A Tarnished Hero

Chapter 1: Thunderous Applause



Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia, nor Elden Ring. Both pieces of media belong to their respective owners.
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Izuku gasped for breath, his helmet concealing his nervous expression. Perched atop his loyal mount, Torrent, Izuku cursed under his breath as a colossal figure soared above him, its enormous jaws unleashing torrents of glintstone breath.

Swiftly maneuvering to the side, Izuku and Torrent narrowly evaded the dragon's breath attack. Unlike the dragon he had slain in Limgrave. This particular dragon breathed out a torrent of blue energy in the shape of crystals. Glintstone, as most sane people here said it was, a sorcery Izuku sometimes found himself relying on.

Gripping the reins of Torrent tightly, Izuku swiftly commanded his steed to charge, and Torrent eagerly complied. In his free hand, Izuku wielded a weapon he had purchased from a merchant on the Weeping Peninsula's coast. He had developed a fondness for his Zweihander, which he affectionately named All Strike, despite his initial struggles to wield it effectively.

The dragon descended, waves of water splashing about like a tidal wave as it landed. It roared, its eyes challenging Izuku to come closer.

Accepting the challenge, Izuku let out a cry as the dragon once again prepared its breath attack. Skillfully dodging the compressed glintstone breath, Izuku narrowly avoided certain death in this mystical and cursed land.

Drawing closer than before, Izuku leaped off Torrent, his steed transforming into sparkling blue motes as he embraced the cool wind. In mid-air, the dragon's gaze fixed upon him, glintstone breath still emanating from its gargantuan maw. Seizing the opportunity, Izuku raised his Zweihander high before he brought it down, crashing the heavy blade upon the monster's skull.

The dragon attempted to turn its head, but its movement proved sluggish, allowing the blade to pierce its eye. A resounding roar filled the air as the dragon's head arched back, dragging Izuku along as he clung to the hilt of his weapon for dear life.

Gritting his teeth, Izuku seized the dragon's scaly face, hauling himself up and driving the blade deeper into the creature's skull. With a mighty yell, he plunged the blade further, mercilessly impaling the monster's brain.

As the dragon convulsed in its death throes, it made one final attempt to strike its nimble adversary, only to collapse lifelessly into the shallow lake below.

Breathing heavily, Izuku let out a sigh of relief and accomplishment, swiftly extracting the massive blade from the dragon's eye socket. Lowering himself to the ground, he landed in the cold water which seeped into his armor. A chuckle escaped him, quickly transforming into uproarious laughter.

"I... I did it... Again..." Izuku gazed at the enormous corpse with mixed feelings. He despised taking the life of any living being, but in this land, everything sought to kill him without hesitation, save for a few others who were kind of friendly.

Raising his gaze to the sky, where the towering figure of the Erdtree loomed over the Lands Between, Izuku let out a melancholic whimper.

"How long has it been since I arrived here...?" Izuku reminisced about the time when he was still a naive child clinging to false hope back in Japan.

His eyes focused intently on the colossal Erdtree, its golden glow an awe-inspiring sight. Initially, when Izuku had arrived in the abandoned chapel on the secluded island, he believed it was all a dream. But when he opened the door and caught sight of the massive Erdtree, his perspective shifted.

It was mesmerizing, to say the least. Never before had Izuku witnessed such beauty and grandeur. Yet, it also stirred new emotions within him—dread and fear.

His first death at the hands of the Grafted Scion, as the Roundtable Hold members called them, was an experience he would never forget. He wanted nothing more than to curl into a ball and weep, and that's precisely what he did after awakening in a damp cave.

"I still don't understand... Me? An Elden Lord?" Izuku closed his eyes, his gaze now fixed on the lifeless dragon. "But if I want to return, I have to continue..."

'No matter how long it takes.'

Rising from his seated position, Izuku slowly approached the dragon's corpse, preparing to extract its heart.

"And to do that, I need power." Izuku pierced through the chest of the dragon's corpse, blood gushing out like a fountain as he repeatedly carved a hole into its body. A few more repetitive stabs and there he saw his goal.

Thrusting his arm into the gaping wound, Izuku groaned as he pried the heart out of the dragon's dead body. Examining the bloody dragon heart in his hands, a wide grin spread across his face. He tucked it into his satchel, alongside his other belongings, before setting out to find his main objective.

"The key to the Academy Seal should be somewhere nearby, according to the map." Izuku mumbled, his old habits still lingering.

After a short search, he located the key, along with some other items that he stowed away in his satchel. As he did so, he felt an unfamiliar force tugging at his being. Alert and on guard, Izuku turned around, Zweihander at the ready, prepared for another enemy seeking to prematurely end his fragile existence.

However, reality defied his expectations.

A colossal black portal emerged, drawing in the remains of the slain dragon and generating a powerful suction that pulled Izuku toward it. Refusing to meet his demise once again, Izuku summoned Torrent, only to see his spectral steed hurtling into the gaping maw of the portal.

Swiftly dismissing Torrent, Izuku desperately searched for something to grab hold of, determined not to be consumed by the portal's force.

Yet, before he could secure his grip, the vacuum's strength intensified, sweeping him off his feet and hurtling him into the massive portal.

"I HATE THIS PLACE!!!"

