Hunter Amongst Villains Draft - Monster Outbreak Scene (Patreon)

Yeah, long time no see. Work is wreaking havoc on my sleep and subsequently my motivation is all over the place. Anyways, here is something to keep you pirahnas fed. Some prototype scene of a monster outbreak I might or might not include, and it looks extremely unrefined as hell now that I look at it. Definitely gonna be entertaining to you guys unlike me who reread it multiple times.

Anyways, enjoy.

“Aizawa-sensei is still away? He’s got to come back soon.”

Once again, Class 1-A had been saddled with a substitute teacher. They knew that training with Garou must be pretty intensive, but he had to be able to at least try to teach his students. What kind of teacher couldn't do that?

Not to mention the dozens upon dozens of sightings of ‘Fenrir’ all over. He’d been spotted apprehending thieves, slicing up monsters with his sword and signing autographs for the public. Autographs! From Garou! Not a single person in the class could even believe that Garou would hand out his autograph so easily.

The class was still abuzz with near-constant discussion as usual. The topics of discussion varied from what new Tv show they’d been watching, where they went on the weekend and so on. However, in the back of the minds of 1-A, they couldn’t quite forget that Garou was training their teacher. And by proxy, soon them as well.

The weather outside was still going through a period of heavy rain. And thus, it was fairly dark and grey outside.. As he glanced outside, Izuku could see a number of large, strange figures standing outside of the UA entrance gate. Narrowing his eyes to get a better look, he watched as one of the large figure reeled back. As the realisation hit him, Izuku widened his eyes as the sturdy metal gate was caved inwards. Immediately, a blaring siren began to deafen every person who heard it. There wasn’t a corner of the school where it wasn’t heard. One by one, the figures began to crawl in through the now-gaping hole in the gate.

Izuku immediately knew what was happening. Quickly whipping his head around, his sudden movement drew the attention of a few of his classmates. The alarm had taken them by surprise. Craning their necks to look out the window, the student’s breath all collectively hitched at once.

“Monsters are attacking! We need to get out of here!”

Without any delay, the substitute teacher began to file the students out of the room one by one, ensuring that everyone was present. As 1-A entered the hallway, they could see dozens upon dozens of confused and scared fellow students. Worried murmurs echoed down the hallway, almost louder than the alarm.

“What is happening this time?”

“Think it is League of Villains?”

“I really, really hope it's just more reporters…”

A small tremor caused the numerous students in the hallway to all stagger and stumble as they were taken by surprise. Moments later, a loud thud, followed by glass smashing reached their ears.

“Krii, krii, krii.” A salamander-like monster broke through the window as it cut off the student’s escape route. Its body crimson long and serpentine, four short limbs sticking onto the floor and walls as its vertically tilted head now gazed at the students with ravenous eyes.

“Tiiiiime for luuunch!” The monster said as purplish drool could be seen leaking from its mouth.

The reactions from the students were all mixed. Quite a few screamed out in fear. However, the rest glared down at the monster, a small army of students facing it. 1-A all prepared themselves for the inevitable combat.

As the drool continued to ooze from the monster’s fanged maw, Izuku could see purple wisps of gas rising from the saliva. Slowly, a purple cloud had begun to make its way toward the hallway of trapped students.

Seeing the cloud approach them, Izuku could tell that whatever was in that cloud wasn’t good. Going off previous monsters, it would most likely be something extremely potent. Seeing the miasma creep towards a few stationary students, Izuku’s voice suddenly filled the hallway.

“Everyone! Get away from the cloud!”

Galvanised into action, the frozen students all began to turn and rush back, away from the monstrous creature. Seeing the students backing away, it was not happy.

“Tch! You ruined my meal!” The salamander glared at Izuku before it opened its fanged maw. It leapt and clinged onto the ceiling, now standing upside down, and spat a noxious glob of vile liquid aimed at Izuku.

Izuku had only just noticed the liquid at the last moment. As he could see it approach him almost in slow motion, he knew he wouldn’t be able to dodge at this close range. Suddenly, a stream of tape struck Izuku’s side, quickly pulling him out of the path of the viscous fluid. The rest of 1-A ducked as it passed over their heads.

Glancing over at the direction of the tape, he could see Sero nodding at him. A audible bubbling came from the globule of liquid which had now collided with the wall. Small wafts of purple gas began to emanate from the fluid.

As the gas cloud continued to close in on the trapped students, none of 1-A could think of anything they could do to free themselves from the trap.

“Fuck. Can’t we just blow our way out through a wall or something?”

Casting his eyes around, Bakugou was primed to blast his way through any wall or window in front of him. He gritted his teeth as the monster continued to hang around inside the noxious cloud.

Shaking his head, Iida was rapidly trying to think of some way out of this ‘trap’. Not all of their Quirks were suitable for such extreme close-quarter combat.

Stepping forwards, Izuku’s gaze piercing deep into the purple miasma. He could vaguely see the shape of the monster hiding inside the cloud. Extending one hand, he gripped the extended arm with his other hand. Bracing himself, he placed one finger into position, and unleashed an empowered flick down the hallway. A huge gust of wind rolled down the corridor, causing the building to creak and groan. The noxious cloud was blown clean out of the window the monster had come in from. However, there was no sign of the monster.

As every student in the hallway kept their eyes peeled for the monster, the sound of several other battles reached their ears. Crashes, thuds. Clearly not all of the teachers were away. From behind him, Izuku could hear the worried voices of some of the other students.

“What’s going on?

“I didn’t think monsters were real…”

“Where are all the teachers? What are they doing?”

As the other students all murmured amongst themselves, Izuku could hear several footsteps from behind him.

“What should we do? Can we even fight a monster by ourselves?”

The concerned voice of Uraraka only made the other members of 1-A more worried. Especially Izuku. Maybe they could all collectively handle one, but not the amount he’d seen at the gate.

“[Monster outbreaks are appearing from all over the cities! All of the hero schools are under major attack, while other outbreaks are terrorizing the public! The heroes and the Police are currently holding them off, putting down their lives to defend the civilians! Here is Mustafa being recorded live!]”

Watching the small miniature TV in their lunch, the heroes and senior students watched with horror upon seeing so many monsters out in the open terrorizing the public.

Each and every image that the report showed only seemed to get worse. There were numerous shots of Heroes valiantly standing up against monstrous, hulking abominations. Civilians ran in almost every direction, screaming for their lives.

“[Wait… reports are saying the police are on their way! It… they said that they are even more heavily armed than before! They seem to be carrying military grade weapons!]”

All of the Heroes and seniors had stopped eating, now staring at the screen, watching live footage of police in LAVs, turrets and all as they fired on the monsters around them. Each and every one of them could tell the gravity of the situation.

“...We’re too far away to help…”

Mt Lady stared at the news report, shocked and horrified. With each and every piece of footage, she only became more saddened.

“Says you.” Ghin stood up, placing his bowl down.

*Shriiii*

On his whistle, Skoll and Hati came running to Ghin, panting as they snuggled against his knees.

Looking down at the two wolves, Mirio immediately caught on to what Ghin was planning, nodding his approval.

“...How long will it take for us to get there?”

“Don't know. But they're fast. I made sure they get exercise in the woods while I was away. I taught them how to hunt!” Ghin said with a smile.

Quickly, each and every disciple of Garou’s all rose from their seated position. Even Snipe and Aizawa, who were not displaying any of their signs of exhaustion.

“We need to get there now. Each second we spend, the more lives might be lost.”

Endeavour kept his eyes on the screen. He could feel very obvious worry for his son.

“Good luck getting down though.” Ghin said pointing at the stairs.

“Unlike you guys, I can fly. Unless you can survive a drop from a mountain, you're all goofed.” Ghin pointed.

The heroes grimaced at the sight of the stairs. None of them wished to waste time walking down the stairs. They need every second they got to be at the scene.

“If Hati and Skoll are big enough, couldn’t they make the jump?”

Looking down at the two cute wolves, Tamaki did feel a little guilty for suggesting it. Even if they had tried to eat him on several occasions. His suggestion made Ghin pause, and caused the boy to glare at Tamaki for a brief second.

“...guys, can you brave the jump?” Ghin asked pointing at the cliff, while scratching Skoll’s ears.

The two wolves whined a little, looking at the stairs hesitantly, their faces unsure on whether they could carry out Ghin’s command.

“Please? I know it might hurt your legs. But can you at least try?” Ghin pleaded the wolves as they whined. The two wolves looked at each other, almost as if deliberating between Ghin’s request. Then the two looked at Ghin, then yipped with determination.

“...they will do it.” Ghin frowned as he continued petting the wolves.

“...you guys better make it up to them once this is over.” Ghin glared at the heroes with slight scorn. Ghin’s juniors could see the love he had for his pet wolves from his eyes.

“We will. We’ll give them all sorts of treats and play with them!”

Hado’s usual smile was a little more tense than normal, but she couldn’t help but feel warm at the extent of Ghin’s love for his pets.

“...Skoll! Hati!” Ghin whistled as they ran towards the stairs, and started growing to max size at the ledge of the mountain, waiting both wolves howling upwards the heaven as the land trembled in their wake.

“...hop on.” Ghin said as he leapt up high with superhuman leg strength and hoisted himself unto Skoll’s head.

The Pussycats, along with the seniors and Heroes all followed Ghin, leaping up and climbing up the fur after him. With all the passengers on Skoll and Hati, Ghin reluctantly gave the order.

“...go!” Ghin shouted as the wolves leapt from the mountain. Everyone held their breaths as they braced for the fall, feel of gravity pulling them strongly making their hearts pound their chests as the sensation of falling fueled their fear of heights.

“...aahhhhhhAHHHHHH!” Mt Lady and Tamaki both started screaming as they descended. They’ve never fallen from this height, the rush of air and the sight of ground closing in at accelerating speeds enough to pop their hearts out of fright as they all clinged onto their fur as tightly as possible. They all braced for impact until the wolves finally landed onto the ground below.

*BOOM*

The shock of the impact shook every single person to their core. They could all feel their bones vibrating as a tremendous amount of dirt and rock was thrown up around the landing site. They were almost thrown clear from the back of the wolf. If someone were to look at the two giant craters in the earth, they may be mistaken for meteors. All around them, trees had been knocked flat.

The sound of falling trees and raining dirt deafened everyone on the back of Skoll and Hati. The landing had momentarily stunned all of them.

“Are you alright, guys?” Ghin patted Skoll’s large head with both his hands, scratching behind his ears as the wolf slowly rose up from the ground. He roared along with Hati in unison, signaling their well-being.

“Alright, boy! Go!” Ghin shouted as the wolf’s started sprinting through the forest and towards the city at high speeds, both wolves growling, ready for combat, as they covered great distances in their strides.

As the two wolves sped towards the city, the disciples all prepared themselves. Monsters would be the perfect opportunity to test out their training. The wind whipped past all the ‘students’ of Garou, buffeting them. The speed that they were traveling seemed mind-boggling for such a large animal.

The highway leading to the city was in their sights, a few cars driving along the curving roads. A boy looking out the window of a car caught the sight of two large imposing figures running through the trees.

“Mommy, there are big dogs outside!” The boy called out pointing to the window.

“Oh, honey, I’m sure they are.” The woman driving the car smiled as she looked out the window… only to see two actual titanic canines about to crash into them.

“Eh?” Shock overwhelmed her, heart pounding from fright.

Then the two canines leapt over her, overshadowing their car with their titanic size, crashing onto the road behind her as the earth trembled from the shockwave alone. After landing, they made their way towards the city, rushing past the cars and other vehicles in their sprint.

“...”

“Mom! I want one!” The boy’s playful cry was the only sound amidst the silence, the mother still staring at the window where the wolves almost crashed into them.

1-A had begun to make their way out of the corridor, followed by dozens of other students from other classes. As they headed down the nearby stairs, the sounds of battle only became fiercer. Reaching the ground floor, Izuku and the rest of 1-A could all clearly see the extent of the damage. Glass was scattered everywhere from the shattered windows. There were quite a few gaping holes in some nearby walls. One of the holes led straight outside. All sharing a glance, 1-A began to climb out of the hole in the wall.

