Authors note:
Speaking: "…."
Thinking:'….'
__________
Time: ????
Place: ????
"What the hell, where am I?" an ethereal, ghost-like Izuku at the age of 16 thought as he floated through the air. Looking around, he seemed to be on top of a building near Camino Ward in the evening.
"So it's a vision again," he concluded after looking down at his translucent body. Shortly after, his aura portal appeared next to him, and out came eight people. Two of them he recognized instantly. They were Anubis and Shira in their humanoid forms.
Anubis was a lean, muscular young man with short black hair and golden eyes. He had tanned skin and wore a bored, indifferent expression. His outfit consisted of a black and purple Egyptian robe with golden accents and gold arm bracelets.
Shira was a tall woman with long red and black hair, tiger ears of the same color, and crimson eyes. She wore a red t-shirt and a black leather jacket, along with black leather pants. A tiger tail emerged from behind her. Her facial expression was excited.
Izuku could guess who two of the others were, though he wasn't sure. One resembled Kacchan, wearing his panther ring that turned him into a humanoid white panther with blue markings. He wore white baggy pants and a black compression shirt. The other was himself, wearing baggy pants and a black long sleeve martial arts vest with a hood over his head. The clothes were adorned with green dragon symbols all around. His face was covered by a metallic mask that distantly resembled a dragon's face, with glowing green eyes shining through the mask.
The other four were a complete mystery. There were three men and one woman.
The woman wore what Izuku recognized as Mandalorian armor from Floor 55 of Aincrad. It was solid black with some purple accents. Her helmet matched the colors, with a purple visor. She also had a black hooded cloak, with the hood up. On her left thigh, there was a pistol in a holster, and mounted diagonally on her back was a sniper rifle with a two-bladed fork at the end of the barrel.
Another figure wore an outfit similar to masked Izuku, with the only differences being the color scheme, purple and black, and instead of a dragon mask, he wore an oni mask in the same colors. Coiled around his forearms were black chains connected to two blades sheathed diagonally like a cross on his lower back.
Next to him was someone wearing Viking-like clothing with a hooded black cloak featuring feathers around the neck. His face was covered by a wooden mask etched with Norse symbols, and an eyepatch covered his left eye. His right eye was a gray color. In his left hand was a golden, ornate spear with Nordic runes inscribed into it.
Lastly, but certainly not least, was a figure who appeared to be a normal man in an elegant white hooded vest, black baggy pants, a white cloth tucked under his belt, with a sheathed katana on his left hip. But looking at his face, you'd realize you were wrong. Instead of a normal face, there was only a flaming skull burning with white and blue flames.
Currently, they were all looking at what appeared to be a normal warehouse. Then the one in Mandalorian armor spoke.
"Do you really think this was the best course of action, Dragon?" she questioned, her voice all too familiar to Izuku.
‚Wait a second, it's the white-haired girl. I'd recognize that voice anywhere,' he concluded and continued to watch the scene.
"I know it might seem hard to believe, but this needs to be done. All For One must be eliminated, and since All Might's retirement, this will be the first time he's been called upon. We have to prevent the public from seeing his true form. Chaos would erupt if the world saw his weak state. Have no worries, Shadow, it'll all go as planned," Izuku, under the codename Dragon, explained to the woman with the codename Shadow.
Continuing the conversation, he spoke again, "Guys, today we will finally show ourselves to the eyes of the public. The Eight Rings will make their first public appearance. Shadow, Light, you're in charge of shutting the facility down. Be careful not to harm bystanders. Anubis, Odin, Tiger, and Oni, you're with me and Panther. We'll take on the other front and deal with All For One. Alright, let's go."
With that, the six members disappeared through a portal, and the other two jumped down towards the warehouse.
After that, the vision ended, and the green-haired teen was ejected from the void plane.
