A Tarnished Hero

Chapter 39: What Manner of Sorcery!?

It did, in fact, not take long. The knight was nowhere close to Darriwil's skill or strength. And as a result, it had Izuku sifting through its corpse to see if there was anything worth of value. Of course, its armor was the first to go into Izuku's bottomless box. The man underneath the armor looked like any regular dude you could find on the face of the earth. Next was his weapon, which was a duplicate of the one Darriwil was using, save for the fact that it was less sharp.

Once he was sure there was nothing else to loot, his eye caught on something that was situated just right next to the gate. Picking it up with his hands, he examined the thing. It was a bottle full of liquid he wasn't really familiar with.

At least it was worth something, but his gut feeling told him that it was worth more than the value in his head. Gently pocketing it inside his bottomless box, Izuku then laid his hands against the solid bars of the gate, its iron feeling cool to the touch.

"Oi! Katsuki!" His shout echoed past the gates and the ash blond, who was waiting by the side, emerged with a raised brow.

"The key worked?" Katsuki asked and Izuku nodded.

"Yep." Izuku popped the 'p' and shrugged his shoulders. "Just got a bit of a problem but managed to solve it... eh... hopefully."

"The fuck you mean hopefully?" Katsuki's eyes narrowed.

"So, you've already heard from Thops that a key could only be used by a single person, right?" Katsuki nodded and Izuku continued. "That meant only I could pass through with the single key we have. But luckily, I met a merchant just close behind me that sold me a key similar to the one I have..."

"... You're saying that it might blow up in my fucking face, is that it?" Izuku remained silent for a while, before nodding with a wry grin.

"On the lower end of the spectrum, yes." Izuku turned around and proceeded to head back to the seal where his theory on leaving this place might work. "Anyway, you'd rather wait for me here for the next... few weeks maybe? The academy is huge, and I plan to scour the entire place before heading to the top."

"... Fuck it, send me the key." Katsuki groused and crossed his arms. "But if this blows up on me, you better be sure I won't be resurrecting like your undying ass, otherwise, I'm giving you a knuckle sandwich and shoving it far down your throat."

"Fair." Izuku shrugged and left the ash blond to his own devices. Truth be told, he was kind of hesitant, seeing as it had the chance of making Katsuki implode, but it was negligible. It was better than leaving him alone and unfortunately meeting a being that was stronger than him. Less chance of having him becoming a red puddle on the ground.

Greeting the merchant on his way back, he summoned Torrent and rode off like the wind. This time, it didn't take as long to reach the seal, Torrent vanishing into motes of light as Izuku disembarked his spectral steed.

Laying his hand on the seal, he imagined teleporting back to the entrance where Katsuki was waiting, and suddenly, he felt his entire body shift.

A brief second later, he appeared with nary a sound, right next to a startled Katsuki who was readying his fists. Upon realizing it was just Izuku, he lowered them then sighed.

"Fuck, thought you were an enemy for a second." Katsuki approached Izuku with a relaxed gait. "So, you got my ticket in?"

"Got it right here." Izuku grabbed the key from his bottomless box and tossed it Katsuki's way. The ash blond caught it in his hands and stared at it for a short while while letting out a hum.

"So, the fuck do I do with this? Insert it against that thing like you did?" Said Katsuki as he pointed towards the seal.

"Pretty much." Izuku replied while laying a hand on the glowing seal. "See you on the other side."