《Darkest Hero》chapter 5: The puzzle's trap
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Izuku, Charlie, Vaggie and Tokoyami could only scream as they were flung through a vortex of red and black while shadows clawed at the corner of their vision. Their luggage gripped tightly in their hands while Dark shadow gave a very feminine scream of exilleration, clutching to Tokoyami's shoulders with a unhinged gleam in its eyes.
With a sudden thump they found themselves slamming into a large bed with messy sheets. A bronze puzzle box twisted into a small monolith sat discarded on the middle, the door wide open and a chair tipped haphazardly in the way.
"This, isn't my house." Tokoyami groaned as he shook his head as if to lessen the dizziness he was experiencing.
"Then, where are we?" Charlie asked as she looked around before noticing the puzzle box. " Oh no."
"Fuck." Vaggie agreed as she summoned her usual spear.
"Um, what is that?" Izuku asked as he went to pick up the puzzle box only to receive a small shock. "Ow!"
"A lament configuration." Tokoyami stated in shock, his eyes wide. " This place is not safe."
As if to cement his statement a scream was heard from downstairs. Without thinking Izuku charged out the room, ignoring both Vaggie and Charlie's words of caution as the door locked behind him and Tokoyami continued to eye the corners of the room with distrust, his frown deepening as something moved in the shadows.
Coming down the stairs izuku almost puked at the sight before him. Two dead people in a pool of growing blood as a being from one of the hells dragged a busty black haired girl closer to him using a chain wrapped around her throat. She struggled, her hands gripping and pulling the chain even as they bled while her feet slowly slid forwards, unable to gain a foothold on the bloody carpet.
"Let her go!" Izuku shouted as he jumped at the young woman and tried to help her pull against the chain.
"You have no business here young prince." The being spat in anger. "She has opened the gateway and I shall claim my price."
"The Caine you will!" Izuku shouted as he grabbed at the chain and began to pull. The links began to groan in protest as a sickly emerald fire included his entire skull revealing the bone underneath as a pair of curved horns grew atop his skull.
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"A mere flame? The child is but a flame user?" The being gave a loud, cruel laugh as he still casually dragged the chain closer. " How unimpressive."
"Yeah fuck you too." Izuku snarled, his voice raspy as the chain began to glow first orange then white before with a final groan and shriek it snapped making the two stumble slightly while the being remained unaffected. "Get your caine damned ass back to whatever area of Hell you came from now!"
The being frowned slightly, dipping his nail covered head. "Very well, I cannot go against the wishes of her highness's family but know this, I will return." They spat before fading into the shadows of the room.
"Are you okay?" Izuku asked the girl who sunk to her knees, shaking fearfully. A nasty red cut circled her throat and jagged cuts marred her hands. Crouching down in the blood izuku put his skeletal hands on the girl's shoulders in concern as she stared ahead blankly.
"Izuku!" Charlie called as she rushed down the stairs, a sparking puzzle in her hands with Tokoyami and Vaggie fighting off a weird beast that clung upside down from the walls using its legs. "She needs to close the portal!"
"Miss, can you close it for us?" Izuku asked as he gently shook her shoulders. " Miss, please."
"W-why." She whispered, her voice shaking slightly. " Why didn't you kill me?"
"I'm not here to hurt you. We got here by accident." Izuku stated as Charlie quickly sat the box infront of the girl before conjuring her apple themed trident and rushing back to help Vaggie and Tokoyami. "Can you tell me your name?"
"Any time now dark prince!" Tokoyami shouted as he was sent flying by the beast.
"Momo." The girl whispered, shaking in fear at the sight of the demon attacking the group. "W-what are they?"
"Cenobites." Izuku stated shortly and with no lack of hate for them. "Horrible border tribes of hell. Complete the puzzle and they'll be sent back to hell."
"Wait, what about us?" Vaggie asked with a grunt as she appeared the beast in the eye making it shriek in pain and anger.
"We should be fine!" Charlie yelped as she ducked under a swipe of the beast's claws before swinging her trident and removing several of the beast's fingers making it down in agony.
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"Please?" Izuku asked Momo as he gestured to the box. With a small nod she got to work. Each successful move yielded one less layer to the song which hung in the air, it's innocent tune turned sinister by the events it had heralded.
"How can it send us back, child? We are already here. And now, so are you!" A mocking and broken voice came from the corner of the room. A being with no lips and barbed wire fusing the nose and eyes wide open snarled. Their form was impossible to distinguish as either male or female and clad in a suit of black leather, six bloody poles pierces the chest at random intervals with a butcher's hook lodged into the rips holding them apart.
"Touch her and I'll rip you to shreds." Izuku growled as the fire surrounding him grew in intensity. Yet another piece fell into place as Momo quickened her pace not wanting the events to last any longer.
"The order of Gash." Tokoyami gasped in shock as he tried to pull himself from the crator in the wall.
The being turned it's attention to the bird headed teen, tilting it's head in curiosity before returning it's game to Izuku. "We have such pleasures to share if but the girl is given to us young one."
"Yeah right, I'm not like you!" Izuku spat befo ree hurling a fireball at the demon who didn't flinch as the green fire quickly ate away at the leather and the left side of its torso. The fire soon died down leaving charred bones and burnt flesh covered in melted leather like cheese on a burger that had been cooked for too long.
"You are a cenobite, whether you admit to it or not, the flesh does not lie." The being snarled as another part of the tune disappeared from the melody of the music box.
"No, I'm not a monster." Izuku snarled as several ropes of barbed wire shot from the darkness and wrapped around him. They soon grew red with heat before melting off of him into puddles of iron on the floor. "I am a hero!"
"Foolish." The cenobite snapped as more wire flew at izuku, all of it melting away as the teenaged demon grew closer.
"A hero never gives up!" Izuku shouted as he slugged the cenobite in the jaw melting half it's head and sending it flying across the room and into the TV, smashing the screen. "I will become a hero people can look upto, I will be like all might and show people they don't need to fear for I am here!" He shouted with his raspy voice, his fire glowing intense enough the Momo had to shield her eyes as the cube's pieces finally slid back into position the cenobite snarling as it pulled itself from the TV and gave a scream of utter rage which echoed from several locations around the room, weather it was it's own scream or the scream of others was impossible to tell.
The cube sparked violently and gave off an intense white light as the cenobites besides Izuku faded from this reality, a dagger of bone and metal thrown from a darkened corner of the room vanished mere inches from Tokoyami's face making the teen give a sigh of relief.
"They're gone?" Momo asked hopefully, her hands shaking as she dropped the music box like it was a ticking bomb and given the events that just transpired, a mere bomb was a cruel understatement.
"We should be good." Izuku panted and rasped as the fire began to fade away leaving him with his usual pale completion and a few flecks of fire in his hair. "Are you okay?"
"It can't be." Momo gasped in shock, her eyes going wide. "I saw you die! You're izuku Midoriya the boy who jumped!"
"We came as soon as we could!" A man called as he booted down the front door, almost retching at the stench and sight of so much blood. They were wearing a pair of long black pants and shirt with a grey scarf and yellow vent like goggles over their eyes.
"OH MY CAINE IT'S ERASERHEAD!" Izuku cried out excitedly while Vaggie face palmed and Charlie gave a nervous laugh at Izuku's enthusiasm. Tokoyami could only shake his head as he finally pulled himself from the wall, dust covered his feathers and dark shadow clung to his side in a protective manor.
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