Once they had all emerged from the school, it was clear that they had come out from one of the sides of the school. As they all gained their bearing, a sudden noise above them caused the on-edge students to all whip around. Glaring down at them as it hung from the wall was the salamander-esque monster. It didn’t even seem harmed from being blown out of the corridor.

“I will eat you all until there is nothing left!” The monster swore as he launched from the wall and landed right behind Class 1-A.

A rhythmic thudding came from one side of them, growing louder and louder with each second. Emerging from around a nearby corner was another monster. This one looked completely different to the ‘salamander’ monster. This one looked more like a collection of boxes stacked on top of each other. Whilst it’s appearance wasn’t very intimidating, the fact that they knew it was a monster was enough.

“Ohhh, I’ve been dreaming of this for a looooong time. No All Might will save you.” The Box Monster said as it slowly marched closer to 1-A.

1-A had already begun to feel trapped by the two monsters facing them. Then, a high-pitched voice came from the opposite side to the Box monster. Yet another monster had arrived, further cornering the students. This monster was clearly female. But it looked like someone had crushed both sides of it until it had become extremely thin. It’s appearance, the way it stood there, it unnerved a few of 1-A.

“Hiiiiiiii~”

The class covered their ears, her high pitched voice like a drill to their minds.

“Owow, don’t use your Quirk next to my ear, woman.” The Box monster complained as it shook its head.

“Shiii~” The female monster replied with a whistle. To the class, she seemed incapable of speech.

“Like her? It seems the cells has a risk of devolving the human mind to mindless beasts. She can’t even speak anymore hahaha! So we’ve been keeping her as a pet!” The salamander laughed at their reaction to the female.

The members of Class 1-A all gathered in close to each other, still focusing on the three monsters they now faced. And they didn’t even have their Hero costumes.

Slowly, the monsters began to approach the group of students. As they grew closer, Izuku quickly turned to his classmates.

“We can’t beat all three of them. We need to split up and separate them.”

Silently nodding in acknowledgment, 1-A began to slowly split into three different groups. Each of the three smaller groups now faced their own monster. The closer the strange looking monsters came, the more tense 1-A became.

Facing off against the Box Monster was Kirishima, along with Tokoyami, Ashido, Yaoyorozu, Shoji and Sato. Each and every one of them kept their eyes firmly on the strange monster, clenching their fists.

With the salamander monster creeping closer, Izuku, Sero, Jiro, Tsuyu, Uraraka, Ojiro and Kaminari all took up their respective combat stances. The noxious, purple saliva continued to trickle from it’s mouth, creating wafts of gas into the air.

“The child in the sports festival… if I eat you, I wonder if I will be considered a hero to the villains?” The salamander supposed as he cackled.

Izuku’s jaw tightened at the inhuman laughter coming from the throat of the creature. There would be no Garou or Mirio to back him up this time. It was just him and his classmates against three monsters.

With short, sharp steps, the female monster’s face twisted into a sickening grin.

“Hiiii hiii hiii~!” Her screeching laughter was like a hundred nails scratching the board.

“You’re a real fuckin’ pain to the ears.”

Bakugou grimaced as the screeching grew closer and closer. He could feel his head throbbing.

“SCRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~!” The female monster then screeched, using her Quirk to the point of shattering window panes of U.A.

Every single member of 1-A winced in pain as they all covered their ears as fractured glass began to rain down around them. Even though they were still being deafened by the shriek, they could hear several car alarms blare in the background, almost in response to the screech.

The third group of 1-A all covered their ears, but attempted to keep their eyes on the female monster. Bakugou, Iida, Todoroki along with Mineta, Aoyama and Tooru could feel the threat from this female monster. Its mindless nature, combined with the deafening shrieks were a devastating weapon. They needed to get rid of this one first so the others could fight their own monsters.

Raising their hands almost in sync, Bakugou and Todoroki both aimed squarely at the thin monster. The shrieking from the monster was drowned out by the earth-shaking ‘boom’ from Bakugou’s explosion, along with the roaring of Todoroki’s own plume of flame. The monster was engulfed in the combination of explosion and fire.

*AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH*

However, it was also a mistake. Turns out, making a monster that uses her voice as a weapon to scream in pain makes her Quirk even more potent.

Immediately, both Todoroki and Bakugou stopped their stream of attacks as they were forced to cover their ears once again. The throbbing of their heads only increased in intensity. It felt like their heads would split open at any moment. A few of 1-A even fell to their knees from the sheer pain of the shriek.

The wail of pain seemed to go on forever. As Izuku kept his hands over his ears, he could see the salamander monster only inch closer and closer, a malicious grin on it’s monstrous lips. Izuku, along with his classmates, were completely defenceless in the face of that shrieking monster.

As he clutched his head, Kirishima began to think of any way he could help his classmates. There was no way they could take on that female monster in their current state. Wracking his mind, he came across the information he had read from the book that Garou had received on his birthday. To become a mountain…

“Take a deep breath…” Kirishima took a big breath.

“Channel your breath…” He focused on channeling his breath from his lungs to his stomach.

“Then channel your energy to harden your muscles… to be a mountain.”

Kirishima repeated these sets again and again through trial and error, pouring all of his focus into this to the point of overloading his mind, until he felt something within him stirring.

Kirishima could feel a strange sensation running through his body, just under the skin. As he could feel the sensation travel across his entire body, he tensed. Almost instantly, Kirishima could feel his entire body become harder, more so than ever before. He felt… unmoveable. As he marvelled at the strange new level of Hardening his body had undergone, he noticed a strange overlapping sound. It sounded almost as if the shrieking monster had two voices.

As he continued to listen, a spark of realisation hit him. He’d read about this kind of effect. Hard surfaces often reflected 95 percent of all sound. He’d become so hard, that the shriek was rebounding off of him and creating an echo effect.

As Kirishima noticed this, the flames and smoke died down around the source of the screeching. The female monster appeared to be scorched and burned, but not too badly injured. However, the shriek had rendered the rest of his class unable to defend themselves. Seeing his opportunity, Kirishima began to sprint directly towards the thin female monster.

The deranged glare of the monster landed squarely on the red-haired student that was rushing towards it. As he neared his opponent, Kirishima clenched both fists. Once he was within range, he pulled one of his arms back.

The monster reared her arm as well, and swung her claws at Kirishima, aiming for his neck.

Kirishima saw the claws aiming for his neck. Without hesitating, his balled fist lunged towards the chest of the monster. Before his fist made even contact however, he could tell the claws would reach him first.

Bracing himself, Kirishima felt… almost nothing. Glancing downwards slightly, he could see the claws of the monster scrape across his skin, leaving nothing behind. No scratches, no blood. Not even an indent. Judging by the monster’s reaction, it was just as shocked as he was.

Setting his sight firmly on the now-confused monster before him, Kirishima could finally feel his fist impact the chest of the monster. It was as if a sledgehammer had struck the monster. It reeled back, it’s chest obviously caved in by the punch. The shrieking slowly began to die down.

The rest of 1-A all removed their hands from their ears, still slightly dazed from the wail. Turning to the monster, they were graced with the sight of Kirishima punching a hole through the monster, his fist lodged into its chest.

“Wha-... How the hell did you manage that?”

Mineta gaped at his classmate, clearly shocked by the fact he had his fist embedded into the chest of a monster.

Even the other monsters appeared to be taken aback by the sudden elimination of their fellow monster, stopping their approach.

“Scrii!” The salamander shouted his fellow monster’s name.

1-A all glanced over at their classmate, all shocked by his sudden increase of power and strength.

With the removal of the shrieking monster, 1-A could now all focus on the other two opponents. Rising from the ground, Ashido, Sero and Koda all removed their hands from their ears.

Retracting his fist, Kirishima stared at the blood covered fist in shock. He had been expecting a boost in power, but not to this level. His body still felt strange, the odd sensation of him removing a lock that held him back.

The noise of the two other monsters pulled Kirishima’s attention away from his fist. Moving away from the body of his previous opponent, he stood beside Izuku. Quickly tearing his eyes away from the salamander monster in front of him, Izuku stared at Kirishima. He seemed… different somehow.

“How did you manage that? I thought your Hardening wasn’t that powerful.”

Furrowing his brow, Kirishima shrugged in response.

“I don’t know. I just remembered what I read over Ghin’s shoulder from that martial arts book. I was lucky that it had a page on Hardening!”

Widening his eyes, Izuku stared at Kirishima in shock. If reading only one page of that book had improved him so much, what would reading the whole book do?

Deciding to take advantage of Izuku’s momentary distraction, the salamander monster lunged at him. Hearing a rush of movement, Izuku turned only to come face to face with a gaping, fanged maw.

“ARRRGGGG!”

Seeing the jaws of the monster grow closer, Izuku only had scant seconds to react. Everyone around him seemed to be moving in slow-motion, rushing to assist him. Quickly, Izuku chose to empower one of his legs with One For All. As green electricity sparked off of his leg, it shot up towards the underside of the monster. A squishy ‘thud’ reached Izuku’s ears as his empowered knee drove into the salamander.

“Grahhh!” The attack launched the salamander upwards in an arc, but few globs of toxic saliva was seen dripping from its mouth. One of the droplets landed on Izuku’s cheek.

As Izuku felt the strange warm liquid on his cheek, he raised one hand to wipe it away. Suddenly, he was hit with what felt like a intense electric shock. Both his arms began trembling heavily as every muscle twitched and tensed. The searing pain even rendered him incapable of making any kind of noise other than shaky gasps.

The pain didn’t slow down or relent in any way. It continued, practically paralyzing Izuku. There was a painful ringing in his ears, but through the ringing, he could hear faint voices.

“...-oriya? What’s the matte-...”

“Did the monster do som-...”

The voices were barely audible to him, like sounds drowned in an ocean. Suddenly, the pain running through every inch of his body increased in severity. His hands shuddered and shook, still frozen in place. Slowly, his eyes began roll back into his head.

The rest of the class had turned their attention from the falling monster, to the shaking form of Midoriya. He wasn’t responding to them. He was barely moving at all, just shuddering on the spot.

“Midoriya, you okay?”

Kirishima angled his head to look at Izuku’s face. However, no response came. Then, the severity of what was happening hit him. He could clearly see Izuku gritting his teeth, foam beginning to form at the corners of his mouth. His pupils were gone, disappeared into the back of his head. Only the bloodshot whites of his eyes could be seen along with the faint purple smear on his cheek.

“Guys, I think Midoriya is hurt.”

Kirishima shouted out towards the rest of his class. He couldn’t know what the effects of that purple smear could even be.

“You think?” Kaminari pointed at the foam frothing from his mouth.

“What can we do to help him?”

Iida resisted the urge to rush over and help his friend instantly. They were still in combat and couldn’t risk letting their guard down for even a second.

“I will avenge her!” The box monster charged towards them like a mad bull, sprinting in an Olympian dash.

Before it could get too close however, Todoroki gestured with his right arm. A huge wall of ice rose between the students and the box monster, attempting to separate them. As all this was going on, the paralysed form of Izuku pitched to one side, falling to the ground.

However, suddenly a box of cardboard somehow grew from the other side of the wall and swallowed the ice, revealing the box monster, albeit stouter the before.

“Catch!” The monster detached one of its arms towards Todoroki, before it suddenly exploded, revealing the same ice he formed to wall off the monster.

The ice exploded out in all directions. Large chunks of ice shot out like a grenade. Most of 1-A raised their arms to shield their head and faces. Grunts of pain came from a few of the students as the blocks of ice struck them. Kirishima merely stood still, shielding the downed form of Izuku with his Hardening.

Then a hiss could be heard, as the salamander trodded next to the box monster.

“You alright?” The Box Monster asked as his arm later regenerated.

“The little bastard broke my teeth! I’m gonna drown him in poison for that!”

The salamander swore with a vengeance.

“Don’t worry. Look. Others are already coming to kill him for you.” The box monster pointed into the building.

A few particularly large chunks of ice had struck Tokoyami, Shoji and Bakugou. Tokoyami had been knocked unconscious by one piece of ice clipping his head. Being larger than the rest of his classmates, Shoji had been hit in several locations. Two of his arms hung limply by his side. Bakugou had also taken a rather nasty impact, with the ice colliding directly with his right leg. He could feel something break.

As the explosion of ice settled down, 1-A all glanced over in the direction that the box monster was pointing.

