Souls Hero Academia (Rewrite)

The stadium boomed with the cries of its audience, their cheers reaching even as far as the sky. Izuku couldn't help but clap at the ending, the fight truly the flashiest of those that came before. He could see Katsuki huffing and puffing, clearly winded from the fight, but the glimmer in his eyes didn't fade, not one bit.

He was going to be a fun opponent in his next match.

On the other hand, Kaminari was out like a light. Probably had a bad impact against the wall once Katsuki blasted him out of the ring. Recovery Girl truly had her work cut out for her during the Sports Festival. If it was this destructive during the First Year's day, who knows how chaotic the Second and Third Years' would be.

"Damn, didn't think sparkplug had it in him to drag out the fight that long." Jirou mused, her ear jacks dancing around the area like mini-snakes.

"Still, that's gotta hurt, right?" Uraraka winced as she saw the medi-bots haul Kaminari's unconscious ass out of view, clearly heading towards the infirmary where he would no doubt be treated. "Just imagining being in his shoes… Brrrr…"

"Girl, where's your courage?" Ashido glomped the permanently blushing brunette with a wide grin. "Why? You scared to get beaten?"

"I'm scared of getting knocked into next week by Bakugo!" She pointed towards the ash blond with a trembling finger. "I can already see the bills for recovery piling up…"

"… You do know that our health is practically paid for by the school, kero?" Tsu commented, but that didn't stop the brunette from spiraling down deeper into the recesses of her mind.

"But what if they make you pay it back when we get our jobs!? I don't have to tell you about how bullshit student debt is!" By the end of her rant, Uraraka had slipped back into her kansai dialect, the girl blushing furiously after she realized she had just blurted out her accent after she had tried hard to scrub it out when trying to talk with those other than her parents.

"Oh? You're from the countryside?" Hagakure asked from her seat, her floating set of clothes jumping up and down as her sleeves waved around in the air. "Kind of cute though, your dialact, that is."

Uraraka made a noise that sounded the same as a dying cat. She further shrunk into herself as the girls laughed at her actions.

"By the way, Tokoyami's next, right?" Ashido asked and the birdheaded teen nodded, slowly standing up from his seat while Dark Shadow hovered menacingly behind him. "Kind of bullshit how you were allowed to continue instead of Toga because she was too beat up to fight."

"Indeed. A shameful mark I must bear on my back for all eternity." Tokoyami grumbled; eyes closed as he gritted his teeth. "I will not let this opportunity pass, however, and Dark Shadow shall show the priestess of the light how truly fearsome the dark is." Tokoyami vowed, gaining confused and amused looks from his classmates. One even snorted at the remark and Tokoyami's feathers visibly ruffled.

"Sure man. Whatever floats your boat, eh?" Mineta snickered and Dark Shadow was this close to jumping the little midget.

"I shall be going now. Preparing for this fight would be paramount to winning it all." Tokoyami bolted for the door, clearly flustered from the snickering coming from his classmates. Even Izuku had to wince. It was just that cringy, and he sucks at social things.

"So, who do you think is going to win?" Shoji asked, his eyes closed but the ears on his dupliarms wide open.

"To be fair, the fight could go either way, kero." Tsu hummed, her eyes looking to Izuku. "Midoriya, what about you? Who do you think is going to win, kero?"

"… To be honest? Not sure." Izuku snapped his fingers, his words causing some sort of surprise flowing through his classmates. "Both of them, from what I've seen, are shit with close combat. Tokoyami doesn't know how to throw a punch, and I doubt… Uh… What was her name again?"

"Shiozaki Ibara…" Jirou scoffed at him, still angry at how nonchalant he was about Toga's bloody defeat.

"Right, thank Jirou!" She gave him a middle finger, making Izuku raise his eyebrow. "Anyway, Shiozaki's probably on the same boat as Tokoyami, no idea how to fight and just letting her quirk do all the heavy lifting. Dark Shadow can just cut through her vines, but Shiozaki can just create more."

"So, a battle of attrition…" Tenya concluded, his glasses reflecting the light coming from above. "That does indeed sound like something hard to predict."

"Oh, come on. Why not we just cheer for Tokoyami?" Ashido supplied, her bubbly nature causing the rest of the class to chuckle along. "Who cares about who wins?"

"I do. I have a bet going on…" Mineta grumbled and Ashido slapped him on top of the head, his purple balls jiggling to and fro. "Ow!"