Izuku's screams and yells faded into bleak silence as his body was completely engulfed by the portal, leaving no trace of the fierce battle that had taken place moments before.

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"Die you fuckers!" Katsuki Bakugo growled; his arm thrust forward letting lose a giant blast against those pesky villains. Their bodies flew away as the blast connected, their groans and whimpers lost within the burning battlefield.

"Yo, Bakubro!" Katsuki turned to his right to see a redhead beating down another villain with his bare hands, the villain's face bruised and bloody, but otherwise glaring at the redhead with undisguised hate. "We need to get out of here! The rest might need our help!"

"The hell you think I'm trying to do, shitty hair!" Katsuki side-stepped left and dodged some kind of slithering tentacle with a blade attached on its end. "These fucking villains ain't giving me an opening! Drop dead assholes!"

Katsuki roared and brought his hands together and created the mother of all blasts, practically sending another villain into a wall. Flesh and concrete met in an epic showdown, only for concrete to give in and crumble like glass.

The villain who was hurled into it didn't get up.

"Shitty hair! Made an exit!" Katsuki yelled towards his teammate and vaulted for the newly made doorway, but before he could reach it, another villain stepped in front of him with his giant frame.

"Damned kids. What the hell is UA feeding ya!?" The villain roared and gulped down a bottle of soda. It took at most a second and let loose an ear-piercing burp, the soundwaves originating from it decimating the nearby surroundings as the walls and floors above crumbled from the force.

Katsuki gritted his teeth but didn't instinctively cover his ears and instead threw another explosion at the burping villain. It slightly fazed him, and the villain glared at Katsuki, hands bringing his bottle of soda back to his lips.

It was at that moment the redhead threw an uppercut at the villain's hand, the bottle of soda flying into the air and dripping its contents all over the burning and crumbling building.

"You brat!" The villain roared and reached for the redhead, only for Katsuki to launch a knee at the villain's groin. His screams reached a higher pitch as his hands tried to rub at his prized jewels.

He didn't last much longer as Katsuki stomped on the villain's head multiple times just to get the villain knocked out. Once he was sure that the villain was completely out of the fight, Katsuki let out a sigh of relief and looked around the burning building.

Six villains, four males and two females, all adults. And all of them sucked ass.

"Shit, the fuck are villains trying to do here?" Katsuki grumbled while heading out of the building via the wall he made earlier.

"I don't know man, but we need to help the others!" The redhead grinned with his spiky teeth on full display. "But damn, Bakubro. You totally destroyed the villains!"

"They were fucking weak." Katsuki narrowed his gaze at the fallen villains. "If this is what the villains are capable of, Aizawa and the rest would mop the fucking floor with them. If that fucking warp gate didn't…"

"Yo dude, that was our bad." Redhead rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "We shouldn't have done that, but we need to go and help the others out."

"… Fine." Katsuki sighed and ran for the streets. "Where the hell is the fucking exit, anyway?"

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Tsuyu was not having a good day. First that purple midget kept on leering at her. Mina kept on teasing her about her lovelife, or the non-existence of it. And now she was fighting for dear life against villains that invaded their school.

Tsuyu launched her tongue towards the face of the villain while he tried to choke her underwater. The villain reeled back as his breathing mask fell off and the loss of oxygen prompted him to let go.

She felt his grip slacken and Tsuyu kicked him off. She didn't stop to see if the villain continued sinking or if he was able to get his mask back.

She needed to get out of here.

Never in her life had she praised her quirk as much as now with villains occupying this giant artificial lake looking for her or her friends to kill.

As she swam through the surprisingly clean water, she managed to spot another figure trying to swim up. Squinting her eyes, she saw one of her classmates slowly weaken as she ran out of breath.

And another villain showed up, snagging the legs of her classmate. She knew she wouldn't survive, so Tsuyu had to act fast.

Heart beating faster, Tsuyu swam faster and harder than she ever did in her life. Her classmate's life depended on it.

Legs tensed and coiled, Tsuyu launched a well-timed kick against the villain with a shark head, causing him to groan and let go of her classmate.

Quickly grabbing the form of the drowning girl, Tsuyu quickly swam up and saw a giant thing floating above water.

A boat.

A grin floated on her face as she broke through the surface of the water and tossed the body of her classmate onto the deck. Using her quirk, she stuck to the walls of the boat and swiftly made her way onto the deck as well.

The first thing that she saw was her classmate with brown hair and a permanent blush on her cheeks gasping for air and vomiting the water she swallowed. Beside her was another figure, and her mood dropped.

"Asui! Help!" The purple midget looked like he had soiled his diaper, literally, as he cried like a baby. She was about to help the brunette get rid of the unsafe water within her, but then a black portal appeared behind both the brunette and the purple midget.

The purple midget cried even more and ran as far as possible from the black portal, while the brunette was still heaving out the water. All the while Tsuyu was dreading another deadly encounter.

Yes, Tsuyu wasn't having a good day at all.

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A/N: So, here it is. Anyway, won't be talking about anything since there's nothing else to talk about, soooo... Se ya next week.

Shameless plugs:
patreon.com/IAmGuavaFruitFictionHub (Still no advance chapters for this. Wait for next week)
discord.gg/v9f5kjsfVv (There's a bunch of scammers here now, almost lost my account goddamnit)


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