A large purple monster with tentacles for heads stepped out of the building, followed by a few more monsters.

“What’s with all ta screamin’? It’s hurtin my ears. Oh, is that Class 1-A?” The large monster laid its gaze at the students with particularly hungry eyes.

“Hihihihi! Stab stab! Kill lucky bastards!” Another one, which looked like a deranged serial killer combined with a praying mantis cackled.

As 1-A saw the other two monsters arrive, their hearts sank. With Izuku still shuddering on the ground, and several other students badly injured from the ice explosion, they knew they were in no state to defend themselves against these new threats.

With each stomp, the earth seemingly tumbled as the large purple monster with a eyeless tentacle head marched closer and closer with the other jumping all over the place with crazy speed, landing behind the group and cutting off their escape.

“Mine! Me want pretty girls! Me want those pretty fingers!”

Picking up Izuku from the ground, Kirishima stepped backwards towards the rest of his class. They had all grouped up together, facing outwards in a ring. Bakugou limped backwards, wincing from each step.

“All Might can’t save you this time. This would be the first time I ate big shots from UA.” The tentacle Head then splitted vertically, revealing a disturbing row of glistening teeth and a long, prehensile barbed tongue.

Shivers passed through 1-A as they were now truly surrounded. An air of desperation had settled in around them. There seemed to be no easy way to escape. And with an unconscious Tokoyami and a paralyzed Izuku, they couldn’t run.

“No God would save you.” The salamander cackled as it licked its lips while the monster closed in on the students.

*Boom*

The earth rumbled, the source coming from the distance down the streets.

It shook the students to their core, causing them to stumble and shake. It felt like multiple, repeated earthquakes were happening all at once.

“Hm?” The tentacle Head monster looked around.

“Another monster?”

As the rumbling grew closer and closer, even the monsters noticed it.

“What… the hell are those?” The Box Monster pointed at the two growing figures down the streets, the color of pale blue and orange approaching them at hyperspeed.

*Awooooo*

The air shaking howl of a familiar wolf reached the class’ ears. One they never expected to hear near their school.

“Wha-“ Before the Salamander could retort, one of the wolves disappeared before it stomped the salamander under its paw with impossible speed despite its size, Skoll growling as Hati slammed her front paws between class 1-A and the monsters, one of her paws squishing the mantis monster as well as the earth shook and the ground cracked.

“Good boy! Good girl! Destroy all monsters!” The class could hear the familiar sound of a certain disciple from atop of Skoll’s head.

““““GHIN!””””

Almost all at once, 1-A shouted out the name of their saviour. The monsters all stared up at the two giant wolves, which were both quite a lot taller than the actual UA building.

“....…” the purple monster watched as Skoll growled, teeth displayed through his lips and drool dripping on him, drowning it in slop. Looking up, craning his neck to the point of straining, never have it felt so small in its entire life.

“…nice boy… stay.” the monster hesitantly said out of desperation. Before Skoll ate him with a crunch, flipping the screaming monster into the air before eating him in one big crunch. The Class and the Box Monster could hear the sickening sound of bones breaking.

“Yay! Good boy! Is it good?” The boy scratched Skoll’s ears when he did that, making the wolf pant in return while chewing on the monster before gulping. Skoll seemed to salivate even more, finding the taste of monsters attractive.

The box monster was the only one still remaining. Seeing his monstrous colleagues wiped out so easily, he desperately ran towards the group of students, hoping that they would act as some level of ‘protection’ from the giant predators.

“Awk!”

Only to collapse under the foot of Mirio as he landed atop of the monster, phasing through Hati in the process.

Jumping from atop the corpse of the monster, Mirio turned his attention to the gathered Class 1-A. Concern was clear on his face.

“You guys alright?”

Landing beside him were Hado and Tamaki, all in their respective hero costumes.

“Hey, guys!” Hado waved at the class, while Tamaki gave a simple gesture.

Both Shoji and Kirishima stepped forwards, carrying the unconscious Tokoyami and the now-seizing Izuku.

“Midoriya was hit by some kind of poison or toxin. He’s only getting worse. We need to get him help.”

Kirishima could barely hold on to the convulsing classmate at this point.

“Alright. Leave it to me. Ghin, can you transport Deku to the hospital?”

“Ehh, but I want to watch-”

“I’ll give you three more swords. One for you as well.” Mirio promised.

“Skoll! Pick him up, boy!” Ghin immediately changed his tune.

Gently, the giant jaws of Skoll closed over the afflicted Izuku. Even in the grip of the mighty jaws of the animal, Izuku still bucked and convulsed. Each moment only made him worse. Class 1-A all watched with varying degrees of worry as their classmate was hoisted away.

“...What about the other monsters?”

Carefully listening, Iida could no longer hear the sounds of battle from before. All they could hear was distant screaming, mixed in with the still-blaring car alarms.

“Eh. The others can handle it.” Ghin shrugged.

“What should we do now?”

Uraraka shouted up at the seated Ghin. With the monsters defeated and their classmate being taken to a hospital, they couldn’t think of much they could actually do at this point.

“Don't know. Skoll!” Ghin whistled as Skoll perked his ears, picking his head up. Without another word, he took off, his steps shaking the earth in his stride.

The distant screams grew even louder, followed by the distant screams of inhuman beings before latter was suddenly silenced.

1-A could feel the earth-shaking footsteps grow further and further away. Despite the monster’s defeat, none of them felt relieved. The state the battle had left a few of their classmates in was terrible. And that wasn’t mentioning Izuku. Slowly, they all began to head around to the front of the school.

*Haaaah hahhh*

Hati was sitting on the floor, panting as she waited for Ghin’s return.

The sight of the giant wolf so near to their school was… odd to say the least. Their sheer size in comparison to all of the buildings around them was sobering image. It looked like a tremendous statue, casting a huge shadow across the school.

As 1-A crept towards the front of the school, the three seniors followed close behind. Eventually, the main gate came into view. The doors that had been caved in were now lying on the ground, torn and sundered. The area around the entrance of the school had signs of a very obvious battle. Craters littered the area. Oddly coloured blood, along with regular crimson blood, was scattered around in small pools.

Lying on the ground was the corpse of a bloated, green monster. The blood that leaked from it was the same colour as the blood on the ground.

“...Whose blood is that?”

Mineta pointed squarely at the red droplets of blood. A teacher had been fighting. And judging from the monster corpse, they’d won.

As the class all searched around for potential signs of the teacher, they noticed a figure resting against a wall. The familiar form of Power Loader was slumped against the wall, panting heavily. Blood was all too noticeable on his exposed skin, running down in rivulets.

As they all noticed their injured teacher, 1-A and the seniors all rushed over.

“Ughhh… hello, kids. Wish I met you in a… more pristine condition.”

“What happened?!”

“What do you think?” Power Loader pointed at the monster corpse lying there.

“The Bastard is hard to down… had to… kill it.” Power Loader coughed a little.

“What about the other teachers?”

Iida glanced around the area, still not noticing any other teachers.

“Don't know… we were split up. To protect the students.” He shook his head.

As the students gathered around the injured teacher, a grumbling came from nearby. As a few members of UA turned around, they could see the form of the ‘killed’ monster

“As expected of UA. You are hard to kill.” The Green orc-like monster grumbled as it slowly stood up.

“Too bad I have regeneration. Unless you blow my head off, I will keep coming back. Buhihihihihi.” The monster giggled as the wounds on his body slowly closed.

*SPLAT*

The green monster took one step forwards, before it’s head exploded. A shower of sickly-green blood and bone coated the area. As the now-headless monster fell forwards, everyone noticed Hado stood behind the monster, one fist extended.

“Thanks for telling me!”

Hado’s fist was coated in a layer of green blood and viscera. She smiled as the monster’s corpse finally hit the ground.

1-A all gaped at the girl, who simply began shaking her blood-coated hand in an attempt to clean it. Power Loader sighed heavily, seeming to sink further against the wall.

“That’s one more down. Where are the rest?”

Mirio glanced around, attempting to find any more monsters in the area. Both Hado and Tamaki did the same. 1-A however, continued to stare at the cheery Hado, coated in blood.

Seemingly setting his sights on something the rest of them couldn’t see, Mirio charged headfirst into the school building, phasing through the wall effortlessly. Both Hado and Tamaki turned one ear towards the direction Mirio had ran, almost waiting for something.

And like clockwork, the sound of a monstrous scream echoed out of the building, followed by a meaty ‘thud’. Nodding to themselves, Hado and Tamaki glanced over at 1-A. Mere seconds after he had vanished into the building, Mirio came running back out unharmed.

“I could only find the one monster inside.”

Mirio released one quick breath, as if to show that it was barely an exercise. As he could feel unconsciousness claim him, Power Loader grinned momentarily.

“That… auurgh.. training sure is… something.”

“You have no idea…” Mirio turned his head away, averting eye contact upon remembrance of the pain and suffering.

And with that, Power Loader sunk fully to the ground, unconscious. A few students stared at him worryingly.

“So… what now?”

Kaminari slowly and with disgust, began wiping off the globules of green blood and bone that had landed on his shoulder. The rest of his classmates were in similar states, splattered by the green shower of blood and gore.

“For you? You all stay here.”

Mirio stared at the class with his hands on his hips triumphantly.

“We’re going to test the fruits of our training against the monsters!” Hado interjected, puffing her chest with determination.

“What about Garou? What’s he doing?”

Tearing her eyes away from their unconscious teacher, Yaoyorozu gazed over at the three seniors.

“...we don't know…” Mirio pursed his lips. What was Garou doing, he does not know.

Meanwhile…

At Shiketsu High, a bloodbath painted the scene. Monster Corpses strewn across the school, with Garou sitting atop of another pile of monster corpses, flicking the blood from his blade before returning it to its sheath.

“So many monsters today…” Garou checked his phone, looking at the news video checking for more locations that might need his help.

As Garou sat on the piles of corpses, he could feel almost hundreds of eyes on him. The students of Shiketsu had all gathered around, staring at him. There was a mix of admiration and awe in the gazes of the students. Murmurs and whispers traveled through the crowd of students. The Hero Fenrir had so suddenly appeared. And at their school of all places.

“How did he do all of that? I didn’t even see him move!”

“We’re lucky he got here in time…”

“He’s so rugged…”

“I swear I met him before…”

The students could only marvel at Fenrir’s accomplishment. A group of girls stared at him, swooning. Watching from amongst the crowd, Inasa could feel something… familiar about this guy. He could’ve sworn they’ve met before.

Disregarding the words of the students, Garou continued to search for more monster-infested areas. As he looked through the news, he came across one particular report. Turning the volume up, he listened in.

“[...vastation as been extensive. Not to mention, a number of Heroes have yet to be spotted. The Number One Hero, Endeavour has yet to make an appearance against the monsters. We’ve received reports as well that monsters have not only invaded Shiketsu High School, but UA as well. The extent of the damage in both schools is unknown.]”

Furrowing his brow, Garou stared at the small screen with greater intensity. Suddenly, the camera that the broadcast was using seemed to shake and tremble. It looked like a sudden earthquake had occurred. However, the camera stabilized, quickly focusing and zooming in on a familiar figure in the distance. The reporter seemed to have dropped her professional air for a moment.

“[...That’s Endeavour… and those are… monsters.]”

However, the reporter quickly regained her senses, turning back to the camera. As she held the microphone, Garou could see her hand tremble ever so slightly.

“[...It appears that the Number One Hero, Endeavour, has finally arrived. He appears to be caught in combat with several monsters…]”

As the camera zoomed in on the distant form of Endeavour, he was obviously surrounded by several monsters of varying appearances. However, the trembling and shaking of the camera began once again. The cameraman appeared to try to keep it focused on the Hero.

“[What the hell are those?!]”

The voice of a member of the camera crew was noticeably audible in the broadcast. The reporter was also staring at something off-screen. Moving the camera, two large familiar shapes appeared on the broadcast. Hati and Skoll towered over Endeavour, as well as the buildings around them.

*[AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO]*

Even through the phone it was deafening. The reporter raised both of her hands to cover her ears. As the camera was still zoomed in, it could see that dozens upon dozens of windows had shattered from the sheer volume. Even the monsters, as well as Endeavour, seemed to cover their ears.

