15 Chapter 15: The Demon of Hosu

Seven more days had slipped by like the clouds swimming through the sky.

The era of fear had taken root, the first bud sprouting a natal sapling, the origin being Hosu.

Tension ran like running water rushing in the sewers, hidden under the surface of normality. The people of Hosu tried to hide their anxieties, but it still leaked through occasional apertures whenever He was brought up.

After all, how could any average human live knowing that a villain ruled their city - a monster that could match All Might, the Symbol of Peace in combat?

Outsiders rarely enter Hosu after the announcement. Garou's presence deterred outsiders from visiting the peaceful town. The heroes, on the other hand, wished to avoid Hosu despite the claims of his ceasefire, but in the end, their duties compelled them to protect the peace.

No hero would want to meet the Hero Hunter, his name engraved in the annals of urban legends shaped by Fear's design. The villains weren't exempt from this, as well.

No sane Hero outside Hosu would ever enter the city of the Hunter Amongst Villains. Villains that valued their health stayed away from the city like a vampire to sunlight. Those that still did enter the town either was because they had no choice, they live there, or they had a hidden agenda worthy enough to take that risk.

Two of those that fell under the third variety rode a train to Hosu on Saturday morn; the withered husk that was the Symbol of Peace and the trembling successor. Toshinori Yagi donned himself in casual clothes, a simple short-sleeved T-Shirt with knee-down baggy pants while Izuku wore a similar set of clothes at the start of fall.

Izuku stared at the window, at his transparent reflection intangibly standing before the running city of Hosu, blankly watching himself shudder as his legs trembled in undiluted fear. He couldn't believe All Might when he told him about his plan - to meet the Hunter Amongst Villains in his den behind the guise of civilians.

But that wasn't the craziest section. The nadir of this was that Izuku would meet Garou face to face before he even entered UA, untrained in combat against someone with years of experience. From what he heard of All Might, Garou stood as the strongest man in Japan by a series of force, above the rest of the heroes and villains of the current era despite being Quirkless…

'Quirkless…' That one word drained all anxiety from his nerves and filled it with rumination - power from a source not related to Quirks… was that possible?

He looked down at his hands. Izuku tried to picture the possibility of himself reaching Garou's level, but he couldn't. A Quirkless gaining strength to stand against Quirks was attainable, as shown with a few vigilante heroes he knew so far, but towards the level of defeating the Symbol of Peace? That was the line of surreality.

But if what Garou claimed was false, how did Eraserhead's Quirk fail to nullify his Quirk? Garou had no Mutant-type Quirk as those kinds can be detected through modern technology. Even a DNA test confirmed Garou's humanity as truth.

"Are you nervous, Midoriya?"

Toshinori's voice asked.

The train was less than half empty, the air more silent than what Izuku knew. There was an energy in the air, an oppressive force weighing on the spirit. Izuku could feel it tangibly as if he was breathing fumes from a bonfire.

"Y-Yeah, All Might…" Izuku quickly bit his tongue before it slipped. Izuku was never good at holding secrets, after all. He nearly spilled what they were planning to do.

They were heading to Hosu to find Garou in person undead substantial risks. The train slowed to a stop, the automatic announcer revealing the stop to Hosu's station. With an audible gulp, the successor of One For All huffed and puffed his anxiety to calm himself the best he could.

Yagi noticed the cause for Izuku's actions at first glance. He placed a hand on his shoulder, "I am scared, too, Midoriya… you are not alone."

Hearing his words, Izuku ceased as he realized he missed an oversight. His idol was probably more frightened by Garou than he was… he remembered why he was here. Izuku looked back to see Yagi's gentle eyes hiding in his skeletal sockets. He could see the same fear he also held within them.

"...alright. Al-I mean, M-Mr. Yagi! I am ready!" Izuku nodded, having found his resolve to help the Symbol of Peace finish his duty as the Symbol of Peace.

Then stepped forth into Hosu, entering the Hunter's Domain.

Garou had amassed another title to his growing collection. Most of the people were also calling him the Demon of Hosu as well; those who dared entered his den would suffer his watchful gaze and risk their health to his fangs. But that did not seem to deter some of the more daring villains.

