⌜ so when i die, which i must do;
could it shine down here with you? ⌝
In which a good intentioned
archon is labeled a villain.
You didn’t know what was going on in the slightest. It was the most though invoking feeling, struggling internally as you tried to find the right words to describe it. It was like you were falling upwards and flying downwards, a dizzying feeling you couldn't wrap your head around.
That was the only word that could properly describe it. It was a weird sensation where you felt clueless, not knowing what emotion to express, how to feel, it was almost numbing if that made sense.
And then seconds after the crooked flight, you had finally landed.. (so you were falling.) As your senses returned to you, your hearing was the first to run rampant.
Screaming rang through your ears, frightened people calling for help, repeating their cries again and again. You rubbed at your temple as your feet planted on the ground, your head pounding from whatever that previous sensation was.
It was never ending, and it only made that headache grow. It was so annoying, so irritating, it made you want to eliminate the cause of that noise and put it to rest. You scanned the area around you while keeping the tips of your fingers pressed to your forehead to ease the pressure, warily looking around for the source of the commotion, which really wasn't far.
Another loud scream ensued, a large group of people forming all around you while some made effort to take themselves out and away from that group.
Was someone in trouble? The mortals were supposed to be trained to your knowledge, skilled in defending themselves and others, so unless there was an invasive attack, there should be no conflict from the Children of Murata since monsters didn't dare step foot into the city.
The screaming never stopped. Your head ached worse the longer it went on, until the point you could no longer hold back that immense irritation swelling up in you. Your eyebrows furrowed and your eyes narrowed as you tried to look past the clutter of panicked people, but had no success in seeing past them.
In the moment of irritation from finding yourself out of that strange vortex, you hadn't even properly registered your surroundings to be a foreign place, disillusioned it was your nation undergoing some type of problem.
The atmosphere had a heavy tension, the screams of defenseless people ringing through your ears was making your head pound along with causing your face to morph into a fiercer look of irritation than before, but for a reason aside from the pain.
they were all just pathetic, the panic and fear being proof of that.
Were they not supposed to be stronger than this? To have wills of steel to morph their fiery spirits for battle, to remain calm under pressure and assure that everything was orderly, and to help one another in need?
You were really disappointed, but you couldn’t do anything about their uneased state, after all, if this was the result of Murata's teachings, who were you to complain? You would have figured if she saw them now, she would probably be disappointed in them all too, because you don't recall her mentioning her people ever behaved like such cowards.
You could only sigh, watching as the civilians who were crying out for help were all surrounding a scene playing out, having gotten closer so you could fully assess it. What first stood out to you was the odd looking spiky creature. It wasn’t an abyss mage, hilichurl, or anything of the sorts, which brought you to the conclusion it was an unknown entity from the abyss.
What had vastly surprised you the most, was the moment the 'abyss' creature had muttered angered words, clear and understandable in the mortal language.
It was… odd. It felt out of place.
“SHUT UP!! HEH, YOU THINK SOMEONES GONNA HELP YOU!?” The creature cackled. So it can speak your same language, and quite fluently at that.
The word were directed towards a woman in front of it, crouched in an uncomfortable position as the porcupine-like creature held onto her by her collar. She clutched something close to her chest, a spilled bag of groceries laying beside her with fresh produce she had just picked up to feed her family dinner that night.
You sent a confused look to the woman who was whimpering, people just staring and not doing anything about the situation.
The woman should have known they should never show their emotions when faced with an enemy since the enemy will never take pity. It was one of the first rules taught, one of the most vital. In your final moments, if it's unpreventable, you should always show no regret and face death head on.
You had thought this without the knowledge the person who implemented this rule had broken it all the same when regrets were the only thing on her mind before death.
‘SOMEONE, PLEASE HELP ME!’ The woman shrieked, though it was followed by a hand making contact with her face, a scuff mark implanting itself on her cheek.
She was defenseless. She couldn’t protect herself... and yet you had realized something. The thing she was clutching onto was none other than an infant, protecting that life with the little ability she seemed to possess.
That was honorable. Although you thought of the woman as pathetic, she was truly far from it as even in such a dire situation, her first instinct was to shield the infant with her body.
