Berserker, Toxiclaw

After our introduction, Rio led us out of the alley. We huddled together as we walked the somewhat busy street with Rio and Issei in front with Penny and I behind them I could hear whispers of the people passing by us. The fact that I could understand what they were saying sent me to a silent astonishment.

Some of them were talking about mundane things of their life while few were wondering if we were a new batch of heroes.

Well, with what we were wearing I guess I would wonder too…

"Whoa… "

"Hm?"

I glanced at Penny who was looking around in awe at our surroundings. She especially lingered on some people who possessed some manner of mutation quirk. I could sense their discomfort at Penny's scrutinizing gaze.

"Are they… the faunus of this world?" the android teenager asked innocently.

I snorted, "No, they're human."

"Really? Hmm… this may come off as rude, but why do they look…" Penny asked in a whisper.

"Weird? That's because they have some kind of mutation quirk, or they got it from someone in their family tree."

I guess even to someone from a world where catgirl existed the folks with mutation quirk were too bizarre. I mean, one of them looked like a stone golem in suit for god's sake!

"Hmm, I see… you seem knowledgeable, teammate Yoga. Does where you are from have people with mutation quirks too?" Penny asked me while tilting her head questioningly.

"Nah, I'm just well read. People from my world are probably the most 'normal' people in all of the multiverse…" probably. I need to ask Miss Satin about it…

I then added after some thought, "...although, from the looks of it, my world is a hub of some kind for information about other worlds…"

"A hub of multidimensional knowledge? Fascinating… Do you perhaps know anything about my world? It is called Remnant." Penny inquired curiously.

I hummed, my hand reached for my chin. "Remnant, let's see… hmm…."

I answered what was generally known about Remnant, like the existence of Grimm and the four kingdoms. I decided to not tell her about more secretive things like Salem, the Gods, and the maidens fiasco. It would be weird if I knew something comparable to a government secret… which it probably was now that I think about it…

My answers seem to satisfy Penny who bobbed her head up and down while humming.

Our walk came to a stop after Rio and Issei took us to a more quiet street.

"Alright guys, the system said our target was last seen around here." Rio said to us.

She had her hand raised to her chest level with her system gauntlet projecting a holographic screen of a map with a large circle on it. The circle was the possible radius of where our target would be.

Miss Satin said we couldn't get the pinpoint location of an Apostle because of the interference of their 'Sponsor'. Unless we were near each other they wouldn't show on our map. The best they could do was to determine through the Apostle's pattern. Ken Kurusu was often more active at night and never strayed far from Kita ward. They also updated the map every 5 minutes or so.

"It's just recently updated and there's no noticeable change on the circle. So, let's take a five minute rest to get familiar with our equipment, okay!"

"""Yes!"""

Rio had a knack for leadership. She took the initiative when we seemed at a loss and had a good handle of the situation so far. When she heard my and Penny's foreigner name, she proposed to take the role to lead even though there was no language barrier between the four of us.