Not everyone believed that Garou was Quirkless. Those that did mistook it as Garou being defenseless, which lead to villains committing almost suicidal crusades against Garou in the name of vengeance and infamy. They had the notion that Quirklessness equates to defenselessness.

Hence, they openly challenged Garou in Hosu in mass mobs hoping that once they killed the Hero Hunter, they would either avenge their fallen comrades or gain infamy and glory. Whatever the case, all of them at least agreed that ending Garou's reign of terror was an absolute must to reclaim their status quo. Both heroes and villains were sick of living under constant fear, which was probably their first mutual sentiment since the dawn of heroes and villains.

There were two cases of Villains invading Hosu in the interim. All of the participants ended up in hospitals groaning from pain and regret.

However, in each mass confrontation, the villains did not end up as human bricks for Garou's mounds or smearing paint for his gruesome art hobbies, bones broken here and there, and some with twisted limbs while others had shattered ribs. The scene wasn't as macabre, just a miserable sea of groaning misery littered around the streets.

It was the first time Garou did not make another body pile. The citizens did not record any of the events, and they only caught the result since none of Hosu's residents would've thought that anyone would dare challenge him despite his streaks of victories. Not only that…

Izuku and Toshinori arrived at Hosu's center. According to Sir Nighteye's analysis, villains would come here to challenge The Demon of Hosu to deface him as a… fraud villain publically.

There were also other hero hunters angry with Garou, feeling as if he had stolen their spotlight and titles. Nowadays, the word Hero Hunter was a title reserved solely for Garou and him alone as the face.

Either way, they were all villains that desired Garou's death. Now, they were suffering inside a hospital for villains, groaning in regret and misery.

Stuck in the ground was a rustic pipe with a slab of wood tied around the middle. On the piece of wood, it read 'Challengers go here or else' in red marker. The second wave of villains chose the latter option. They suffered more broken bones than the first in the process of turning into human pretzels, remade into scarecrows as warning examples for dismissing Garou's rules. It was shown on the news, even which looked funny to Izuku.

This place was once a crossroads of traffic, where people use to go from place to place on foot or by car. Now it was nearly deserted, claimed as Garou's arena for anyone that still dared to challenge him. Vehicles and pedestrians were rare now supposedly, a minimal shadow compared to times before.

Those that entered his hunting grounds meant that they forfeited their lives to the demon.

When the master-student duo approached the area, loud cries and shouts met their ears in the distance as dim echoes along with a cordon of police, Heroes and SWAT, fencing around a battle in the center.

"Another one?" Yagi uttered. To think they would arrive just when another challenge was issued.

Curiosity burned in Izuku. There was a small crowd of onlookers outside the circle, watching the battle. The group was blocking their view - any aperture they could enter was too narrow to bypass. However, some of them were recording the scene live on their cellphones raised high, chronicling his first massacre on the live cameras. Meaning, Izuku could watch it live through his smartphone.

"All… I mean, Mr. Yagi!" Izuku called Yagi as he took out his smartphone, quickly tapping the screen in search for live footage as the battle raged close to their ears.

Walking to Izuku, Yagi peeked over the boy's shoulder, seeing Izuku searching through google for good live footage. A column of links appeared, some with images below the lines. Izuku picked the most viable link, tapping the touch screen as the video expanded until it filled the entire screen.

"[Garou-ugh!?]"

"[How can you be Quirkle-Agh!?]"

"[Die-abafh!?]"

The Hero Hunter was on the screen. In his hands were two of the villains that charged at him, each leaking blood from their orifices with their faces stuck in a pained rictus. The third laid under his shoe, his face digging a hole to console his defeated form.

However, the most perplexing feature of the Hero Hunter was his costume.

"...Garou…" Toshinori only narrowed at the screen. It was the first time he saw Garou wearing a costume to hide his identity. It contradicted him since it did not compliment his brazen personality, a free soul that burned with enough confidence to challenge the world. He could not understand what changed for him to resort to disguising himself.