Slowly, the jaws of Hati lowered towards the group of monsters and the singular Hero. The reporter began trembling more noticeably.

“[I-It appears that two large wolf monsters have arrived. They’ve focused on the Number One…]”

However, much to the news crew’s surprise, the maw of the giant wolf did not wrap around Endeavour. Instead, it closed over one of the monsters surrounding the Flame Hero. The crunch of bone could be heard clearly in the broadcast.

“[...good girl.]” The reporter and camera crew could hear Endeavour praising the giant wolf.

Gaping at the scene before them, the reporter’s mouth hung open. Other than the sound of shards of glass hitting the floor, there was near silence. Huge flocks of birds had risen into the sky following the deafening howl.

“[.....I-I… It appears t-that these two giant wolves are friendly. I’ve never seen anything like this…]”

The reporter commented as the monsters started running away from Hati, shouts of ‘Run Away’ and ‘How did Endeavour tame those things?!’ could be heard. Only for Hati to release her white flame breath, burning the fleeing monsters in a stream of white hot fury.

As the flames cleared, the monsters had been replaced by several charred, heavily smoking corpses, lying motionless. The sheer heat of the flames had caused areas of the road to bubble up, as well as making nearby cars glow red-hot.

“[I will leave this place to you!]” The recorder caught the sound of a young boy coming from somewhere, before the two wolves turned around and sprinted with explosive strides, cracking the sidewalk and shaking the cracking earth with their titanic steps.

“[I… I’m not sure what just happened. B-back to the studio…]”

The female reporter held the microphone in one hand, clearly shaking.

“Pfff, hahahahahaha!” Garou started laughing at the recording, loud enough for the other students to hear.

“Hah… I don't regret taking them in.” Garou smiled at the wolves doing work.

The students all watched, slightly confused as to why the Hero had begun laughing so raucously. Amongst the crowd, Inasa could have sworn he’d heard that voice before...

“Well, time to go.” Garou hoisted himself up as he stood up on the corpses before he leapt off, landing on the floor. With a mighty dash, Garou sprinted into the streets, his visage barely visible to the students as he took off, leaving a cloud of dust behind his wake.

The students all gaped as all they saw was a blur of movement, and then he was gone. A moment of silence passed, before all of the students suddenly began cheering loudly for the Hero.

Back to Skoll…

“So, can you help him?” Ghin asked from atop of Skoll, right outside a hospital as his mount sat down on his hind legs, wagging his tail patiently. In front of them was the drool drenched form of Izuku, and a few doctors. And a lot of spectators eyeing the giant wolf with dropped jaws.

Turning their eyes from the giant wolf, several medical staff immediately noticed the boy on the ground. Quickly rushing towards him, they could see foam collecting in the corners of his mouth. As they knelt down to him, he began writhing and convulsing once again. A web of purple veins was noticeable from a spot on his cheek, spreading almost across his entire head.

“Dear lord. It looks like some cross form of blood infection and deadly poisoning…” A doctor commented, propping his glasses as the young boy was placed on a stretcher.

The doctor glanced up at the giant wolf and the other boy riding on its head. Gulping nervously, he grimaced.

“...How did he end up like this?”

“He fought a monster. And got poisoned I think.” The boy shouted from atop his wolf.

“How long ago was this?”

Glancing back at the boy on the stretcher, the doctor’s tone was full of urgency.

“Not that long ago.”

“Is there a sample of the ‘poison’ available? If you have it, it would be a great help.”

“...Skoll?” Ghin scratched the ear of his wolf, as the wolf raised one of his paws. Revealing a flattened corpse of a salamander monster.

“...I think it is this one that poisoned him…”

The doctor could see blood dripping from the crushed body on the wolf’s paw.

Stepping towards the growing pool of strange purple blood, the doctor pulled a pen from his pocket. As he stared down at the pool of blood, a female doctor came rushing out of the building. She was momentarily taken aback by the giant wolf, before shouting out.

“I’m the chief toxicologist. I’ve been told we have a sample of a monster’s poison?”

“You can have the splattered body.” Ghin replied as the wolf whined.

Widening her eyes, she rushed over to the corpse.

“What are you doing? You could have poisoned someone else!”

Yanking the male doctor away, she reached into her pockets and brought out two thick, white gloves. Quickly searching in her other pocket, she produced a small vial with a swab stick. As she fitted the gloves, she stared down at the poison.

“Uh, quick question. Can you guys… scrape the body off Skoll’s paw?” Ghin shouted from atop.

Approaching the body, the female doctor shook her head, frowning.

“I’m afraid we can’t. Not until we know the full potency of this toxin. We might just infect more people.”

“Ehhhh…” Ghin pouted from atop of Skoll, as the wolf whined again.

As she knelt down in front of the pool of blood and poison, she gently brushed the swab across the surface of the poison.

“This… The consistency is way too high. And the colour…”

She noticed that the purple ooze had slowly spread, reaching the corner of some nearby grass. As the purple liquid crawled over the grass, it withered and died within seconds. Soon, there was a large growing patch of dead, poisoned grass.

Her eyes wide, the doctor stared up at the silver-haired boy atop the giant wolf. Her tone was terse, her expression serious.

“...Does this animal have a Gigantification Quirk?”

“Yeah? Why?” Ghin asked.

Quickly standing up, she kept her eyes on the large animal.

“Because your ‘pet’ may also have been affected. We can’t be sure. But the fact that your wolf is so large, means that the toxin would work far, far slower. Until we can confirm, you need to keep this animal at its largest size. If it grows smaller, the poison might take hold faster.”

“...Skoll?” Ghin scratched Skoll’s ears as he looked at his wolf with concern. The wolf merely barked, his voice enough to drown the air, indicating his apex of health.

“...I’d recommend keeping him large. Just for a while.”

Taking one last look at the boy and his ‘pet’, the female toxicologist whirled on her feet and began to rush back into the hospital. They’d need to work fast, or else that boy’s life may be forfeit. Glancing down at the vial in her hand, she knew that it’d have to be thoroughly analyzed if they had any chance.

Izuku lay atop a table, surrounded by nurses and doctors. Each and every one of them was wearing protective clothes. They had all been informed of the ‘unique’ situation surrounding this boy. With a monster’s poison, they couldn’t be too careful.

Hati was busy chewing on a supposed corpse of the female monster, eating the remains as audible crunching of bones could be heard. In front of her was a pile of monster corpses, awaiting disposal inside her belly. The students of UA all went out to see the spectacle with gaping mouths, seeing the titanic wolf eating monster meat without consequence.

“Won’t that affect her stomach?”

Ashido was sure that monster meat wasn’t exactly the healthiest thing in the world.

“...don't know, but Ghin keeps ordering them to eat. They don't seem to mind.” Mirio shrugged upon seeing Hati chewing on monster after monster, gulping with a panting satisfaction before she dug in to the next.

The class of 1-A all still sat out the front of the school. They knew there wasn’t anything they could do. Glancing up at the giant form of Hati, Kirishima grinned slightly.

“How do you think this is gonna play out? I mean, both Hati and Skoll have probably been caught on the news. They might even have seen Ghin.”

“Let’s hope no one tries to capture them. For their sake.”

Uraraka stared at the feeding wolf. Even if somehow some potential hunter managed to capture them, then they’d have to deal with an angry Ghin and an angry Garou.

“Can anyone even try to capture them? I mean… look at him.” Kaminari pointed at Hati, gesturing to her gargantuan size.

“I know. She's a girl, though. She’s so cute isn’t she?”

Hado smiled over at the giant wolf. She couldn’t see how anyone would want to capture, let alone harm, such a cute pet.

“You call that cute?” Mineta asked Hado. He does not find the sight of a giant wolf eating monster corpses cute. To him, that was not cute, an alpha eating other alphas could not be called cute.

“Yep! You just haven’t spent enough time around her.”

Hado waved over at Hati whilst she was still eating. If everyone else just spent more time with her, then they might start seeing Hati as cute.

*Arf*

Hati waved back with her giant paw, barking with her mouth full.

“Are you sure that’s an animal? And not some person in disguise?”

Kaminari snarked, seeing the strangely human-esque reaction from the giant predator. Every day he thought that dealing with Garou and his apprentice couldn’t get stranger. But then it did.

“Don't know, but they are quite intelligent… and loveable,” Mirio laughed.

“How can they even grow that big? I mean, they’re bigger than Mt Lady!”

Mineta gestured towards the feeding Hati. The shadow the wolf cast was almost enough to engulf the school and the entire surrounding areas.

“....” The Big Three turned their heads away. They cannot tell them that Garou gave them his blood.

“...Garou used satanic blood rituals to empower them,” Mirio half-lied.

“...You aren’t serious… are you?”

Narrowing her eyes, Momo felt like that kind of story was too unbelievable. But knowing Garou, who knew what was possible for him?

“...Garou fed them too well.” Mirio now completely lied. It does involve blood and some form of empowerment.

“What the hell was he feeding them? Growth stimulants?”

Mineta rose both his eyebrows, wildly pointing at the giant wolf.

“His blood after empowering it with satanic rituals.” Mirio now made the story even more outlandish.

“...He fed them his blood?”

Shouto stared over at Mirio, one eyebrow cocked in surprise. The usual no-nonsense attitude of his had seen through the outlandish tales.

“....yeah. It had… an explosive effect,” Mirio averted his eyes, now realizing that he dropped the ball.

Kaminari whistled loudly as he stared at Hati. The idea of Garou even being capable of shedding blood… It was a sobering thought.

“Good thing Garou’s blood is probably the hardest thing to get in the world!”

“...you have no idea.” The three were very, very aware how adamant Garou was in sharing power to others. He wouldn't give a drop even if the world was about to end. Hell, he wouldn't give it to a dying man with a regen Quirk.

“You three seem to be exceptionally close to Garou.”

The voice of Shoji spoke up from a nearby wall. He was resting against a wall, much like Power Loader, two of his arms hang limp and bruised.

“If you've spent enough time with Garou, you would become attached in a way. If you can handle his ‘jokes’.” Tamaki said.

“Garou making friends… The idea just seems a little strange.”

Shaking his head in bewilderment, Sero struggled to parse everything that had taken place today. He was still shocked.

“He’s… quite normal when you get to know him.”

Hado seemed to be staring down at nothing in particular, smiling softly to herself.

Bakugou was stood off to one side, glaring into space. He hadn’t said anything for a while. In fact, no one had even attempted to go near him. Even Kirishima. He appeared to be quite irritated by something.

“Is he reeeaally that normal? Or has he been using his sinister charms on everyone?”

The rest of the class all turned to stare at Mineta and his ridiculous theory, amused.

“...well, he is fun to tease that is.” Mirio smirked. He should get more plushies later.

“You three do seem to get it lighter than the rest of the people he trains though.”

Kaminari couldn’t forget the memory of seeing Aizawa drag himself over the top of those stairs. Neither could the rest of the class.

“The first day is the worse day.” Hado repeated Ghin’s catchphrase with a smile.

Silence settled in around the students. The only noise was the sound of Hati still noisily crunching and chewing. Glancing over at the three seniors, Kirishima straightened himself up.

“...Would it be possible for Garou to train me?”

The rest of 1-A all stared at Kirishima with wide eyes, shocked by his sudden suggestion. Bakugou’s glaring off into space abruptly changed targets to Kirishima.

Turning his whole body to face them, Kirishima continued.

“It’s just… I was only able to protect my friends today because of what I read in that martial arts book that was given to Garou. Without it…”

Kirishima shook himself out of that train of thinking.

“Anyway, the point is, I want to know what it means to ‘reach the sky’ Ghin keeps talking about. I realize… that there is much more I can do than I believe. And if I don't reach it, I won't be able to call myself a man.”

The rest of the class sat in silence, listening to Kirishima’s request. The three seniors all locked eyes with him. Almost as if to ask ‘Are you sure?’.

“...the first day is the worse day.” Hado repeated Ghin’s catchphrase. The first days were a harsh trial to test and break the participant’s mind, body, and soul with soul-crushing ‘conditioning.’ No normal person could go through that and come out the same. Or remain sane that is.