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After Waking Up
Opening his eyes, he stretched and looked around. He was in a normal room with his usual bed, closet, and desk. "Well, that was an interesting one. Can't say I saw this coming," he mumbled to himself, getting up and glancing at his nightstand, where the clock showed 2 p.m. in the afternoon. Next to a picture of him his mother and his father when he was still only two years old. The man with short windswept black hair and light blue eyes, who was his father, held him in his arms and his mother was standing next to them. They all had smiles on their faces.
"I guess me and Kacchan worked a little bit too long last night?" Shifting his gaze downward, he found his divine object, the Void-Cutting Cane, leaning against the nightstand. Gently getting out of bed and taking the cane, he looked at it for a moment and thought, ‚I can't believe it's already been six years since I created this. Time sure flies.'
Continuing his journey, he opened the door and went into the living room, which was connected to the kitchen and dining table in one large space. The TV was already on, and Katsuki was sitting at the table, eating cereal.
"Morning, shithead. Your breakfast is in the kitchen," Katsuki called. Following the instructions, Izuku went to the kitchen, grabbed his portion of cereal, and sat down beside Katsuki.
"So, how'd you sleep? I felt your aura tense a bit," the ash-blonde teen asked indifferently, continuing to watch the TV.
"It's nothing, Kacchan. Just another vision, though I gotta say, it was the weirdest one in a while. It looked like we were the leaders of some vigilante group called the Eight Rings. You had your wedding ring on and were in panther form. Anubis and Shira were also there in their humanoid forms. And get this, we talked about All Might's retirement and some supervillain called All For One," Izuku explained, as if it were a common occurrence.
"Me, in panther form? Please, get real. The only time I ever did that was during my wedding," Katsuki shrugged, continuing to eat while letting out a light chuckle.
"Don't you find it weird that Shira and Anubis are the only familiars with human forms? Like, my mom's and Asahi's familiars stop at adulthood without even showing that option," Izuku questioned his friend.
"Doesn't bother me," the ash-blonde answered indifferently. "Doesn't change anything about my life, or marriage."
"It's still hard to believe that you, of all people, got married. You usually don't get along with people," the green-haired teen teased.
Slamming his hand on the desk, Katsuki exclaimed, "And what's that supposed to mean, Lizard? If I remember correctly, don't you have to worry about your two-year-old half-sister?"
"Touche," Izuku accepted his defeat in the argument. 'When Asahi became my stepfather because my mom remarried, they had a daughter pretty soon after. Her name is Kasai Daigo. My mom and I never took Asahi's name because their marriage and Kasai's existence are kept secret for publicity reasons,' he thought, reminiscing about the marriage ceremony three years ago, shortly after Katsuki's.
Finishing his bowl of cereal, the red-eyed teen walked to the kitchen to get another portion, but quickly realized they had run out.
"Izuku, go get some cereal from the convenience store, would ya?" Katsuki demanded.
"Sure, I'll get it. I was planning to head out anyway to buy some work supplies, so it'll be fine," Izuku said, stretching his arms behind his head.
"Well, then get to it, moron. The cereal isn't gonna buy itself," the ash-blonde teen insisted, pointing towards the door.
"Yeah, yeah. You don't have to stress me. I'll get you some breakfast," Izuku replied, opening his inventory and pulling out some clothes using his aura portals to put it on. It was a simple outfit: black joggers, a green t-shirt, and a black knee-length coat. Taking his cane, he stepped out of the apartment and headed downstairs.
Currently, Izuku and Katsuki were living alone in a two-story apartment building with four units, two on the top floor and two on the bottom. Each floor had a door connecting the two apartments if needed, making it essentially one large double apartment. They had moved in three years ago, and Asahi voluntarily agreed to pay the rent for both. Their parents believed they were more than capable of taking care of themselves, which was solidified not only by their experience from Aincrad, but also by the fact that both held doctorates in quirk science and mechanics degrees. They also worked part-time at Tokyo University for quirk science.
Reaching the fence, Izuku opened the gate and stepped out. A few meters away from the entrance stood a girl about his age, leaning against the fence with a hood over her head and sunglasses on. Normally, he would pay this no mind, but Izuku had a somewhat familiar feeling about her. Regardless, he walked by and headed to the convenience store.