His new attire did not even show a single ounce of skin. Billowing behind was a black robe, mottled with holes tearing his fabric. Black leather gloves covered his hands, freshly caked in the blood of his vict-er, opponents. His pants were different, no longer the same pale baggy pants like before, replaced by tight, grey jeans hugging his legs above his red sneakers. Most of all, on his face, was a black demonic mask, an Oni-like mask with red eyes gazing at the world for the man behind it.

Suffice to say, Yagi found this costume a bit strange, almost as if he scrounged them from random assortments he could purchase from Mustafa's Mall, but, overall, it harmonized with his motif - to inspire fear into the hearts of his enemies, both the heroes and the villains.

More villains surrounded the Hero Hunter, some deterred by his impressive performance while others still burned with the desire to end him. They conveyed their hate for Garou through their scowls, some tightening their grip on their knives and machetes while others tightened their fingers around their guns. Garou stood unflinching, unmoving as if daring his challengers to make the next move.

"Whoooooaaaa, All-I mean, M-Mr. Yagi, he looks kind of cool." Izuku admitted, despite that the man would be his enemy one day.

'He does look good…' Toshinori had already sensed a certain charisma hidden inside Garou. During the battle, there was a regal feel to his aura even within the fear-inducing ambiance he spread.

The other villains sprung into action, yells, and curses shouting at Garou and reinvigorating morale as they fired Quirks and modern arms at the Quirkless man. Garou vanished from the screen, as the sounds of fist silencing the booming guns alongside those of bullets hitting the pavement or the riot shields cordoning the area. Soon, the sound of his fist smacking flesh and tearing metal rattled in the background, then roared up to that of orchestrated screams.

However, a droning noise was approaching above them.

"-aaaaAAAWAAAH!"

Something fell, splatting. It sounded like a bird that dropped from the sky, but louder. It interrupted both master and apprentice, drawing them away from the recording phone. Beside, Toshinori was a random villain splayed on the floor. Crimson stained his black leather jacket, limbs twitching from pain as hoarse pleads whispered from his lips.

In stunned silence, they stared at the fallen villain while, amidst the chorus, more singers left the choir, thrown about as three more flew over the cordon screaming, one crashing into a light pole, another through a window bleeding across a great distance, and the third falling atop of the villain besides the master-student duo in a two-person pile.

Before they could even comment on the sight of raining villains, the crowd around them clamored as they screamed and pointed at the sight of a gigantified villain rising from the crowd.

"Graaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

The roar wrestled both of their attention away from their phone as they turned to the giant villain. He was large, orange bristles shrouding his hide like fur, beige hands larger than water towers and his face more ape-like than man. Overall, he looked like a giant sasquatch from America if Izuku should compare, its size an estimate of forty meters at best.

"Garouuu! I don't care what the Villains say, I refuse to accept a hoax to be the face of Villainy!" The giant roared, glaring down at the one hidden behind the onlookers from Izuku's point of view.

He knew that the giant was staring at the Hero Hunter, but he still couldn't see him through the others in the confrontation. The giant knelt, threw his fist with all his might, and erupted a cloud of dust in the air. However, something went wrong.

A shadowy blur zoomed up the giant's arm like a flash of flickering shadow, leaving a trail of bruises with each step, but Izuku only caught a blurry glimpse. He could only see the trail of concave injuries running behind Garou, running to the giant's head from his knuckles. When Garou reached the head, the giant's cheek collapsed inward. The concurrently overlapping sound of Garou's assault and the sight of the cheek collapsing in such a brutal fashion, the way his lips and teeth dug into the giant's skull was wincing for the audience - from the spectators surrounding the area to the viewers online.

The white of the giant's eyes replaced every other color, blood trickled, and teeth fell from his mouth. Above, Garou was seen standing atop the head; both arms pulled up with his fists aimed below. Garou dropped and slammed his fists into the skull. The result of such minimal movement defied Izuku's expectation when the giant's head crashed into the street, knocked down so hard that the concrete cracked, spreading out meters, as the rest of his body below his neck knock flailed up until the toes saw the sky.

Izuku and Toshinori Yagi dropped their jaws awestruck by Garou's performance. Toshinori turned to Izuku, seeing him awkwardly raise a shaking finger at the fallen giant when the rest of the body reached the land to join its head.