Man, what would I do to be as confident as her…

~~~~

—Rio—

I inwardly sighed as we rested at an empty small park. I glanced around and took note of my surroundings. From where I perched, I could see Yoga and Issei was scratching their heads trying to figure out the gift Satin-san gave them, while on the side Penny was excitedly trying the games around the park.

I never thought I would experience the second true magic after applying at a small time café.

It was a peculiar experience to say the least…

Even though Auntie Rin was the student of the infamous Kaleidoscope, she never showed the fruit of her study around the house whenever she visited.

Speaking about magic, the mana in the air was thin, very thin. It was thinner than it was at home. If mana at home was like a veil, then the one here was a fading morning fog.

That was also the reason why she was surprised that a Servant was summoned in this world. It seems this Apostle, Ken Kurusu was the tether for Toxiclaw, feeding him with Od as fuel.

The best course of action was to deal with the master swiftly before he could use his command seals.

Another option was to use the information about the ambush that killed Toxiclaw in the past. He must've developed some sort of conceptual weakness towards whatever killed him.

Maybe we could visit a library or something to look for information… That's an idea.

A shame I couldn't use 'that'...

I silently sighed.

As I thought further, I leapt down and approached the boys. They were still figuring out how to open the gift they were given.

"Where the hell is the button on this thing?" Yoga said as he turned around the strange box in his hand.

"Told you there's no button. Hngh!" Issei on the other hand tried to pull it open. Veins appeared on his head and hands, yet the box didn't budge even a little.

The box was about as big as a football (not the American one) and more hexagonal in shape than a cube. It looks very sci-fi with glowing circuitry which serves an unknown purpose.

"You guys need a hand?" I offered when I closed our distance.

"Would probably scare my aunt if I came home three-handed." came Yoga's witty response. "But we need some help figuring out this…unnecessarily-hard-to-open loot box."

I snorted at the apt description.

According to Satin-san, whatever was inside the box was an item or skill that would help them against our target. It seems she knew about my magecraft and whatever ability Penny has. The gift inside the box also had a rarity system that was set from Super Rare and Ultra Rare. So yeah, basically gacha in real life.

"Can I try something?" I asked the two and Issei gave me his gift box.

I turned the box around a little bit, scrutinizing every nook and cranny the two possibly missed. When I didn't spot anything, I took a breath and activated my magic circuit.

"Whoa!" I heard Issei cry in awe. To someone mundane (especially boys), the green circuitry spreading on my skin definitely looked cool.

Picturing an image of cable being plugged in, I chanted under my breath.

"Link, on!"

As if a floodgate was opened, knowledge about the box came into my mind almost like a tidal wave.

'The box was made not too long ago. I cannot comprehend who made it, possibly divine in origin if this slight headache is any sign. The item inside is 'whatever will help us'...huh, even with Analysis I can't take a peek inside. But, the most important thing is…'

I moved my other hand on top of the box and twisted them counter clockwise. When I pulled off the lid, bright light came from inside the box as if it was a gacha from some mobile games.

When the light died off, what was inside the box gradually became visible. It was…

"...A fruit?" Issei was baffled by the item inside the box.

The fruit looks very peculiar. A bright orange round fruit as big as pomelo with swirly flame-like scales. The stem had a curly and a flame-like end.

While me and Issei were confused by the content, Yoga had a different reaction.

"Whoa… No way! Issei, you lucky bastard!"

Instead of being confused like us, Yoga was astonished instead. The raven haired boy took a closer look at the fruit and as if on cue, a small holographic name tag appeared above the fruit.

[Mera Mera no Mi (UR)]

"Mera… Mera no mi?" Issei asked aloud.

Without prompting, Yoga went to explain about the fruit.

"Mera-Mera no Mi is a devil fruit. basically a fruit that gives you power when eaten. It's a logia type devil fruit, it allows you to control and transform into elements. In this case, fire."

"Dude, that sounds OP!" Issei exclaimed with an ear to ear grin.

'That's right, Yoga's world is an information hub of some kind…'

I was reminded of his talk with Penny during our walk. He seems to know something about this world even though he was a foreigner like the rest of us. Now that he explained about the fruit, there was a question that naturally came to me.

"What's the catch?" I asked Yoga.

Living with a magus family taught me one thing; no matter where it came from, a power always came with a price. No matter how small, no matter how useful, a power must have some kind of drawback. An equivalent exchange, if you will.

I want to know if it was worth the risk of having this kind of power for both Issei's safety and us.

"Hmm, other than losing your ability to swim and weakness to Kairōseki (Seastone), which I'm sure didn't exist other than from where they came from, there's nothing. Well, as far as I know anyway."

I thought for a bit before returning the gift to Issei.

I nodded to him and said, "in the end the choice is yours."

Issei looked contemplatively at the devil fruit. He then shook his head and grabbed the fruit. He bit into the fruit and then…

"Bah! What the hell is that taste!?" Issei cried in disgust yet despite that he still swallowed. He then glared at the devil fruit in his hand and asked, "...do I need to finish it?"

I glanced at Yoga. he had a glint of mischievousness in his eyes. he then frowned.

"...mngh...My knowledge about it is a bit rusty. Maybe it acts like potions where you need to drink a dose or a bite is enough, but hey, better safe than sorry, right?"

He was definitely messing with Issei.

Issei reluctantly finished his fruit. His face was green and I could see tears in the corner of his eyes. "So this is the price of power…" I heard him mumbling listlessly.

I shook my head and asked the brunette, "so, do you feel anything?"

This shook him out of his stupor. He hummed while patting around his body, "I…don't feel much different, to be honest."

Yoga hummed in thought before saying, "try checking your gauntlet, there might be something."

Issei nodded and fiddled with his gauntlet awkwardly just like how Satin-san taught us. A projection came out of his gauntlet. It showed Issei's stats.

—

Name: Issei Hyoudou

Lv: 1 - Keeper

Origin: Sector 21

Stats:

STR: 2

END: 4

DEX: 4

INT: 1

WIS: 2

—

We found the skill [Mera Mera no Mi] in the [Skill] menu, but that wasn't what caught our attention.

"Huh? [Hollow Soul]?"

We read the explanation of the skill and it seems Yoga and I came to the same conclusion.

Someone had messed with Issei's soul.

~~~~

—Yoga—

A skill developed when a piece of the user's soul is missing. It makes the user weak to soul based magic but gives him high mental resistance. What the hell happened in his world?

I mused as I read the skill description. The name itself was ominous enough that Rio ignored the [Anti-Female] skill just above it.

