21 Remember

Edit 26/04/2024: Fixed an inconsistency about Solaire. Thanks for letting me know TheGreatBubbaJ!

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"I'm home!"

Izuku's voice echoed through the apartment as he slowly took off his shoes at the entrance.

"Welcome back, Izuku." Inko's reply was heard coming from the kitchen followed by sizzling sounds and wonderful, mouth-watering aroma. "Dinner's almost ready!"

"Thanks, mom!" Izuku smiled while walking to the dining/living room, his shoes neatly tucked into its corresponding rack just by the front door.

Today was a good day, albeit a weird one. Was it weirder than back in Lordran? Hell no, but was it weird for modern day standards? His classmates seemed to say so, so Izuku can't help but agree with them.

Not like he knew what the standards were in this time. He still needed to catch up on his studies the RAT GOD sent him.

Aside from that, Izuku thought back to the classes that happened after Nezu's impromptu orientation. It wasn't anything mind-boggling. Just a few things to set up for the school year, some house rules for each class, and a bit of introduction from each of the students, as well as the teachers.

It was quite funny when Izuku revealed that he could act as a punching bag if his classmates wished to do so. It was even funnier when he said he was okay with being maimed and gored, not like he cared much of being in pain.

The horrified looks of his classmates and teachers, however, said otherwise. In fact, one of them actually recommended him to take some therapy from Hound Dog, their guidance counselor.

It was good being a troll sometimes. Better make sure Patches has what's coming to him. Kick him off a cliff, will he? Izuku will return that back tenfold and kick him off a skyscraper.

Shaking his head from the amusing memories, Izuku pulled back a chair and gingerly plopped his bony ass onto the soft cushion-y seat. If there was one thing his mother knew to buy for their comfort, they were chairs. Rope in some beds and even pillows and voila, instant fluffy fortress.

Actually, now that he thought of it, he wanted to see how Sen's Fortress would look like if every deadly trap there was replaced with soft foam and cushions. Maybe then he could finally, without much of a doubt, call the damned deathtrap Sen's Funhouse.

Stupid pendulum traps, throwing him off to the bottom with a bunch of tar - at least, Izuku thought it was tar - and Titanite demons.

Also, fat rolling, can't forget the fat rolling, even if Izuku was somewhat confused why he even thought of rolling through the tar like a lunatic on mushrooms.

Humming a tune, the type where normal people can't make heads or tails of the harmony, Izuku briefly reminisced his time in Lordran. The good times like talking with those who he considered friends, and the bad times where he killed those friends because they went mad or hollow.

Sighing, his hums dying down like a rat caught in a trap, Izuku leaned his head on the chair's backrest, eyes staring directly into the light of the bulb hanging overhead.

"Ah, Izuku, here." His mother's voice brought Izuku out of his reverie. Eyeing the bowl she had with her, Izuku gave his mother a lopsided grin as the mature woman set down the bowl on the table with a smile. "Here, eat up! Be careful, though. It's hot."

"Okay!" Izuku eagerly grinned and wolfed down the entire contents of the bowl, leaving a somewhat stupefied Inko. The food was just fresh from the stove, and here her son was, shoving the food down his gullet like a man possessed.

Did she mention that it was still fresh from the stove?

Shaking her head, she set down her own portion and got to eating as well, but not before saying her prayers, something she should've taught Izuku a week before. And she did, but Izuku just didn't care for the culture.

And for all intents and purposes, Izuku really didn't care for the practice, nor did he believe in Deities anymore, what with some of them dying by his hand back in Lordran.

Also, they were asses. They were cool to look at though, but nevertheless, they were still assholes.

Especially Seath. Damn him to all hell for dragging Reah to that prison where she broke, like a toy twisted beyond disrepair.

Slamming the bowl on the table, simultaneously spooking his mother at the sudden impact, Izuku sighed as the memory came and go, like a flowing stream of rivers.

"Izu, honey, are you okay?" Inko, now worried at the sudden change in demeanor of her son, held out a hand towards the teen, to which Izuku's response was nothing but a smile.

"Just bad memories." Izuku managed a grin, tongue singed to its roots while his lips quivered slightly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Inko asked as she laid a hand on her son's shoulder.

"… Okay."

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"LET ME OUT OF HERE OR SO HELP ME, I'LL SKIN YOU ALL ALIVE AND EAT EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOUR SKINLESS ASSES WITH A GWYN-DAMNED FORK!"

Izuku snarled as he banged on the bars holding him captive, the iron rods immovable as a loud clang echoed throughout the giant hall.

"Gwyn dammit!" Izuku harrumphed and walked towards the nearby wall and smashed his head against it, drips of blood pouring down his face as a wound opened. "How in the name of Guinevere was I supposed to know I was going to be brought here when I died… Actually, wait… Did I really die?"

Izuku looked at the nearby bonfire, unlit amidst the cold air. Pursing his lips, Izuku approached the bonfire and lit it up with his will, the collection of souls within him stirring like a hornet's nest.

Fire crackled and the room was washed aglow with the warm flame, its heat a calming draught within the chilly prison.

Sighing, Izuku knelt down and took off his helmet, a bit confused as to why he got to keep his weapons and armor. Leaning in close to the bonfire, he sat down and relaxed, the scene before him dissolving as he focused on the bonfire.

The well of souls within him bubbled, the countless screaming rendered silent as Izuku forcefully melded them into the bonfire, feeding the flame its souls. The fire intensified for a single second, before receding with warm wisps of hot air circled around Izuku.