“...I just feel like Garou’s training is the only way I can truly improve.“

The power that he had been able to tap into from reading just one page of that book made him feel small in comparison. It felt… strange. Like it was above his normal level. A mountain compared to a plateau.

“...Are you sure about this choice? It will be tough, you know?”

Hado’s smile had almost disappeared, replaced by a serious mien.

“It will be absolutely soul-crushing. Your body will break down screaming in agony for the weeks to come during ‘conditioning.’ Neither Garou or Ghin would allow you a moment of respite.” Mirio followed up, also giving Kirishima the stare.

Kirishima glanced down for a moment, clearly deep in thought. Then, his head rose and he locked eyes with the three seniors once again.

“... I’m sure about this.”

“...well. I'll be sure to let Garou know then… wherever he is right now.” Mirio sighed, praying for the first year’s well-being.

Meanwhile…

“Fenrir has come!” One of the heavily armed Anti Monster Strike Team shouted from the turret to the rest of the police, signalling them to hold.

Blood flew across in all directions, body parts rained down the surroundings in the middle of the streets as monster and men alike stared in the center at the figure standing above a police officer. Fenrir had saved him from certain death at the hands of a wolf monster with splitting jaws.

“I do not tolerate monsters impersonating my pets.” Garou mumbled to himself as he walked to the rest of the monsters, while the other police officers lowered their guns. The Hero grabbed the sheathed blade with both hands, slowly releasing the metal blade to the world as the surface reflected the faces of the monsters before it.

The Strike Team watched with caution, but also intrigue. The amount of times they had heard of Fenrir arriving and dealing with the monsters was too many to count.

As Fenrir grew closer, the wolf monster’s split jaws closed together with a revolting noise, it’s eyes locked on the Hero.

“Ah Fenrir. You took your time. Are you here to surrender that name of yours? After all, I’m the true world-ending wolf!”

A strangely human grin came from the monster as it glared at the approaching Hero. If the Strike Team were less trained, it would have caused them to shiver. It nearly did.

“Hah! And to think I thought monsters don't have a sense of humor!” Garou narrowed his eyes as he fully unsheathed the blade.

“You don't know what it means to slay a god.” Garou countered.

A strange bark of laughter came from the wolf-ish monster. As it focused on Fenrir, it’s antagonism of the Hero only increased.

“Hah! And you do? You aren’t even a wolf!”

*Swish*

“Yet I am more of a wolf than you.” Garou replied. From behind the wolf, as he sheathed his blade slowly until it clamped with an audible click.

“You are a pretender, wearing the skin of a wolf.”

The wolf monster tried to turn to face the Hero. But for some reason, he couldn’t. Slowly, a searing pain burning from his legs gradually grew, becoming more tomentingly apparent by the second. Before long, the monster could no longer feel any of its legs. Glancing downwards, the monster could see what had happened. Thin horizontal lines of trickling crimson seemed to bleed onto each of its legs. Blood began to seep out from the lines.

Suddenly, with a sickeningly wet tearing sound, the wolf monster’s legs slid away from its body. With the sudden lack of legs, the monster fell to the ground, blood spurting out from each of the four stumps. The cut seemed to be perfectly clean. It looked as if it had been performed by a laser.

“Auuurrrggghhh!!”

“Know the difference between a pup and and a real god slaying wolf, trash.” Garou chastised the monster as it flailed the ground in pain, as the Hero then continued walking towards the other monsters, his prey stepping back in fear. Actual fear for the first time they became monsters.

“As for you guys…” Garou slowly unsheathed his blade again, the sword ‘staring’ at the monsters through the reflective gleam.

“Which parts do you want to lose?” The God Slaying Wolf asked with a smirk as the monsters whimpered.

“Is Skoll alright?” Ghin asked the doctors, continuously rubbing his pet’s ears.

The familiar female toxicologist nodded at the young boy, smiling at him and his pet.

“Yes he’ll be fine. Any negative health effects would have manifested themself pretty quickly. For some reason, your pet has overcome it.”

“Yay!” Ghin shouted from atop of Skoll.

“I knew he is too awesome to be poisoned!”

*Arf*

The wolf barked, trembling the surroundings for a moment before it started panting.

“How's the other guy doing?” Ghin asked regarding Izuku.

A thin smile was upon the woman’s lips. At the mention of the boy, she still felt a little concerned for his state.

“...He’s stabilized for now. He was lucky you got him here in such a short amount of time. A few more minutes and he might not have made it. The potency of the poison… It’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

“It's from a monster, so yeah.” Ghin shrugged.

“Can you scrape the monster from Skoll’s paw now?” He asked wanting to clean the corpse off his wolf’s foot.

Nodding once, the woman gestured to approach the giant wolf. From the building came dozens of garbed hospital staff. They were all covered head to toe in protective clothing. Masks, gloves, no inch of their skin was exposed.

“Skoll! Raise your paw, boy!” Ghin started scratching his ears, making Skoll pant and thump his hind leg as he slowly raise the paw stuck with the monster corpse.

“Hmmm… Seems to be wedged quite firmly.”

Slowly, the garbed figures all surrounded the raised paw. Glancing up, they could see that the mangled corpse was indeed stuck to the bottom of the paw. Noxious purple fluid dripped from the corpse, splattering on to the floor.

One of the figures produced what looked like a long-handled brush. Wielding the furthest end, they began to attempt to scrape and brush the corpse from the bottom of the paw. With a stomach-churning ‘squelch’, one of the arms of the former monster fell from the corpse. The medical staff all took several steps back out of shock and fear.

Once the arm had landed, they continued to slowly scrape away at the body. It looked as if a mountain had fallen on the monster. Each of its limbs fell off with not a lot of effort. One by one, the staff all collected the falling limbs, wrapping them in a protective sheet. Eventually, it was just the torso left. As the garbed staff member used the head of the tool to lever the torso away, it plopped out unceremoniously. It was quite obviously crushed almost beyond recognition.

As the last part of the corpse was taken away, the staff now all looked at the wolf’s paw, still covered in the purple blood and gore.

“We can’t let you leave without cleaning his paw. He might track the toxin around the city.”

Glancing up at the boy, the female toxicologist couldn’t think of many ways to clean the purple ooze off. Using a high-powered stream of water may just spray the toxin everywhere. And brushing it away would take far too long. Luckily, she had made a call to a Hero that was nearby. Appearing from inside the hospital, came the 8th ranked Pro Hero, Wash. Upon seeing the giant wolf, he was taken aback.

“...So is this the animal that I’ve been told about?”

“He is a proud norse wolf of awesomeness! He will bathe the world in Ragnarok and I will be the proud overlord!” Ghin proudly shouted from atop Skoll.

The Hero stared up at the giant wolf, taking in its sheer size. The paw of the wolf was easily the size of a large car. The shadow it casted covered the entire hospital.

“Wash wash wash… Can everyone step back? Don’t want to spray you all, wash wash wash.”

As the numerous medical staff stepped away from the Hero and the raised paw, Wash raised both of his arms as his central washing machine unit shuddered. As the door of the washing machine opened, a stream of soapy water shot out, soaking the paw of the giant animal.

The pressure of the water easily swept away the remaining blood and entrails that still clung to the underside of Skoll’s paw. After a few more moments, there wasn’t a sign of any of the prior gore. It was now completely clean.

“Wash wash wash… Alright. Done, wash wash wash.”

“Yay!” Ghin raised both his arms up in the air.

“Thank you!” Ghin shouted.

*Arf!*

Skoll barked as a follow-up, shaking his surroundings as he panted, now feeling comfortable with a clean paw.

The Hero nodded once, his washing machine unit shaking and shuddering as he did so. With his job done, Wash turned to walk away. Looking up at the now-pleased young boy, the woman allowed herself a small smile.

“Well, now that ‘Skoll’s’ paw is clean, you’re free to go. We’ll be keeping the boy you brought for a little longer though. We need to monitor his health.”

“Keep him as long as you want. We out! Skoll! Onwards to Hati! Then glory!” Ghin shouted as Skoll barked, then turned around and started running back to UA, shaking the earth in his sprint causing many bystanders to lose their balance.

Cars swerved as the giant wolf ran down the road, honking their horns. The sound of squealing tires and honking horns seemed to follow Ghin and Skoll as they continued heading back to UA. Even from the height he was at, Ghin could still hear the screams and shouting as the members of the public saw a titanic wolf barrelling down the road.

“These are the locations the highest congregation of monsters are. What should we do?” One of the Anti Monster Strike Team asked Garou as they were in a tent, Garou looking at the map on the wide screen TV, Red being the danger locations.

“You take care of the areas with the least amount of monsters are. I am going hunting in the center.” Garou said pointing at the highest concentration of monsters are.

“Will you need any backup? The amount of monsters there is extremely high.”

One of the AMST members turned towards the Hero, gesturing towards the digital map.

“No, I can handle that area. Though you are all free to come after you're all finished with your sides. Let me know if anything happened.” Garou replied as he walked towards the exit.

“How will we be able to contact you?”

Another operative looked at him as he had turned to leave.

“I have a phone so, here's my contact number. Don't spread it or else I will be angry.”

“Haaaati!” Ghin called out the pale orange wolf from Skoll.

Perking her ears, she turned to Ghin and barked happily.

Skidding to a stop, knocking away some cars along the way, Skoll stopped beside Hati as Class 1-A saw the return of Ghin.

The students all stared at Ghin, worry evident on their faces. Each one of them quickly stood up. Even Bakugou turned his stare to the young boy. They were all still extremely worried about Izuku’s condition.

“How… How is he?”

Uraraka felt tense and nervous. Seeing Izuku in such a state… He’d injured himself before, but nothing like this.

“He’ll live! He was lucky by a few minutes!” Ghin shouted.

A few of 1-A sunk back to the ground. They all seemed to release one large sigh of relief, relaxing their tense bodies.

“...Thank you.”

The voice of Shouto drew Ghin’s attention. He looked just as glad as the rest of his class.

“I want those swords later on! So, what'd I miss? Did Hati eat the monsters?” Ghin asked with anticipation, his ahoge wagging as he smiled expectantly.

A few of 1-A shared glances with each other as the three seniors all stared at Kirishima.

“...I’d like to be trained by Garou.”

Hearing Kirishima’s declaration, all of his classmates anxiously watched Ghin. They were well aware of his stubbornness and his propensity for refusal.

“...have you finally seen the heavens past the peak?” Ghin asked Kirishima with serious eyes, testing him, waiting for his response.

Kirishima locked eyes with Ghin, straightening himself up to his full height.

“...I have. I’ve seen the kind of strength that Garou’s training would allow.”

“Ehhh…” Ghin frowned, pouting.

“But I don't want to see you guys at my second home… two times is enough.” Ghin started to complain.

Seeing her opportunity to help her friend, Ashido rose from her seated position.

“Aw come on! We helped you plan Garou’s birthday and everything.”

“Ehhhhhh……” Ghin still pouted, still averse to the presence of Class 1-A.

Several pairs of eyes all landed on Yaoyorozu. She could immediately tell what they were silently asking for. She frowned as she realised that she had essentially become 1-A’s bargaining chip with Ghin. As she rolled up one of her sleeves and extended her arm, a patch of Momo’s skin began to glow. With a ‘pop’, a Garou plushie emerged. Holding it aloft for Ghin to see, she could feel his gaze on it. She didn’t even need to say anything. She just held the stuffed toy as a silent incentive.

“......…” The boy started drooling in return at the sight of the plushie. Then he shook his head, snapping out of his stupor.

“Wait, where’s the swords Mirio promised?!” Ghin accuses now frowning.

“...They’ll come later.”

Momo turned her head away from Ghin, not really wanting to give both Garou and Ghin even more swords.

“But I want them now!” Ghin whined.

Yaoyorozu lowered her arm, pulling the stuffed toy away from Ghin. The gesture was a very obvious message.

“...I can’t make three swords of the same quality that I made for Garou. Not all at once. And not right now.”

“…fine.” Ghin relented in the end.

“Alright, welcome to the fires of hell, rocky.” Ghin welcomed Kirishima to his dojo.

“I will make you suffer the next time I see you at the dojo. You will cry and run back home to your mommy.” Ghin smiled with mischief at Kirishima.

However, Kirishima clenched one fist as he smiled, his expression full of determination.