Despite owning this skill, Issei looked healthy as a horse. He didn't look like someone with a piece of his soul missing.

'Then the missing piece must be…'

I came to a conclusion and so was Rio. I think she would ask me about it when we finished our task because Issei was visibly ignorant of the issue.

I inwardly cursed at the implication.

'Shit, an Apostle with a Boosted Gear? Are their cheat items and skills not enough? I'm going to ask Miss Satin about it later.'

There was a chance that she might know already and recruiting Issei as a means to fight this thieving Apostle, but I will ask her anyway, just in case.

~~~~

Once our map was updated and we figured out how Issei's new power works, we continued our search. We decided to split into two groups after we stumbled upon the system's [Chat] feature.

Currently, I was with Issei scouring the western side of Kita ward while Rio and Penny went east. A shame we didn't come here for sightseeing. My weeb self would love to just wander around.

Our patrol was accompanied by the silence of the night. There were some vehicles that passed by, but overall it felt like I was strolling around my town at the dead of night. The only missing thing was the ridiculously high population of wild dogs roaming the street.

I talked to Issei while we were patrolling, talking about mundane stuff like hobbies and the differences between our school system. Issei was quite envious of how lax my school system was. It was a school in the middle of nowhere after all. Talking about school reminds me of some memories of my 5th grade where our homeroom teacher often smoked during lessons.

Yeah, not the best role model, but he was a fun and competent teacher.

It was when we passed a bookstore that we heard a commotion not too far from there. It was also the same time our gauntlet started beeping.

Checking our [Map], we found out that the circle had disappeared and was replaced by a red dot with the word 'Anomaly' under it.

I exchanged looks with Issei and nodded. We dashed towards the commotion and opened up our [Chat] menu and sent our current location.

The source of the commotion was a fight between a hero and our target at a park. Trees were uprooted and public facilities wrecked beyond recognition. There were Heroes laid on the ground beaten and bruised but fortunately alive.

Our attention was then drawn towards the sounds of fighting.

There, in the middle of the park by a destroyed bridge stood Toxiclaw, a hulking man with purple spikes all over his body. His face was covered by a sack tied on the neck by a rope. He was currently fighting a hero who was overwhelmed by his strength. And as his name implied, he had claw-like spikes jutting out of his hands.

The Servant blasted the hero aside with a kick to the man's side. The hero was thrown to a building, completely wrecking its front.

"RRAAAAAGGGHHH!!!! IS THIS ALL YOU CAN DO?! HERO?! WHAT A LOAD OF SHIT!!!"

The servant roared. His voice was loud enough to shatter windows of nearby buildings.

More Heroes appeared and quickly engaged the berserker.

While the servant was fighting the heroes, Rio and Penny came from the sky and landed beside us.

"How's the situation?" Rio immediately asked.

"Not good." I answered after inspecting one of the unconscious heroes.

Penny took a look at the hero I was seeing, her eyes focused on a purplish mark on the hero's body, after a while she spoke, "some kind of neurotoxin is present inside this man's bloodstream. It's safe to assume that every hero this servant fought is poisoned. We need to treat them quickly before it's too late."

There was no cheerfulness in her voice, only cold, almost monotone assessment.

Rio was thinking for a moment before issuing an order, "okay, listen people! Issei and I will engage Berserker while Penny and Yoga evacuate the injured. Penny and I passed by a hospital two blocks from here, she will lead the way. Issei, provide ranged support, shoot from afar. Can you do that?"

The brunette nodded firmly as his fingers lit aflame. When we were trying to figure out his devil fruit power, Issei had expressed his inexperience in combat. Fortunately, you don't need to be that skilled to be an arsonist.

Rio nodded in satisfaction, "Good. Yoga, Penny, be careful. We haven't spotted the Apostle yet, but now that the circle is gone it's safe to say he's around."

we nodded to her warning and Rio continued, "alright team, move out!"

"""Yes, Leader!"""

~~~~

—Rio—

Issei and I charged into battle soon after. I traced a pair of mundane chakrams and hurled it towards the servant. The heroes who noticed the spinning blades quickly jumped out of the way.

Seeing an opening, I quickly shouted, "Issei!"

The boy stopped running and shouted, "HIKEEEENN!!!"

He launched a torrent of flames towards the berserker. The heroes around the servant leapt away while the enemy took the full brunt of the attack. The summoned villain was thrown back several meters by Issei's attack. The heroes whirled at us.

"Thanks for- wait, who are you guys?!" one of the heroes shouted.

"We're newbies. We're here to support you guys!" the lie came easily, we don't have time to answer some unneeded questions right now.

Seeing our colorful uniform the hero relented, "but where are your—bah whatever! Any help is appreciated at this point. We barely scratched the guy!"