It came in closer, the heat unbearable to a normal person, but for Izuku, it was not unlike embracing a loving parent that welcomed him home after a hard day's work in the field.

The wisps grew closer and in one fell swoop, constricted Izuku's body like a snake about to eat its prey. It sunk beneath his skin, and melded with his flesh and bones, strengthening them, fortifying them.

As the heat died down and the chill within the air returned, Izuku heaved a sigh of relief and felt his body lighter than it was before.

"Never gonna get used to that…" Izuku murmured as he gazed directly into the flame, the orange glow boring into his eyes like the rays of the sun above.

And he just sat there, staring, for what seemed to be like an eternity. The cold kept at bay by the flickering flame, and in the midst of all this chill, Izuku stayed silent, all the while he waited.

And waited.

And waited…

It was after an indeterminate amount of time had passed that Izuku heard footsteps just outside the cell. Tilting his head slightly so he could take a good look, he saw a lizardman slowly creeping up on the cell, its eyes narrowing at him with disgust and scorn.

A snort left its snout as it stood by the cell door and leaned on the bars, before it drowsed to sleep. A closer look and Izuku saw something dangling from its waist. It glinted underneath the light, and he had to withhold a laugh bursting from his gut.

If there was anything in this entire place that deserved to die just by stupidity, it was this thing.

Creeping in slowly towards the lizardman, Izuku made sure to not make a sound. It was difficult, what with him being in full plate armor that he pried off a corpse back in that dark forest full of walking shrubs.

As Izuku continued to crawl silently, he felt time go by. Seconds, minutes, hours, he did not know how long he had crawled for, but finally, it was at an end.

There it was, his key to freedom, dangling on the waist of one of the stupidest sentients being he had ever encountered in Lordran.

With a single thrust of his greatsword, the blade impaled the lizardman, the scaly abomination gasping in surprise and pain as it struggled to remove the foreign object making a mess of his insides.

Making sure to grab the body before it fell out of his reach, Izuku withdrew the sword from the lizardman as it whimpered one final time before its eyes closed for an eternity of slumber. At least until it gets revived back again.

Yanking the key chain out of its holder, Izuku moved for the locked grill door and inserted the key into the hole.

A twist later and the door opened, a malicious grin floating up Izuku's face all the while he plotted for revenge against the being that had him trapped here for who knows how long.

Exiting the prison cell, Izuku was beholden to a lizardman gunning for something. Curious, he focused on the being that was running on its two legs like a man possessed. It was only until he saw where it was going that Izuku widened his eyes.

GONG! GONG! GONG!

As the loud alarm rang, Izuku covered his ears at the infernal noise the damned thing was making. Hissing, he looked down upon the lizardman as it drew out a bow, and further below where a dozen of octopus looking beings rushed out.

One of them looked up to him and pointed its feelers at the fully armored being, and Izuku knew a fight was brewing.

Gritting his teeth, Izuku snarled and prepared himself for the melee, but couldn't help but gain a grin.

"I'll start with all of you first."

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"Fuck… you all… Deep sea rejects… May Gwyn take your souls…" Izuku huffed as he sat against a closed iron-bar door, not unlike the one that held him just a couple of floors above.

Around him laid the corpses of every single octopus' creatures, with some of them being maimed so horribly, a professional detective wouldn't be able to piece together a single body with all the scattered bits.

There were even some reduced to ashes, courtesy of Izuku's pyromancy.

Laughing out loud, Izuku grabbed the Estus Flask tucked neatly in his bag, and popped the lid. Gulping down its oil-tasting goodness, Izuku felt his body's wounds heal as the liquid flame coursed through his veins.

Once he was sufficiently healed, he closed screwed the lid back on and tucked it inside his bag, making sure it wasn't smushed against th other items within his pack.

Looking at the prison cell behind him as he stood to his full height, Izuku hummed and moved for the door. The key he got from that idiot lizardman fit within the keyhole, making Izuku smile.

The same motions as up above and Izuku entered the cell with nary a sound. He then heard growling coming from the side and he quickly readied his greatsword, only for his eyes to widen and his jaw drop.

"No… It can't be…" Izuku felt a sting deep within his chest has he stared at the figure growling at him. No longer was the being in front of him the same girl he had saved back in the tomb of the giants.

The soft-spoken, depressed, and heartbroken girl was nowhere to be seen. What was left was an animal growling at a threat. Her soft features were replaced by rotting flesh, her eyes holding nothing but fury and death.

Reah of Thorolund was no more… In her stead, a hollow charged.

For once, Izuku felt nothing. No rage, no melancholy. Just emptiness.

With a single swipe of his greatsword, the hollow in front of him split into two equal halves, the bottom instantly giving out and landing on the floor with a dull thud, blood leaking out of the grievous wound.

The upper half soared through the air and directly at Izuku. Reah, or whatever the thing was left, snarled at him as it tried to bite and scratch him with its teeth and nails, not caring about the state its body was in.

Guts and intestines dropped to the floor from where it was bisected, and the hollow continued on focusing at Izuku with nary a care in the world.

With a single stroke, Izuku grabbed the neck of the hollow and pried it off him, before stabbing the greatsword into its face, the hollow going taut for a moment before it went limp.

That day, another piece of Izuku died as he silently left the hollow to be eaten by the flies. One thing was for sure, he will have his revenge, but not only for him.

But also, for the girl who only wanted peace, even with her shitty circumstances.