"At the end of the day, it's just a friendly competition!" The pink girl grinned as she snaked her arms around Tsu and Uraraka. "Just enjoy and watch our classmate kick some vine-y ass!"

"… Isn't that a bit discriminatory, kero?" Tsu raised an eyebrow at the pink-themed girl, only to get a sheepish grin in return.

"Maybe, but hey, I'm just calling it as I see it." Mina retorted. "What else should I call her? She has vines for hair!"

"… Point." Tsu piped down after that.

Well, with that all behind them, Izuku let himself get comfortable in his seat. The next fight was going to be something he was going to pay extra attention to. Who knows, one of them might be fighting him in the finals.

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Ibara slowly walked herself to the arena. Some of the people that managed to catch wind of her during her walk gaped at her, the vines acting as her hair a spectacle to those that had ties with the mundane.

Though, that last part was an exaggeration, as far as she knew, she was the only one with vines as hair. The only other person who had some kind of hair-altering quirk was the pro heroine Uwabami, and instead of vines, she had snakes. She was, as far as the entire world was concerned, a real-life Medusa, save for the turning people into stone part.

As she traversed down the dim hallway, she clasped her hands and began her prayer to the lord.

"Oh, heavenly father. Hallowed be thy name…" As per usual, she recited the textbook start of every prayer taught to them from a young age. She prayed about help for winning the tournament, to help also her opponent because she was kind like that.

She wanted a fair fight, and under the light of the lord, both of them were going to give everything they got and come out stronger than before. She had faith in spades that win or lose, she would be able to learn something out of the fight.

"Amen…" She finished her prayer and opened her eyes, the light from above shining just as strong as it did when she finished her prayer before entering the arena. She smiled, her legs guiding her forward and her chest feeling as light as it could, as if a guardian angel was smiling upon her.

Her stride quickened, the cheering coming from the stands not unlike an angelic choir.

"AND HERE COMES CLASS 1-B's ASSASSIN!" Her smile faded as she glared at the announcer's booth. Present Mic just had to liken her to an assassin, a cowardly pest that murders people for the highest bidder. Not on this Christian channel, he wouldn't.

"Please, do not compare me to the likes of an assassin. I am a servant of the Lord, and you shall not besmirch the servant of the Holy Father." She clasped her hands in prayer once more as she prayed for the sanctity of Present Mic's soul.

"ER… WELL… ANYWAY!" It was a miracle that they were even able to hear her voice from way up there, so there must have been some kind of divine intervention. Nonetheless, she looked at her opponent and had to stop herself from making a crass statement. He was just… Dark… Like something from the depths of hell itself…

"Pray tell, what is going on in that feeble little mind of yours?" The dark being snorted as the spawn of the devil slowly exited from his back. "Looking at me like some kind of abomination, perhaps?"

Ibara had to hold back from flinching at the statement. No matter how dark one seems, servants of the Holy Father must always love thy neighbors, and as of now, other than some scathing remarks, the being before her had just asked a question pertaining to how she perceived him.

She then had to crush that thought. Why was she judging the being before her just because of appearance alone? Sure, he looked like a raven, or a crow — she couldn't differentiate between the two — but that didn't mean he was inherently dark…

"… For some inexplicable reason, the feeling of wanting to bash your head against the wall has risen within my very being." The dark being scowled, and the shadowy figure floating behind him narrowed its eyes at her.

"Yo, Fumi. Wanna be vegetarian for a while?" The shadow grinned menacingly, its claws extended as it exuded an aura of certain doom. "I'm getting a craving for sautéed vines."

"Dark Shadow, cease this crass humor right this instant. Don't you see our opponent is getting a bit nervous?" And the dark being was right. With how recklessly she used her hair, most people would've thought that she didn't care her hair got damaged, but that was far from the truth. "Apologies for my companion, but sometimes he oversteps his boundaries. That being said, I still want to bash your head against the wall."

"Alright, are you two done exchanging intimidation tactics?" Midnight, the unholy skank that she was for teaching them in that outrageous outfit, asked from the sidelines, her smirk all but gone as she played second fiddle to their conversation, no matter how one-sided it was.

Both Ibara and Tokoyami had no more words to say, and Midnight nodded. She raised the flag up, her eyes trailing the wavy piece of cloth before focusing back on the dark being. Once it was waved down, she let her quirk explode into action.