As if on cue, the servant rose from the ground. His body had barely a mark on them other than burnt spots from Issei's flame. I pursed my lips at the sight.

The only reason we could scratch him was the fact our abilities were amplified by our uniform and system. If we fought him without them then our attack would do nothing, especially newly awakened like Issei's.

The heroes around us, they didn't have the same enhancement as we did and even the strongest among them right now cannot pierce the C+ or above defense this berserker possibly has.

With that in mind, I came to a decision as my circuit glows.

"Heat Riser!"

colorful glows flashed upon our and the heroes skin. This was a spell I made inspired by a game I played when I was little. An application of low-level Reinforcement to multiple targets. If my abilities were enhanced, then this spell has the same benefit too. I was proven correct when I checked my status quickly and spotted [Reinforcement: C+] on my [status] screen.

"My Quirk is energy manipulation. I just buffed our speed, endurance, and strength." I said when the questioning gaze was directed at me.

"Thanks!"

The heroes lunged at the berserker and just like I predicted, their attacks finally left a mark on the villain's body. Fire, water, brute strength and various powers clashed against the berserker and thanks to [Reinforcement] they slowly overpowered the servant's defense. Toxiclaw retaliated wildly, but due to enhancement on their speed (both physical and reflexes) the heroes were able to dodge his attack mostly unharmed.

While the heroes engaged up close, Issei hurled fireballs at the enemy at every chance he got. I refreshed the heroes' buff again and decided to join in.

"Trace, on!"

A black bow twice my height appeared in my right hand while in my left a twisted arrow. It was a C rank mystic code I made back when I was still learning under my aunt, and it has only one function.

I inserted the arrow and pulled the bowstring. Upon seeing an opening, I let go of the string.

The arrow soared and hit the servant on the shoulder before exploding violently. Thankfully, the heroes were nowhere near the blast radius.

"▂▂▃▃▅▅!"

The berserker let out an animalistic roar. The bestial sound shook the heroes for a moment before they got a hold of themselves. The servant then spoke again.

"I HAVE ENOUGH OF THIS BULLSHIT!! DIE, TOXIC DART RAIN!!!"

Veins popped all over the man's body and his spikes became longer and increased in quantity.

Without much thought, I shot forward and traced a wall of shields in front of the heroes.

The spikes shot out of the man's body with a guttural roar and pelted on the shield like a rain of stones. Cracks appeared on some parts but I repaired them as quickly as they appeared.

Sweat trailed down my chin. My body starting to heating up from Magic Circuit overuse.

The torrent of spikes had ceased and I instantly let the shield dissipated into motes of light.

Unlike my father's Projection, I couldn't maintain their existence for long nor could I use my father's ultimate shield. I was still learning my family craft. The best I could do was B ranked noble phantasms and even then tracing two was the best I could do with the enhancement I received from the suit.

Once the rain of spikes settled, Issei launched another Hiken back to back. Fiery explosion engulfed the enemy leaving burns all across his body. Raw skin and gashes littered the servant's body, he was even missing some fingers and had his ribs for all to see.

And yet, despite his wounds, he was still standing.

It was either his endurance was high or he has [Battle Continuation] skill, or he was already powered up by a command seal.

Suddenly, A voice rang in the park, carrying a dreadful order.

"By my command seal, I order you, Toxiclaw, strengthen yourself!"

The berserker body buffed like a balloon, his spikes became serrated. His manic grin could be heard in his voice.

"YES! YES! ANOTHER POWER UP! GET READY TO MEET YOUR MAKER, HEROES! HAHAHAHAHA!!!"

The villain let out a maniacal laugh as fear threatened to drown the heroes. I clenched my teeth as I prepared a blueprint of B rank noble phantasm in my head.

"This is so unfair…" I heard Issei spat behind me. I wholeheartedly agreed with him.

The voice then speaks again, "by my final command seal, I order you, Toxiclaw—"

The villain blasted forward with demented glee. In a second, the villain reached us. He then raised his fist which had turned blade-like with serrated poisonous spikes.

"—stop, then behead yourself."

SLASH!!! SPLAT!!!

In a flash of purple, Toxiclaw's head flew as his blood spewed from his neck like a fountain. The sack that covered his head opened revealing a dead man's dumbfounded expression. An expression shared by the us and the heroes.

"Do not fear! Why…?"

a more familiar voice announced as Toxiclaw started to disperse into motes of light. A loud thump lured our attention away from the fading corpse of the long dead villain.

It was Penny, she was carrying Yoga who sat on her shoulders. Sweat caked the boy's face while scratches present on Penny's revealing something white under her skin. Yet despite their condition, they both sport a bright smile.

"Because the cavalry's here!"