["…Khh…. ACCKK!!! AAARRRGGGHHHHHH!!!" I yelled out as the sword was painfully removed and clanged into the ground. I shakily grab the Estus Flask from my satchel and gulped down the fire. It burned, but the pain receding was a welcome effect.]
"… We need something like that…" Yagi mumbled under his breath.
"Maybe the unknown villains have something like that, I'll have Recovery Girl research them to replicate a similar effect," Nezu whispered to All Might. "We might be able to heal you back to your top shape."
"Thanks, Nezu," Yagi replied with a smile.
[Now fully healed, I looked at the Hollow that was about to lunge at me again. Since it didn't have any weapon, I had it impale itself with my knife during its lunge. The Hollow stumbled back and I gave it a swift death via slit throat.]
[Once the two of those hollows were dead, I sprinted into the other Hollow with the bow after I jumped out of cover. An arrow flew past, but I blocked it with my shield and stabbed it through the head.]
[I look at the fog gate to my left after the Hollow collapses on the ground. There are more writings on the ground telling me to try a drop attack, but I ignore it for now in favor of looking at this other room in front of me.]
[Inside was another Hollow, but more well-equipped than the other Hollows I killed. It notices me and rushes towards me with its shield raised. I tense up, ready for an attack coming for me. It gave a quick thrust, and using my shield, parried it high into the air exposing its body for an attack. Not giving it time, I lodge the knife into its neck and killed it instantly.]
[Another door was in my view and I try opening it, only to realize it was locked, and the key Oscar gave me didn't fit. With that area blocked off, I headed back towards the fog gate readied myself before going through it.]
"… Is it me, or does that place look familiar?" Tsuyu asked with a finger on her chin.
"It does most certainly look familiar," Iida replied with his signature robotic movement.
['This place looks familiar…' I thought and looked around. Only when I looked down did I see the monster staring back at me with menacing eyes. Fear taking over my body, I try going back through the fog gate only to bump into it, the fog not giving me passage.]
["W-wait… Y-you can't b-be serious…" I squeaked and looked behind me, only to see the face of the monster in front of me, its huge hammer raised above its head. "S-Shi—"]
Most of the class squeaked in terror at the looming monstrosity visible via Izuku's memory.
[The hammer struck and the floor crumbles, the hammer managing to hit my left leg in the process. I fall and land with a loud thud, my ears ringing and vision swimming. Only when I got my bearing together did I feel the excruciating pain in my lower body.]
["AAAHHHHHHHHH!!!" I scream out, the stump of my leg bleeding out at an alarming rate of blood. When I look at the monster with a fearful gaze, I see it readying its hammer for another blow. I try to crawl away, but that was bad judgment on my part. I should've just let it squash me to death, instead, I made my suffering longer.]
[The hammer landed, crushing my lower body to paste while my upper body was sent flying into jars and vases. They broke and the shards pierced my skin and flesh, my left eye, and my cheeks, giving me more pain to feel. I don't even know why I wasn't dead yet!]
Mina and Todoroki looked at the screen, horrified about what happened to Izuku. It was worse than theirs! Granted, he didn't have permanent damage, but the pain must still be incredibly brutal!
"Holy shit, dude…" Jirou said with her mouth hanging, some bile rising to her throat. Ochako and the rest blanched.
[I couldn't even come up with any coherent thought due to how painful and agonizing it was. I kept on screaming, my voice growing weaker and weaker by the second. The hammer of the monster gave me respite as it smashed against my body for the last time.]
["AAAHHH!!!" I got up quickly, patting myself down for any injuries. Legs, arms, face, body… Up to date, that was the most agonizing way to die. The pain felt was unlike any I have ever faced.]
['I can't… I just… I can't do this…' I slump on the ground, crying once again. 'It's too much… Too much…']
Everybody stared at the figure of Izuku who was expressionlessly looking at the screen. Everybody switched their focus back on the screen of the crying Izuku lying on the ground, clearly traumatized.
'What the hell did he endure to not care for any of that?' was the thought of everybody present.
[I stayed like that for an amount of time, not moving, just crying and laying down, refusing to move due to the horrifying experiences.]
['I wonder what Mom's doing right now…' after exhausting myself emotionally, I thought back to my mom, what she's doing, what she thought of me, how she looked like…]
['How does mom look like again…?' I get up, racking my mind, my memories for any hint of how she looks like, but no dice. Hell, he couldn't even remember the true name of his tormentor, his childhood friend turned bully Katsuki.]
"Are you… Losing memories? Deku?" Ochako asked with a worried face.
"I recovered them all when I came back," Izuku replied with a shrug. "I just wish I can forget those I lost back in that place…"
Everybody heard his words, further signifying what happened to him back then was incredibly unpleasant, horrific, brutal, and unforgiving.
['What's happening…?' the revelations of missing memory scared me. I didn't want to forget. I refuse to forget. If what Oscar said is true, then…]
["No… I refuse to become Hollow…"]
[I got up again and rushed through the building, killed the Hollows, recovered my souls just outside the fog gate, and entered.]
[I remember the writings, try a drop attack, so I did. Once through the fog, I dropped down towards the head of the monster and stabbed its head. It roars in pain and pries me off by grabbing me and squeezing me, breaking my bones in the process. A handful of squeezing later, it threw me to the ground, my head impacting the ground headfirst.]
[I woke up in the sewer area again, and gave my death no thoughts, I redid the whole thing, killed the Hollows, grab my souls, and fight the monster again. I died a few times, namely;]
[Death by smashing, death by sharp objects, death by dismemberment, death by broken bones, death by falling, and death by being eaten alive.]
'It's official, Izuku is too far gone for therapy,' Aizawa and the heroes thought in unison. 'No way in hell will therapy fix those problems…'
[After a handful of tries, I finally beat the monster. I memorized its patterns, memorized its attacks, and memorized its movements. Once I got that down it was just an act of attacking and dodging. How I killed it? I let it bleed to death.]
[It dropped a key, and some kind of black and white sprite. Packing the black and white sprite in my satchel, I inserted the key to the door leading outside. I opened the door and I was greeted by some ruins. I trekked up the path, and on the edge of the cliff, I was snatched by a giant crow.]
"And that's it for the moment. Class is dismissed, Bakugou, come with me to the principal's office," Aizawa said as he got up, along with the rest of the teachers. "Go ahead and ask questions, provided that Izuku willingly answers them."
Bakugou followed the teacher nervously with a twitchy face, while the rest of the class remained back in the class with Izuku.
"… I'm going home…" Mina said with a grim frown, her cheerful personality now replaced with gloom. She grabbed her bag and headed home, accompanied by Hagakure who followed her.
"All right, ask you questions, and I'll answer them," Izuku said and thus started the question spree.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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