“I can manage!”

“Alright, I will make you carry three times the things Eraserhead carried today to the dojo. And then be put to work.”

“Eh?”

The rest of his classmates winced at the thought of having to carry three times the amount that had rendered their teacher a walking corpse. As they stared at Kirishima, sympathy and pity were evident on their faces.

“...Three times? What will I be carrying?”

The enthusiasm that Kirishima held was reduced slightly by the sheer amount of work he’d need to do.

“Poop.”

“...........”

Kirishima stared at Ghin, as if to ask if he was serious. So did the rest of 1-A, all with varying degrees of bewilderment.

“I want to expand my Horticulture farm away from the dojo. I need a lot of fertilizer to produce the best torture foods for my juniors,” Ghin explained.

“...Oh.”

His fiery conviction had diminished slightly. The idea of hauling tremendous amounts of fertilizer up those stairs was not a pleasant one.

“It is at the base of the mountain in case you’re wondering. The one at the top is meant to feed large numbers, fast food.” Ghin pointed out.

The three seniors all stared at Kirishima with a mix of pity and amusement. It sounded as if Ghin was going to be particularly cruel to their junior.

“...When do I start?”

“Now.” Ghin answered.

“Eh?”

Kirishima cocked his head to one side in confusion, as did the rest of his classmates. What did he mean by ‘now’?

“First day is the worse day. No mercy.” Ghin replied.

Kirishima glanced over at the three seniors. They all had small smiles on their faces. It was almost as if they were saying ’You asked for this’.

“So… how am I going to get started ‘now’?”

“…good question.” In truth, Ghin said it to put him to work as soon as possible.

“Right now, I should be running around with Skoll and Hati, killing monsters.” Ghin mused.

“How bad is it out there?”

Kaminari had been checking up on his phone. The level of monster attacks was absurd. It was like they had been coordinated or something.

“I watched the news in the hospital. It’s bad. The schools are seemingly targeted the most though. Other schools like this one are under siege.” Ghin explained.

“...And what is Garou doing during all this?”

Bakugou continued staring at Ghin. He seemed to be unusually silent.

“Oh. Killing monsters. His kill count is quite high.” Ghin smiled.

Still glancing down at his phone, Kaminari’s eyes widened as he watched one of many different news reports.

“...Did you know that you and Skoll are on the news?”

“Ohhhh!” Ghin jumped at the news.

“How famous are we?!” Ghin asked with a smile.

Extending his phone out, he pointed the screen squarely at Ghin. 1-A all narrowed their eyes, trying to get a better look. Although there was no sound, the image on the phone was obvious. It was of a giant wolf, towering over the surrounding buildings. The camera clearly caught Skoll effortlessly dispatching several monsters. As the camera zoomed out and then zoomed back in, the footage vaguely showed a small figure riding on the large animal.

Jumping down from Skoll’s head, Ghin landed in front of Kaminari, looking up at the phone.

“Ohhhh… play the sound.” Ghin ordered.

As he increased the volume, the footage showed Skoll throwing his head back and howling into the sky.

*AAWWWOOOOOO*

Even the phone seemed to shake from the sheer volume of the howl. It deafened most of 1-A as they instinctively raised their hands to their ears. The footage could clearly catch the hundreds of windows that all shattered instantly from the howl.

“...You know, if they find out that is you, you might need to pay for all that.”

Kaminari shuddered to think of the sheer cost that all the damage would add up to. It would be astronomical.

“…I have Skoll and Hati to scare the cops away.” Ghin stated.

No one said anything in response. Everyone just stared at Ghin with varying levels of disapproval. Even the three seniors joined in.

“You can’t just scare the cops away like that.”

“Yes, I can.” Ghin stubbornly denied.

“Ghin. I’m sure Tsukihana wouldn’t really approve of that…”

The mention of Garou’s landlady seemed to cause Ghin to stop and think. Mirio frowned slightly at Ghin as he voiced his disapproval.

“…I’m sure they will ignore the damage fees since I’m a minor…”

“Maybe… But then they might just make Tsukihana pay. Or even worse. They might make Garou pay.”

Mirio was attempting to use every kind of argument he could to persuade Ghin.

“No they won't. Aniki is too powerful for that. And we can use you guys to pay for the damages just in case.” Ghin smiled.

“If you make us pay, then we’ll just have to live with you. We won’t have any money after all!”

Even Hado joined in, speaking up from beside Tamaki. To be honest, the idea of living in the dojo didn’t sound too bad...

“.…” Ghin’s smile then turned into an aghast frown.

“…hide me?” Ghin meekly requested.

Pointing to the screen, Iida tried to calm the now-worried Ghin. He pointed directly at the figure atop Skoll’s back on the broadcast.

“Your face seemed absent from the footage. Just your height.”

“Oh thank god.” Ghin sighed in relief.

“If I was caught, I would’ve definitely use you and the Pro Heroes to cover the damage…” Ghin wiped his brows of cold sweat.

Mirio turned to Hado with a grin on his face. He saw how worried Ghin had momentarily become at the mention of them living in the dojo.

“I think you’re right Hado! If all of Garou’s disciple are forced to pay, then we’d all have to stay at the dojo. Indefinitely.”

“Wait, I just realized that I could use you all as permanent slaves.”

“Oh yeah… Look at this!”

Kaminari waved his phone in the air, desperately trying to remove the dangerous air that Ghin was emitting.

On the phone’s screen now was what looked like handheld footage captured from a phone or something similar. As the apparent cameraman was moving through a large crowd, they came to a large clearing. In the middle of the clearing was a huge pile of monster corpses in different states of damage. Some were sliced once, whilst others looked like they’d been thrown into a blender.

And sat atop the pile of corpses was a familiar, silver-haired figure. With the camera now receiving a better angle, it was clear to see that the crowd was made up of students, judging by their uniforms. The cheering and shouting of the crowd of students could be heard clearly through the phone.

“[He took all of them down in like, a blur!]”

“[He’s so mysterious…]”

“[Look at that hair? How much product do you think he uses?]”

The class and disciples both watched Garou sitting nonchalantly atop the pile of monsters, fiddling with his phone as he called someone.

*Ring Ring*

In Ghin’s pocket, his phone was ringing, playing an orchestral piece the students of Class 1-A had no recollection of.

“…” silently, Ghin took out his phone and tapped the green call icon.

“Yeah?”

“[Shrimp. I got a job for you.]” the voice of Garou was heard from the other side.

The voice of Garou could be faintly heard in the footage that was playing on Kaminari’s phone, allowing everyone else to listen.

“[Take the wolves and start culling the monsters. I already took it that you sent the other guys to help quell this attack. So, I need you to go to take them and start a monster genocide. Are you up for it?]”

Hearing the question, Ghin could be seen… jittering, his body vibrating with joy and expectation.

“Yes, Aniki! I will start Ragnarok at your behest!” Ghin declared with pride.

“[Yeah, yeah. Don’t go too wild. See ya.]” Garou on the footage cut off his phone before he vanished from the spot, no longer there in the camera.

“So are we going with you?”

Mirio, Tamaki and Hado all looked at Ghin, awaiting his response. In truth, they did want to test out their improved skills on the monsters.

“…eh, whatever. Hop on! It’s monster season!” Ghin said as he immediately formed wings and flew atop of Skoll.

All three of the senior leapt up towards Skoll, grabbing the fur on his side. As they began climbing, the voice of Bakugou reached all four of them.

“Well what the hell are we supposed to do now?”

As he was mid-climb, Mirio turned his head to focus on the glaring Bakugou. The rest of 1-A all stared up at the four disciples.

“…what do you want to do, then?” Ghin asked Bakugou from atop Skoll.

“.......”

Bakugou said nothing, turning away. However, the voice of Kirishima now echoed out.

“We want to help! But I don’t think we can…”

Both Shouto and Iida recalled the fight with Stain. If they were to go out again like last time, the punishments would be far more severe.

“Ehh…” Ghin cupped his chin in thought.

“…we might need someone to help direct the civilians away…” Ghin pondered on the prospect of bringing the class to his hunt.

With the prospect of actually doing something, all of 1-A shot up, eagerly staring at the still-pondering Ghin. They couldn’t just sit around and do nothing. There were some of 1-A however, that did not feel the same as their classmates.

“That, and I need scapegoats in case they catch me on camera. You would all take the blame for the property damage!” Ghin smiled at his solution.

“...I don’t think we should go. We would be putting ourselves in unnecessary danger, Ribbit.”

Tsuyu raised one hand, voicing her disapproval. A few of her classmates nodded in agreement.

“The moment you get on Skoll or Hati, there is no turning back. Make it quick. I want to see them chow down on monsters.” Ghin states his ultimatum.

Class 1-A was split between wanting to actually go and help, and doing the lawful thing and staying put. Each of the students were very clearly conflicted.

“...I want to help. But… a Hero can’t just break the rules when they want to.”

Kirishima frowned, still deep in thought.

“I’m already breaking like a ton of rules with the property damage and other things. And I’m ten.” Ghin retorted.

“But you are the first disciple of Garou. A man above the law.”

Shoji pushed himself away from the wall that he was resting against, interjecting into the conversation.

“No one knows that and I am still breaking the law.” Ghin added.

“I cannot make the same choice as the last time. I choose to stay.”

Yaoyorozu lowered her head in mild shame. The backlash against them after they attempted to rescue Bakugou was intense to say the least.

Both Shouto and Iida walked over, standing beside her. Neither of them wanted to sit still and do nothing while monsters ravaged the city. But they weren’t Heroes.

“Alright, just so we’re clear, stay on my wolves unless it’s absolutely necessary. You can direct Skoll and Hati to protect the civilians, but always tell them to eat monsters whenever possible. It is fun watching them eat.” Ghin smiled at the class that wanted to come.

The urge to climb up onto one of the wolves and fight the monsters was almost overwhelming. Each member of the class struggled with their own internal thoughts and feelings.

“You have five seconds to comply.” Ghin stated his ultimatum with his impatience at its apex.

“Bum. Bum. Bum. Ba-badum. Ba-badum.” Wind whipping past his face, Ghin hummed to himself as Skoll and Hati carried him and his juniors to battle… as well as the unwanted baggage that wanted to tag along.

“...could you not sit so close to me, bomb man?” Ghin asked Bakugou who was sitting beside him.

“.........”

Bakugou’s glare seemed to drill into the back of the silver-haired boy’s head.

“...I take it you have more questions? No one can hear you if you are worried though.” Ghin asked as he kept his eyes straight forward.

“...You accepted Kirishima so easily. I didn’t actually think you’d take him.”

Bakugou turned his eyes away from the back of Ghin’s head, his glare softening. Truthfully, he had been surprised when Ghin had agreed to take Kirishima on as a fellow trainee.

“I can be reasonable.” Ghin shrugged, still gazing forward.

Staring off the side of the wolf they were atop of, Bakugou, like the rest of the class, was feeling conflicted. But not for the exact same reasons.

“Why? Why did you accept?”

“Because I was also like him. Weak, confused, and don't know how to properly move forward.” Ghin answered.

“I don't want others to feel the same helplessness I suffered back then when they don't deserve it.”

Bakugou said nothing in response. He merely stared off into the distance, his eyes unfocused. It almost made him laugh. The existence of both Ghin and Garou made everyone else feel powerless. Including himself.

“How's your training coming along then? How you finally glimpsed the skies beyond the peak?” Ghin asked Bakugou, surprisingly striking up a conversation.

“...I don’t know why you keep saying that. Can’t you just say ‘get stronger’ or something?”

Bakugou shook his head, hearing Ghin’s ‘favourite’ analogy.

“There's meaning behind those words. So, have you seen the skies?” Ghin asked again.

“I haven’t even been training for that long…. No, I haven’t seen these ‘skies’.”

The rest of 1-A was shocked at the unusual behaviour for Bakugou. He seemed to be acting… amenable. It worried them slightly.

“Keep searching. You need it to move forward past the peaks.” Ghin suggested.

Saying nothing, the explosive Quirk user merely nodded in acknowledgement. His classmates all stared at him with varying levels of concern.

“...So we just sit up on Skoll and Hati’s backs?”

Iida adjusted his glasses slightly, reaffirming the ‘plan’ they had. It was extremely dangerous. Not only could they get expelled, they might even have to fight another monster.

