The cave was pitch black.
I could hear their breathing. Labored. Panicked. The man groaned, trying to shift his broken legs. The girl coughed, and I smelled blood on her breath.
I smiled
" well before we get to the grizzly details why don't we introduce ourselves so we don't make this awkward"
I said with most charismatic voice I could muster
" I'll go first" I said as I aproched the two struggling bodies still trying to find a way out.
Pathetic I thought, watching them struggle and worm about
" you can call me Mazoku" I said with a slight bow
Kodai tried to rise again, but his legs were twisted, his right arm limp. Pitiful.
"Talk," I said.
No answer.
You came looking for a monster," I said, voice low and smooth. "You found him."
I knelt beside the girl. She was bleeding from the head, but conscious. Barely.
"What's your name?" I asked, tilting my head.
She didn't answer.
I backhanded her. Not too hard. Just enough to wake her up.
"I said—what's your name?"
"Y-Yuki…" she whispered. "Yuki Tanaka…"
" Yuki I said with a smile that light that came out of your body what was that" I asked
She looked blankly into the darkness
" My quirk" she asked in a puzzled tone
"Quirk so that's what you call it" I said nodding to myself I looked at the big man still on the ground struggling in pain
"And you"
"…Fuck you," he spat.
I crushed one of his fingers under my foot.
"Try again."
"…Kodai Shibata. Enhanced muscle control. Internalized quirk. I can amplify movement, strength—"
"Not anymore," I said with a chuckle, glancing at his shattered legs.
He growled and slumped back, eyes full of hate.
I smiled.
"Now… why are you here?"
"You know why" yuki said with a hateful tone
I looked at her in fake realization " right the children well no use hiding it, I ate them" I said flatly
She flinched.
"I woke up hungry," I said. "It felt natural. Still does."
I leaned in close to her, letting her see the red swirl of my eyes.
"Do you know what I am?"
She shook her head slowly.
"Do I look like anything you've seen before?"
"No," she whispered. "Nothing human…"
I turned my attention back to Kodai.
"Where are we?"
"What?" He said baffled
"This country. The year. What is this place?"
His eyes narrowed. "You're not… you're not from here?" He said it as if he figured out some great mystery
"I'm not from anywhere anymore."
Kodai stared at me like I was insane. Maybe I was.
"Japan," he muttered. "You're in the forests north of Iiyama. The year is 2X47. It's the quirk era. Eighty percent of the world is born with powers. You seriously didn't know that?"
I looked at him with a blank look on my face
Eighty percent.
That explained a lot.
I was just another variant in a world full of broken biology.
"And what exactly are you two some sort of heroes "
Yuki nodded " yes we are"
I looked at her in amusement " well shitty job you're doing so far huh" I chuckled
I turned and walked deeper into the cave.
Their blood was still fresh in the air. It stirred something inside me
I still needed them for now before I go out into this world I would like to know my limits
"Rest for now don't die on me I still need you" I said with an eerie tone in my voice
I sat down near the edge of the cave digesting the information they provided hours passed by in a flash as I slowly opened my eyes ready to begin the next phase of our time together
Yuki slumped against the wall, lips cracked, barely conscious. Kodai hadn't moved in hours. His legs were ruined, and I'd made sure he couldn't crawl. I'd broken his fingers too. Not out of anger—just method.
They were alive.
Barely.
Yuki could hear my movement she raised her head still reeling from her injuries
She shook her head weakly. "Why… why are you doing this…?"
I tilted my head.
"Because I have to."
I stood again and looked at my hands.
"I woke up in a world I don't understand, in a body that's not mine, with blood on my teeth and the sun trying to kill me."
I glanced down at her.
"You're useful, Yuki. So is your friend."
I walked away, back into the shadows of the cave.
"I don't want to kill you. But if I have to… at least you would provide some use."
Kodai's fingers were a mess of bruises and swelling. Yuki's arm still oozed from the cut I made earlier, but she had stopped crying hours ago.
Now… now it was time to try something new.
Regeneration.
I picked up a sharpened stone and held my arm out
One swift slash—deep enough to expose tendon.
I grunted.
The blood came dark and thick—almost syrupy. But then… I watched as some of it dropped on to Yuki's open wounds
Something strange happened dark pulsing veins appeared around her body as she shook violently
I turned away from her watching my wound
It closed.
Almost as instant as it came
Wow i stared at the non existent wound in shock of my new body
In the back of my mind I had a thought if I can shift my organs inside my body I wonder what else I can do
Suddenly I stopped dead in my tracks I stared at Yuki her heartbeat stopping as her eyes closed
I frowned I walked over to her
"Damn she's dead" I said as I kicked her corpse
Kodai's eyes widened in horror " what!?"he said in a gasp he slouched over back to the ground as he dragged himself across the floor. He reached her now dead body as he sobbed to himself I stared at him
There wad no pity in my gaze It was too bad though I really liked her in a pet sort of way I sighed as I picked up her body kodai grabbing onto my leg I looked down at him with a scowl
" let go of me you fat worm"
I kicked him so hard his already failing body was sent into the cave walls falling back onto the ground he layed there unconscious hoping to wake up to find out it was all a very horrible dream wishing he could go back to his life of lazing around in the boonies
I dropped yuki's body in the corner
face twisted in that final, defiant glare she gave me before her heart stopped. She never begged. I respected that.
Kodai, though… He was barely breathing. A flicker of life clinging to a broken body.
I walked over to him, crouched down, and tilted his chin toward me.
"You gave me everything I needed."
His eyes fluttered open—just for a second. Recognition. Then regret.
Crack.
His neck twisted cleanly. No theatrics. Just mercy.
Or maybe not.
Their blood still held warmth. I didn't rush. I tore them apart slowly—more surgical than savage. Every muscle fiber, every organ—intimately studied, tasted, absorbed.
When it was done, I sat in the middle of the mess and stared at the ceiling.
" I'm tired of this cave it was good while it lasted though"
Goodbye.
I stood.
My body felt heavier—more filled out. Stronger. Like something old had shed, and something new had taken root beneath my skin.
I gave the cave one last glance.
This was where I woke up.
Where I began.
But not where I would end.
"Thank you," I whispered. To no one. To the darkness. To the part of me that needed this place.
Then I walked out into the night—barefoot, blood-soaked, reborn.
Time to find the next chapter.