Toshinori had no words to console the boy.

"Midoriya-san. What do you see from this battle?" Toshinori couldn't better stress the danger of Garou other than showing Izuku the consequence of challenging him. There was no guarantee that Izuku could win if All Might couldn't as well.

"I-I-I-I…" Izuku stammered, unable to word a proper response. He was still shaken by Garou slaying the giant with minimal effort.

"...Izuku." Toshinari referred him by his first name this time. "When I first met him, all I saw was a man. The second time, I saw Evil, but I stood corrected afterward."

His narration aroused Izuku's curiosity. He had never heard of All Might revising his opinion of a villain before.

"W-What do you see after the second time?"

Toshinori paused momentarily in thought, his blue eyes wandering afar further than what was in front of him, "I saw Fear when he defeated me. When I was at my limits, I was at his mercy."

Toshinori continued as he reminisced the time at the Dagoba Beach, his tender arm pulsing in pain from memory, "But when he spared me, I found hope."

The word 'hope' failed to click on the young apprentice. Izuku reviewed his memory of all the times he read or heard about Garou, and there was not a single hint of hope he could see in any of them.

"Eh?"

Toshinori chuckled in response; his laugh directed more at himself than the boy, "Hahahaha, yes, I know. Strange, isn't it? Do you want to know what kind of hope I saw?"

While the screams and audible pain of the villains resounded in the background, Izuku slowly nodded with fanboy-ish curiosity.

"Well, Midoriya, if I have to put it into words…" Toshinori chuckled as he ignored the cries for mercy in the background, "I would say… the hope of him changing for the better… hahaha. It is quite funny for me to talk about someone like that, but it is the truth. There is a goodness in him that cannot be put into words, but I know I saw it. Do you find it strange, Midoriya?"

Izuku pondered, considering All Might's statement. If there was goodness in Garou, then there must be signs he had missed. If Izuku recalled to the best of his memory, straining all the brain muscles at his disposal with effort, then he remembered that Garou had…

"Wait… he didn't kill anyone, didn't he?" Izuku asked, starting to understand the validity of All Might's conjecture.

"Hahaha, yes. Not many recalled that, but I've been keeping an eye on his 'exploits' since then. Although when I heard how Garou let the police negotiate with him, I was pleasantly surprised." Toshinori snickered when Gran Torino told him the story, the tragic beginning, and the comical end. He did feel sorry for Eraserhead, though.

"Wait, how did the police manage to overcome him?" Izuku asked.

Toshinori darted his head left and right before he leaned forward and cupped his mouth, and he whispered the summary of the ending of the manhunt. With excited eyes, Izuku listened, his ear devouring each and every word that came from All Might's mouth. When he learned of the cause of Garou's retreat, Izuku nearly spluttered in laughter, forced to cover his mouth to keep it in.

"Pfffffff, r-really?" Izuku whispered, trying his best not to let his reaction spill through his teary eyes and grinning rictus.

"Ahahahaha! It is true!" Toshinori laughed. Not with his All Might laugh, but his weaker disguised laugh.

Izuku could no longer hold it in. The Symbol of Fear that terrorized hero and villain societies for months retreated because of the Police Force taking his groceries hostage? It was the first time he had ever heard of a villain valuing food over money and wealth; it painted Garou under a more humanizing light than he realized. Heck, Izuku thought that Garou was an actual monster before he learned of this.

Izuku and Toshinori chuckled as they checked the current state of the slaughter through the phone. It could no longer be called a battle at his point. On the screen was Garou sitting atop the back of the giant, legs crossed into a pretzel with his back slightly lurching forward. He sat there almost as if waiting for more arriving victims to slake his thirst for blood and suffering.

Surrounding the Quirkless Hunter, guns laid on the pavement, torn apart into components arranged amidst the bodies within the splattered pool of crimson. The Demon of Hosu stood victorious over the invaders.

"So… what should we do now?" Izuku asked his mentor, asking how they would approach the monster without sharing the litters' fates.

Toshinori stared at Izuku in silence.