“Aniki will murder me if I got you guys killed. Aunty would obliterate me if I got you guys hurt.” Ghin confirmed.

“Yeah right… I bet Garou wants to be the one to kill us…”

Mineta mumbled from amidst the group of seated students, just loud enough for everyone to hear. When it came to the silver-haired devil, he never knew what to expect.

With each step from the titanic wolves, the students on its back shook and swayed. They could hear the sound of car alarms being set off with each earth-shaking step.

The further they traveled towards their destination, the more some of the students began to recognise. Shouto, along with Kirishima, Momo and Iida all began to recognise the area as Kamino Ward. All four of them stared down at the familiar surroundings with an increasing sense of remorse.

“Is this… where the most monsters are?”

Yaoyorozu glanced down at the ground far beneath them, noticing scenes of destruction and devastation.

“We’re getting there. Prepare your ears for gunfire.” Ghin said.

“Gunfire? It sounds more like we’re being taken into a warzone.”

Kaminari nervously smiled, attempting to hide his underlying concerns.

As a few of 1-A looked at Ghin with concern, the sound of distant ‘cracks’ drew their attention. Almost as if on cue, gunfire began to ring out in short, sharp bursts. Judging from the sound, it was several weapons discharging all at once. With the sound of distant gunfire and the scenes of devastation around them, it gave the whole area a very ‘apocalyptic’ feel to it.

“...We’re not going to get shot… are we?”

Ashido couldn’t quite get the sound of the repeated gunfire out of her head. It echoed around inside her mind.

“Eh, pretty sure Skoll and Hati are bulletproof. March to glory!” Ghin ordered the wolves as they barked, picking up speed in their sprint.

The sudden increase of speed caused most of the students to lean back from the sheer power of the force. However, Ghin along with Mirio, Tamaki and Hado didn’t seem to be too affected.

As the two titanic predators continued their sprint, Sero glanced over at Ghin. The force pushing them back, combined with the now-rushing wind made it hard to even turn his head.

“How fast can they even go?”

“No idea. We made it here from the mountains in around ten minutes or so!” Ghin shouted with childish joy.

The chorus of background gunfire steadily grew louder and louder. It seemed to be coming from several locations at once. Suddenly, a whizzing noise shot past the group of students, flying just above their heads. Luckily, it missed all of them and shot off into the sky.

“......Stray bullet?”

Kaminari, like the rest of the class, now all had shrunken themselves down. They all looked momentarily shocked as they lowered their heads out of fear.

The sound of gunfire was now very close. In fact, even though they were so high up, they could still hear the noise of bullets embedding themselves in walls and other things. As the two wolves began to slow in their sprint, the students all fell silent as they could faintly hear what sounded like orders, coming from a police officer or some kind of operative.

“...Tavern, this is Patron One. We have encountered several low ranking monsters. It’s unconfirmed, but I’d say that they’re maybe mid-to-low Tiger. Patron Three, Five and Seven all KIA. No Demon levels spotted as of yet. There is an unknown rumbling coming from somewhere nearby. Going to find the source. Patron One out.”

The students all shared a glance. A tense atmosphere had set in around them. From the numerous callsigns and the professional language, these were some pretty professional soldiers. And they’d even managed to take out some monsters.

Mirio furrowed his brow in recognition. He, like the rest of the students, had all heard the orders from the mysterious soldier. But something else had piqued his interest.

“...He said ‘Demon level’, didn’t he? If I remember correctly, that’s the same monster ranking system that Garou uses.”

The implication was clear. Garou was working with these strange operatives. The idea of Garou standing amidst a group of heavily armed, kevlar-wearing officers seemed… unreal.

“Does that mean Garou is nearby?”

Mineta seemed to narrow his eyes, glancing around as if to catch a glimpse of the silver devil.

“Nope. He is elsewhere.” Ghin denied.

“Monsters showing up more and more, the use of the rankings… It’s like our world is slowly turning into Garou’s home.”

Mirio grimaced at such a thought. From what Garou himself had said, they had their own Heroes actually capable of taking these monsters on. Unfortunately, most regular Heroes didn’t seem to be on the standard of those ‘other’ Heroes.

“Aniki didn't ask to be here, you know? Or that monsters appear here.” Ghin reminded.

“Yeah I know. I’m actually glad Garou came here. Without him, we wouldn’t be able to fight off all of these monsters.”

Mirio smiled to himself, his two fellow seniors joining in.

“Even though Garou kicked the butts of the most famous heroes here for fun?” Ghin asked with an impish smile.

Mirio’s smile turned into a small grimace as he shrugged in response.

“...Even so.”

“Tch, expected a more fun response from you.” Ghin clicked his tongue with displeasure.

“Besides, if Garou had never come here, we would have never become friends with him!”

Hado seemed to completely disregard the fact that Garou had beaten up so many Heroes early on. She was just happy to know him now. She beamed as she thought of her classmate, blushing slightly.

“...yeah. I… am glad he is here too.” Ghin smiled.

“You’ve both been taken in by his sinister charms!”

Rolling their eyes collectively, 1-A all stared at the suspicious Mineta. Every time he spoke about Garou, he seemed to come up with some crazy theory or suggestion.

“He took me in when no one else would.” Ghin said as he turned around and glared at Mineta with great intensity.

“You know nothing about him. Accuse him of something again and I promise unending pain.” Ghin threatened.

The grape-haired student seemed to shrink down further, now completely silent.

“We arrived.” Ghin turned to the front as Skoll and Hati both slowed down at their destination.

Glancing over the edge of the wolf’s back, Kirishima furrowed his brow.

“Sooo… are we staying up here?”

“It's a warzone here. Stay up there and enjoy the show. Sic’em, guys!” Ghin pointed forward.

Before the two predators, they arrived at the warzone, monsters of various shapes and sizes rushing towards the heavily armed police as gunfire held them at bay. The two predators arrived from the side, seeing the two sides clashing against the other with fangs against metal. One of the soldiers noticed the two giant predators standing at the wide road leading to the warzone.

The armed officer raised one hand to his head and began speaking out loud. His other hand held his gun, aimed firmly at the giant wolves in front of him.

“...Two targets spotted. Both appear to be some species of wolf. They are both easily over seventy feet tall. Neither are approaching. Orders?”

Despite the seemingly professional nature of the operative, the slight shaking of his gun couldn’t be missed. Even the most hardened soldier would tremble at facing down such giant predators.

A voice crackled to life from a radio somewhere on the soldier’s person.

“[Do not antagonize. Repeat. Do not antagonize. Both have shown connections with Endeavour. Possible friendlies.]”

The soldier slightly lowered his gun, his trembling reduced but his gaze locked firmly on the two wolves out of caution. Other soldiers stopped shooting and turned to notice the two titanic predators that entered the field.

“Holy…”

“…anyone got the big guns?”

Noticing the decrease of gunfire, the monsters stopped their assault to follow their line of sight.

“Whoa…” A fish-headed monster uttered upon the first sight of the two.

“How many monster cells did they eat to get that big?”

Ghin could hear the monster’s comment on his wolf, irking the boy with their uneducated assumption.

“Skoll! Bring Ragnarok on those peons! No mercy!!!” Ghin pointed at the monsters with fiery rage burning in his eyes.

Skoll hunched over, taking on a more predatory stance. Almost in response, a sudden ‘whoosh’ filled the air as three different monsters seemed to grow and grow. Seeing the sudden increase in the monster’s sizes, the soldiers began to fall back. The three monsters weren’t all as large as the wolf was, but there were three of them. As the monsters grew, they all dwarfed the surrounding buildings.

Each of the three monsters looked rather peculiar, as most monsters did. The closest monster appeared to be a man that was wrapped in some kind of thick, metal cord or wire. Bloodshot red eyes were visible from underneath the cables the winded around the monster. The cords seemed to snake around his body, writhing and grinding against itself.

The second monster was just as odd looking as the first. It looked remarkably similar to a jester, hat and all. As it towered over the buildings around it, it tittered maniacally. Reaching out, it dug its hand into the ground. As it dug around inside the earth, it stopped moving as it had apparently reached what it was looking for. Extracting the gloved hand, it tore a huge section of underground pipe out of the ground. Wielding it with both hands, the monster stared at Skoll with deranged eyes.

The third monster was made of wood, his figure bulky with brown bark and his face covered by a tiki mask. His arms slowly reshaped themselves, forming swords in place of hands, the blades seemingly sharp enough to cleave metal and stone, as it gazed at the two predators as if challenging them to move.

All the students on the back of Skoll could now see three monsters of nearing sizes to the wolf they were on. They suddenly felt very vulnerable. To the soldiers on the ground, watching the face-off between the five titanic creatures looked like a scene straight from a movie.

“Ohohoho. What entertainment! I hope you know that the last laugh will be mine…”

The voice of the giant jester seemed to shake the buildings around it, as the monster’s face was twisted in a macabre smile. The large section of piping it had ripped from the ground was being wielded like a spear, pointed squarely at the wolves.

“Skoll! Turn him to a popsicle!” Ghin ordered as the ice-encrusted wolf proceeded to unleash his cryogenic breath. The streams of his frozen gale almost seemed to go on forever as it engulfed the jester and everything behind him for what seemed to be miles.

As the icy wave engulfed the jester, a cracking sound could be heard. The giant monster was desperately trying to keep moving as layer upon layer of frost and ice began to immobilise it. Huge chunks of ice fell from the jester, crashing into the ground. But it wasn’t enough. The twisted grin on the face of the titanic jester did not disappear, even as it was slowly being covered in ice.

“I did say the last laugh would be MINE! Aheheheh!”

With one final declaration and a manic laugh, it finally stopped moving, completely frozen. The monster glistened as the jester remained still, like a titanic statue.

The sight of their fellow monster solidly encased in ice had galvanised the other two giant monsters into action. From the ‘cable’ monster, came dozens of large cords streaming towards the icy wolf.

“Hati!” Ghin shouted as the tephra-encrusted wolf breathed white flames of burning death at the cable monster, white flames engulfing the wires and soon it as well.

As the flames washed over the monster, it sooned noticed something worrying. The metallic cables and cords that wrapped around it had begun to glow an orange-ish red. The air around the monster began to shimmer as the flames just kept coming. Soon, the cords it had sent towards the wolf were now noticeably melting, molten metal dripping from the red-hot wires. The monster knew that it couldn’t get the cables any closer without melting instantly. Stopping the stream of now-glowing cables, the monster instead chose to flick them like whips, sending molten metal towards Hati.

The soldiers on the ground had to take cover from the titanic battle that was going on around them. The windows on some buildings had begun to wilt and melt from the sheer heat from the flames.

The molten metal struck Hati, but she still growled at the metal cord monster unfazed by the heat.

The students on the back of Skoll winced as the searing heat washed over them. They could feel their lips dry almost immediately as they were engulfed by the wave of heat.

“I thought you said it would be safe up here!”

Kaminari covered his head from any potential dangers. A film of sweat had clearly formed on his forehead.

“Didn't expect there to be giant monsters, but Hati! Protect the class! And burn that thing alive!” Ghin shouted as Hati roared and unleashed another devastating stream of white hot flame towards the giant monster.

As yet another plume of white fire swallowed the monster, it could now see the cords begin to droop and wilt as molten metal began to stream from them. Even the cables that were wrapped around its body had begun to melt.

“Auuuuuuuggggggrrrhhh!!”

The monster screamed as its own cords melted around it, forming a prison of blistering heat. As the wires fully melted, the form of the monster was now completely covered by red-hot flowing metal like a sheet.

Seeing both of its compatriots being so easily dispatched, the third and final monster ducked down behind a particularly large building. Its sword-arms shifted and twisted, taking the shape of oversized hands. Grasping both sides of the building, the monster heaved and pulled.The sound of glass shattering and concrete breaking filled the air, as the monster began to pull the building out of the ground.

The monster groaned and strained as it held the building with both hands. Then, it began to approach the two wolves.

“Move! Attack from both sides!” Ghin shouted as the wolves immediately hopped back at the same time, before they circled around the monster and fired balls of flame and cryogenic spheres at it.