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Fumikage didn't idle either, his second half immediately putting a stop to rushing tide of green thorns, the shadowy figure of his second half a steep contrast to the overtly bright vines that glinted underneath the bright light. Fortunately, Dark Shadow had claws sharp enough to cut through the swathes bright green thorns.

Fumikage smirked. Just as planned. With the vines covering the sunlight, Dark Shadow was able to increase his strength momentarily, enabling him to rend the vines asunder. Meanwhile, both Fumikage and Shiozaki stared at each other as they let their quirks do the battling.

It continued like this for a while, with Dark Shadow's screeching laughs and the loud crashes of the tide of vines echoing throughout the arena, all the while the users stood back and watched, eagerly awaiting for the next moment of opportunity to arise.

To be honest, he had little idea the capability of the girl in front of him, but after seeing the amount of vines and thorns being sent Dark Shadow's way, he knew it was only a matter of time before his second half faltered.

Looking at Shiozaki, Fumikage narrowed his eyes, the girl herself clasping her hands in prayer as the light surrounding her intensified. He didn't know how and why that was the case, but more light meant more problems for his second half the closer he got.

So, he had to decide now. There was no way he was going to win just sitting behind, just like Shiozaki was doing. Steeling himself, he pumped energy into his legs and rushed his way through the falling vines.

"Dark Shadow! Keep her vines busy!" Fumikage roared as he dodged some vines that went his way. Cosplaying as a saint or not, his opponent had a great mind to split her attention between him and his other half.

"You got it Fumi!" Dark Shadow cackled as he tore through the vines that kept on rushing both him and Fumikage. "Just… Hurry up, will ya! I don't exactly have infinite stamina!"

"I know that…" Fumikage growled as he dived to the ground, avoiding a tendril of vine that would've wrapped him in its clutches had he not. "Better than anyone, Dark Shadow!"

"Sheesh, no need to be a stressed…! Woah!" Dark Shadow narrowly avoided a giant wave of vines and tore them to pieces with his enlarged claws. "Anyways, no need to be a stressed koel!"

Vowing to punish his other half later later for his remark, Fumikage stood up and rushed towards Shiozaki once more. He was getting the hang of it, dodging the vines thrown at him by his opponent. There were a few mishaps here and there, with him tumbling to the ground when he misplaced his footing, or when a vine came too close for comfort, but luckily, even with his abrasive and teasing self, his other half came to his rescue.

He will lessen his punishment for this, but he will still be getting a punishment regardless. Maybe reduce his fruit intake?

As those thoughts were buried deep in his mind in favor of dodging the incoming vines, Fumikage skidded across the rough ground of the arena, a vine managing to push him towards Shiozaki after he hitched a ride.

His opponent's eyes widened at the act, but did nothing to protect herself save for using her vines again. But it was too slow. His hands found purchase against her face and with a single roar, grappled her to the ground. He knew he wasn't going win with a grapple againt his opponent, so he had to think fast.

The sudden impact on the ground shocked Shiozaki for a brief moment, and that was enough for Fumikage to call his other half to exact his plan.

"Dark Shadow! Now!"

"On it Fumi!" Dark Shadow ignored the incoming tidal wave of vines and immediately went for the source. Shiozaki's eyes widened in response, but at that point, it was too late. His other half scooped the girl in his arms and immediately tossed her into soil out of the arena.

With his opponent's vines still extended from her head, it was impossible to catch herself, and a moment later, she crashed against the soft soil, dust and dirt scraping against her fair skin.

The crowd went wild, and Midnight called Fumikage's win. Panting, Fumikage collapsed to the ground at short notice, getting laid softly on the hard concrete by his other half catching him.

"Yo, good work, Fumi." Dark Shadow caressed his ruffled feathers, his beak eliciting a light snort.

"If you'll excuse me, I will be letting darkness take me." Fumikage grumbled out, his heart beating rapidly within his chest. "I did… Too much moving…"

"… I'm gonna have to ask the boss to whip you up to shape in the future." Fortunately, or unfortunately for Fumikage, he wasn't able to hear the incredibly dangerous threat his other half had uttered as he fell into darkness' comfortable embrace.

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A/N: Vermintide 2 went on sale for like a dollar. Been playing it ever since. Damn, it's addicting. FOR SIGMAAAAARRR!!!

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