"...uhhh, M-Mr. Yagi? How do you plan to talk to him?" Izuku asked with growing concern. Did All Might come here without a plan? The way he did not respond did not help Izuku quell his growing fears.

"I… might have to take a rain check on that for a moment."

---------

The train ride was long and arduous, but she had finally arrived at the scene. Outside, she stepped through the borders of dangerous territory, but unlike fear, confidence bubbled inside her. For Mt Lady, the promising heroine had arrived at the scene to save the world from the evil clutches of the Hero Hunter.

She exited the train in her hero attire, smiling as smelled the air of evil in the city.

"Look out, Hosu. There's a new hero in town, and I am here to save you."

On her left and right, she could see civilians whispering to each other. With her perked ears, both expanding and contracting with interest, wanted to hear the opinion of her soon-to-be adoring fans.

"Oi, isn't she a hero?"

"A hero actually came."

"I feel so sorry for her."

"Must be a rookie. She'll end her career before she knows it."

Their negative comments caromed her dense skull. She smiled, knowing that their opinions would flip upside-down once she defeats the Quirkless Hero Hunter. She couldn't see why anyone would lose to a Quirkless guy. He must have some crazy tech or something helping him.

When Sir Nighteye declared that All Might tied against the Hero Hunter, she immediately dismissed it as a coverup. Throughout the history of Earth, there was no such thing as a super-strong Quirkless. Outstanding Quirkless individuals that could match the average hero like that vigilante hero was one thing, but someone that could match the Symbol of Peace in close combat?

Fat chance.

Mt Lady grinned haughtily, imagining her swift victory over the tiny man. Her plan was to surprise the Hero Hunter while his guard was down by turning giant, squish or kick the smaller man out of Hosu, and get all the credit she deserved. All of the media would speak of Mt Lady for generations to come, and it lit her heart aflutter.

It was time to face the 'Demon of Hosu' or whatever titles that Garou had so far. If she was honest, she thought all of those titles were overrated. Sure, she admitted that his hunts were… violent, especially during his beginning. It was the first time despair struck her heart when she saw that a hero curl up into a ball and cradle back and forth on live television before. She heard that the Hero was going through therapy by this day. He might return to the Hero business with the help of his friends and family.

However, these days the fear just… died down. The Hero Hunter distributed most of his brutality towards the villain side for some reason. Whatever the case, the Hero Hunter was costing the heroes of their jobs as well when apprehending villains. She still couldn't forgive Garou for cleaning Dagoba of villains for her to defeat herself. Because of him, she couldn't even stand out anymore.

And for that, Mt Lady would pay Garou back in spades once she gets over there and deliver him a piece of her mind. Just thinking about it was enough for her to gnash her teeth. She swore that the Hero Hunter would rue the day he first hunted heroes.

Stomping over to the landmark that the heroes dubbed the 'Hero's Deathtrap,' she heard sounds of a battle in the distance, right behind the line of onlookers and police. She could see the villains hauled off into the ambulances en masse. Was another battle taking place?

Good! They would tire him out enough for her to deal the finishing blow! She must get there before Garou decided to leave! With a grin that most would consider filled with greed, Mt Lady rushed past the civilians across the light gray sidewalk until she reached her destination.

"E-Eh? Hey, isn't that Mt Lady?" A kid with dark, moss-green hair standing next to a blonde, withered skeleton pointed at Mt Lady from the sideline.

"Eh?" The withered skeleton gawped upon seeing her entry.

"Stand aside, citizens! For I, Mt Lady is here to save the day!" Mt Lady declared with a confident pose, plagiarized from All Might himself.

"""Eh?"""

The citizens, cops, and ambulance crews turned to the heroine with absolute shock written on their faces. Ignoring them, Mt Lady peered over to the Hero Hunter, sitting atop of a mutant hairy man around a field of corpses. He didn't look so tough. None of them were of any notice.

"Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait!" The boy with dark green hair immediately interposed between her and her quarry with flailing arms.

"Don't go in there! You'll be torn to shreds like them!" The boy shouted, pointing at the bodies lying around the assailant.

Mt Lady looked at the victims behind the fenced line. They were all small people, around normal-sized victims, and, upon sizing Garou up, he looked no more prominent than the rest of them.