Noticing the wolves on both sides, caught off guard by the speed and agility of the two predators, the monster dropped the building, causing the earth to shake and shudder. Quickly, both oversized hands reformed into two wooden shields, defending from each wolf’s breath respectively. The monster could already hear the roar of fire as one of his shields was engulfed in a roaring inferno.

Even on the other side the monster wasn’t safe. It could feel its other arm begin to freeze as ice encrusted it. Trapped between the two streams of elemental breath, the monster could only continue to desperately defend.

“Skoll! Use the clown!” Ghin shouted as Skoll broke the encirclement and pounced on the jester popsicle, breaking it in half as he threw the upper half of the jester at the wood monster.

The wooden monster only noticed the top-half of his fellow monster flying towards him as it was too late. The frozen half of the jester collided directly with the torso of the wooden monster. Even though the now-bisected jester had shattered into a shower of ice on contact, it was enough. The final monster fell backwards, landing on a tall building as it hit the ground.

Groaning, the last remaining giant monster attempted to rise back to its feet sluggishly. However, it could feel one of its arms was far lighter than before. The arm that had been engulfed by the frosty wave had broken off, lying on the ground in pieces. The other arm was still burning, white flames flickering in the air.

“Hati! Bite his arm off!”

Heeding Ghin’s command, Hati lunged in and bit into the wood monster’s shoulder, and with a mighty pull, splintered the arm right out of its socket.

The noise that came out of the monster’s mouth behind its mask sounded more like the groan of a old tree than a scream. With both arms now lost, the wooden monster could only stare at the giant wolf before it, wooden arm still in her jaws.

“Skoll! Kill it!” Ghin shouted as Skoll proceeded with his frost breath, breathing ice and fury onto the oaken monster, frost slowly invading its bark and freezing his wood.

The wood of the monster creaked and groaned as it began to freeze up entirely. Trying to lift itself from the ground, the frozen wood of the monster shattered. With another heavy ‘thud’ it fell back down to the ground lifeless.

The soldiers and the few remaining monsters on the ground watched with a mix of fear and awe. Those two giant wolves were both easily Dragon level. Seeing the battle turning against them, the few monsters all turned to flee.

But the AMST wouldn’t let them. Tearing their eyes away from the results of the epic battle, the soldiers began opening fire on the fleeing monsters, cutting them down. Soon, even the remaining monsters were dead, full of bullets. The only sound was the roaring of the flames that covered some nearby buildings. In summary, the whole area looked like a bomb had gone off.

Raising one hand to his face, one soldier spoke into the radio. His voice was noticeably shaky.

“...T-This is Patron Group B. All threats cleared from Kamino Ward.... Two large wolves eliminated three monsters, all with Gigantification Quirks. Displays extraordinary level of combat coordination. Request to reclassify as ‘Dragon’.”

“[...Request granted. Get moving to the next location. Tavern out.]”

The voice that crackled to life over the radio seemed shocked, judging by the short, sharp reply. Taking one last glance at the two large predators, the soldiers began to move away.

“.....I don’t you’d be able to pay off this destruction in a thousand lifetimes.”

Yaoyorozu could only gape at the devastation that had been wrought upon Kamino Ward. It looked completely different. Buildings were flattened, fire raging out of control and huge chunks of ice were scattered around the area.

“...you never saw me here. In fact, we were never here.” Ghin demanded as if his life depended on it.

“...Maybe we should go back to the school?”

Jiro pointed over in the direction they had come from, smiling nervously. Out of all the things she’d expected out of today, being caught in a battle between giant monsters was not one of them.

“...alright. Remember. None of us are here.” Ghin demanded as he whistled.

“Time to go back, guys.” Ghin ordered as the two wolves barked before they sprinted off into the direction of UA High, leaving the destruction they left behind. And left the damage costs to someone else.

After returning to the front of UA…

“Alright, get off. We will never speak of this… but first, what do you guys think of Skoll and Hati?” Ghin asked as if gloating about his pets.

“....They’re very destructive.”

Todoroki felt like his own flames were inadequate when compared the white fire that came from Hati. Even the ice from Skoll was greater than his own.

“Is Garou’s blood really that powerful? To make them so strong…”

Shoji glanced up at the two wolves. Even after that whole battle, neither of them looked like they’d even been injured.

“...What are you going to do now that they’ve both been spotted on the news?”

Frowning, Uraraka was worried for the two pets. Ghin clearly cared for them alot. For something bad to happen to them would be awful.

“They will either do nothing or face their wrath.” Ghim smiled, unconcerned by the threat of the military.

“What about the monsters? Are they gone?”

Tooru’s floating invisible uniform hovered in the air, both sleeves close together as she knitted her invisible fingers together.

“Ehhh… I’m pretty sure Aniki is taking care of it.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure my blade’s thirst for blood is sated.” Garou marveled at his work, resting his blade on his shoulder. Surrounded by death everywhere, body parts ranging from the smallest to the largest ones the size of cars strewn across the road.

He never dealt with so many monsters before in his life, but to him it was no different in facing heroes.

None of the monsters were even the slightest challenge. In fact, some had been so weak, that Garou had seen some of the AMST actually killing monsters with their weapons. If monsters were able to be taken out with bullets, they weren’t really much of a monster to begin with.

Approaching footsteps immediately drew Garou’s attention. Whipping his head around to focus on the source, he could see a small group of bloodied, battered soldiers walking towards him. They were all in quite a sorry state. The thick kevlar that coated their bodies was torn and bore gaping holes. One was limping very noticeably.

“...Is your area cleared?”

The exhaustion and resignation of the soldier was extremely obvious in his tone.

“Shoot any corpses that might be too intact. There's a chance the monsters might be playing dead.” Garou ordered in response.

The commando nodded once. As he turned back to the remaining soldiers, he gave several different hand gestures. Slowly, they began to spread out, each heading towards different monster corpses. The barrel of their guns were aimed right at each corpse, just in case.

The sound of individual shots went out as each of the soldiers went around, carefully placing one bullet into each monster’s head. Or what passed for a head.

Taking out his phone, gunshots still ringing in the background, Garou checked the news to see if there were still any areas left.

However, he was shocked to see yet another news report involving his two pets. As he watched and listened, he could see that the footage was clearly from some distance away. It also appeared to be being shot from a helicopter. A short-haired reporter nervously kept glancing the way of the two giant animals. As the camera moved to get a better look, Garou could now see three large monsters all standing opposite to Hati and Skoll.

“[..W-we’re coming from Kamino Ward. According to city officials, the concentration of monsters is particularly high here. A-As you can see, the same giant wolf from before can be seen.]”

The camera zoomed in on both wolves, clearly showing their size. The camera shook and shuddered as the helicopter moved around.

“[We have been receiving word from all over the city that Heroes have been seen combating the monstrous threat. As to why several of these Heroes arrived so late we don’t kn-... Can you see that?]”

The reporter’s professional attitude was momentarily replaced by one of shock, as a distant wave of ice engulfed one of the giant monsters. It was clear that the source was one of the two wolves.

As the camera zoomed in on the battle between the titanic figures, the reporter and the camera crew were all completely silent. So silent in fact, that you all you could hear was their nervous, heavy breathing.

Garou watched as Hati and Skoll battled the three giant monsters. The first one was easily taken out, as was the second.

“[Is… Is this real?]”

It was clear to see what had shocked the reporter so much. The last remaining monster had torn a building clean from the ground and was using it as a shield. The helicopter seemed to shake as the two wolves bounced around either side of the building, attacking the monster in a pincer maneuver.

The camera watched as the final monster was almost effortlessly dispatched by the combined ice and fire of Skoll and Hati. As the monster fell to the ground, both wolves seemed to stand there for a moment, before turning away and sprinting off in the same direction.

The reporter seemed to shake herself off, regaining her professionalism. Staring into the camera, she held her microphone to her mouth.

“[...I...I don’t know what to say. The scale of the battle witnessed here today was… epic, to say the least. We could feel the temperature changes from the helicopter. With yet another appearance by the two giant wolves and their apparently friendly relationship with the Number One Hero, there are many questions that will need to be asked. And how will they be answered? Only time will tell. This is the Yokohama Evening News.]”

“...huh.” Garou did not expect that to say the least. A giant monster battle was the least he expected.

“Well, I guess that wrap things up here.” Garou then dialed LaBrava , calling for her status.

“Yo. You done yet?” Garou asked LaBrava hoping for an answer at least.

“[Garou? I’ve managed to ‘unlock’ the phones. The amount of information is… Well you should probably take a look yourself at some point.]”

“I rather now.” Garou said as he flicked the blood off his blade and sheathed it.

“[....Does that mean me and Gentle aren’t going to prison now?]”

Her voice was barely a whisper over the phone. The worry in her tone was evident.

“Yes, but your job isn't over. You will most likely be paid by the police from this point on. Break that trust, however, and you will see what happens when I get angry.” Garou threatened the girl as he vanished.

And appeared behind LaBrava as she answered in the phone, unaware of his sudden presence.

LaBrava sighed heavily. Dealing with Garou was probably the most stressful thing she’d ever done. But she needed to do it. For Gentle.

“So what you got?”

“Hiyahhh!!!” LaBrava screamed at the sudden voice of Garou behind her. She almost jumped out of her skin as she whirled to see him right behind her.

“Wha-... We were just talking on the phone? How did you get here?”

“Quirkless power number one. Teleportation.” Garou joked.

However, LaBrava wasn’t entirely aware it was a joke. For all she knew, it could be an ability he actually did have. Composing herself, she gestured over towards the array of wired phones.

“W-well, there they are. There’s… a lot of information on those phones.”

“Any info of great importance?” Garou asked as he took one of the phones, turning it on.

“I was waiting for you to have a look. I don’t know what I’m really looking for. There is so much on those phones. Banking details, the contact numbers of various middlemen… it just goes on forever.”

LaBrava had taken a look at one of the ‘unlocked’ phones with the vast amount of data within. It boggled her mind the kind of stuff that was on there. It was way above her ‘paygrade’.

Garou continued scrolling the information on the phone until he read everything to the last letter.

“I might need information on the bank notes. Where did the money come from and narrow the amount of suspects capable of such transfer of money.” Garou said as he placed the phone back on the table.

LaBrava merely sighed in resignation. She hadn’t even been ‘working’ for the Hero Hunter for very long, but she already felt exhausted.

“I’m… afraid I won’t be able to help you with that. I don’t know where to get that kind of information. Or where to even start.”

“...then could you start with obtaining the locations of each phone number here?” Garou would need to start hunting before the police publically announce their investigation. He does not trust the police for this kind of thing since whoever was in charge of these monster attacks was quite influential and loaded.

Walking over to one of the phones, she scrolled through just one example of the number of numbers. There had to be at least couple dozen on each and every phone.

“...I think I can do that. But it will take a long time. Much longer than the ‘unlocking’.”

“You have five days. Three preferably.” Garou gave his ultimatum.

“What? I won’t be able to get through half of these numbers in that time! I need two weeks to properly go through them!”

The petite woman stared up at Garou, indignation and panic clear in her eyes. The workload Garou put on her was extreme.

“The police will aid your plight. You will have many hands under your command to shorten the timespan, along with everything else you need.” Garou informed.

LaBrava merely rested her head in both her hands. Out of all the things she’d expected to happen in the future, this was not one of them.

“But before that, I need your help with something else.” Garou then kneeled before he was at eye level with the woman.

“...I need you to comb through every cop here under suspect of treason.” Garou requested.

Raising her head from her hands, she stared at Garou with incredulity. She froze, staring directly at her ‘employer’.

“...How can I even do that?”

“Tap their phones with a bug or something. If need me for that, I can help. Whoever is behind this attack is influential. I have a hunch he will have a mole or two planted in the law enforcement.” Garou answered.

“B-but what about me and Gentle? We might get thrown in prison for this.”

“Threaten them with my name. They will not stand against me.” Garou shrugged.

Sighing once again in resignation, she seemed to wilt on the spot. She missed the days of her and Gentle committing small crimes. Now she was going to be wiretapping police officers in an attempt to uncover a widespread conspiracy.

“.... Alright. I’ll try.”

“Thank you.” Garou smiled at the diminutive woman. Rising up, Garou then turned and walked away, leaving LaBrava alone to her private mulling of her halcyon days.