"Hah! So? I doubt Garou had faced a Gigantification hero!"

The boy looked flabbergasted. Mt Lady did not know why, but he threw his head to the arena. For some reason, he was looking at the tiny sasquatch guy Garou was using as his seat cushion.

The average-sized orange furry was face-planting the solid concrete in which his blood filled. Mt Lady did not know why the boy was warning her about a villain that only knew how to pick on those his size. It was time for him to face someone like her.

"W-Wait-"

Mt Lady did not care to hear about the boy's warnings. She walked past him and the rest of the civilians that tried to stop her along the way.

Several cops tried to block her path with his body, warning her about being butchered or something, but Mt Lady could not imagine Garou cutting her up like that. Besides, she could not believe that the Hero Hunter could take on All Might hand to hand and walk away scot-free.

Without delay, she used her Quirk and towered over the rest. Treading over the civilians and otherwise, she crossed the borders. With smiling confidence, she entered the den of the Demon and declared her name before the scourge of Herokind.

"Garou!" Mt Lady declared. "I, Mt Lady, will end your tyranny this day!"

The Demon wordlessly looked up at her from his human seat, the dark eyes of his mask staring into the giant woman's eyes. The way the Hero Hunter looked at Mt Lady was annoying. Wait, he looked away. He just returned to his… meditation thing. Was he ignoring her?

"Oi! Hero Hunter! You deaf?! I am calling you out!" Mt Lady shouted as Garou continued his meditating. The masked villain did not give her a second glance.

"H-hey!" Turning around, Mt Lady saw a blonde, emaciated man with blue eyes surrounded by shaded sclera shouted at her. "M-Mt Lady! Whatever reason you have for coming here, turn back before it's-ackogf?!"

My Lady flinched when the man started to spew blood on the streets. The sight of the skinny man puking blood instead of vomit was concerning, but she had a villain to pound tender enough for the others to ferry to Tartarus. She did not know why the heroes fell to a Quirkless man, but she wouldn't be a hero if she cowered in fear like the rest of them.

"If you're going to ignore me, then I'll just do this!"

Approaching the cocky Hero Hunter, Mt Lady knelt one leg and swung a gigantic-sized right hook at the smaller man. Mt Lady had to be careful to not crush the villains under her foot, so she had to attack him with precision.

When her fist carved through the wind resistance and reached the enemy of all heroes, Mt Lady shouted as her fist connected, "Hah! I got you!"

She pulled back her arm with a smile, but when she did, she caught sight of a robed figure standing on her knuckles. Mt Lady's smile froze when her eyes laid upon the Hero Hunter… the Hero Hunter… The Hero Hunter was standing on her fist and staring at her from behind the mask. Mt Lady was confused.

"Hm?" Mt Lady was even more confused. She was sweating a downpour from her pores as she was trying to understand why wasn't the man smacked into some building or something instead of standing on her knuckle while looking cool.

"Um…" Mt Lady's smile trembled when the Hero Hunter raised his fist without a word. "Can't we just let this go and-"

Interrupting her, a painful ripple smashed her right cheek, smacking her sight of the world into an obscure blur. Following that, a sudden force seized her horns and dragged her down until her head impacted something hard. The last sound she heard before blacking out was the fading cries of the citizens behind her.

She didn't know what had happened. When she woke up, she blinked as she was met with a bright glare of the ceiling light hanging above her. Mt Lady blinked.

What just happened? She tried to pick herself up, but she winced from the pain stinging her face. Confused, she touched the areas, retracting her hand once she found that her right face was swollen, but not without feeling some cloth bandaging it. When she explored the rest of her beautiful face, she found a bulging bump on her head wrapped in bandages judging by the coarse fabric tied around her protrusion.

"So the Hero Hunter got you too, huh?"

She turned her head to the voice, seeing a bandaged mummy beside her. There was a gap for his eyes to see through, allowing him the comfort of sight. Wait, wasn't he Eraserhead? No, she remembered! She had challenged him and… the last thing she recalled was...

"Wait."

She put two and two together. She couldn't believe it. How the hell did the Hero Hunter send her here?!