You then turned away from looking at the woman to stare over at the creature, and decided to give a quick observation of your surroundings. There were other humans, of course, but they wore such unusual garments. Minimal clothing was the normalcy in Natlan from the extreme heat, and yet most were clothed in more than what would be considered over-dressing.
Now that you took notice of the temperature, there was a cool breeze rather than the warm ones you had been adjusted to.
Though that slipped your mind once again as tensions rose, the man screaming in anger making the woman scream in fear in return.
From your knowledge... there should not have been any conflict in Natlan for the time being, seeing as the Snezhnayan forces had retreated after confirming Murata's death.
You only narrowed your eyes once again, scrutinizing the scene before deciding you should step up seeing as you waited long enough for any development.
You took a step forward, your hand reaching out in front of you as you made your way through the abundance of people.
"...Leave this to me, I must ask of you to retreat to safety if you're really as defenseless as you make yourselves out to be." You spoke monotonously, placing your hand on one person's shoulder as those around looked over towards where the attractive voice emerged from.
You sent a soft, reassuring smile, and although you had minimal contact with other people, you felt you were interacting quite well. Some definitely looked stranger than what you were informed about, but nevertheless, you were given the duty of protecting the people of Natlan at any cost as the new pyro archon.
If only you took a moment to focus on something other than ridding the people's troubles along with your headache, then maybe you could have prevented everything from going so wrong. Although, as always, you can never change what has happened in the past since as of right now, you only focused on the responsibility that was passed down to you.
You walked forward and your presence alone had made people make way for you, some holding strange devices up and pointed towards the commotion while on instinct some of those devices turned to point in your direction.
Whispers emerged from within the crowd, those who had taken notice of you whispering, while some screaming still ensued, calling out for a 'hero' to help.
Since Murata was no longer here to give her judgement, you did so in her stead. Your face had scrunched up in dissatisfaction no matter how much you tried to put up an approachable façade. It angered you that no one was stepping up to help.
Natlan was known for their rigorous training techniques children were taught in their youth, so why did everyone just stop and stare, defying the law of 'help when one of your own is in danger'?
As you mentioned before, the display of everyone gathering and becoming an audience was absolutely pathetic.
"SOMEONE, PLEASE! WHERE ARE THE HEROES AT?!"
You could only sigh once again as you strut forward.
So, they all just rely on this ‘hero.’ huh? well, whoever this so called ‘hero’ was, they don’t look like they have any intentions of helping with the situation escalating this far already.
"MWUAHAHA! DON'T EVEN BOTHER, ALL THE PRO HEROES IN THIS AREA ARE BUSY WITH MY PALS! WE MADE SURE TO SPREAD OUT THE HEROES FAR AWAY SO THAT OUR CRIME CAN GO UNINTERRUPTED!"
At the Porcupine looking man's exclamation, fear settled even further into the onlookers eyes. If the heroes truly were busy, would this woman be mercilessly killed and robbed along with the rest of them?
Most of them had half a mind to consider getting the fuck out of there, but the sudden exclamation of someone in the crowd had made them reluctant to do so.
"WHAT'RE YOU DOING?! ARE YOU A HERO?! IF NOT, IT'S DANGEROUS! GET BACK!"
You had gotten out of the crowd that had kept their distance from the attack and proceeded to move towards the very thing they avoided.
"Are they a hero?! Has a hero finally come!?" A news reporter exclaimed as their eyes twinkled with a promising look, the lug of metal they hauled around turning so that it could capture everything this brave person did.
"Submit and I will consider being merciful. Are you so absentminded to forget the laws our lady Murata had placed on this land?" You patronized, kindly reminding the creature that everyone was supposed to follow the rules Murata had left, even after her death.
"HUH?! Mind ya' damn business! You think you're some hot shot or something here to stop me?!" The man with a gruff and stuffy voice exclaimed as his head shot in your direction, though he never let go of his hold on the woman he seemed to be harassing.
"AS IF I WOULD JUST OBEY YOU, YOU NOBODY!" The man said as he simply sent one last glance over in your direction, deeming you completely weak and nothing he wouldn't be able to handle since you weren't familiar in his eyes. He was a powerful villain after all, and no simple d-list hero would be able to take him down.
His narrowed eyes filled with such a deep hatred as he looked back over at the woman in his hands, harshly pulling and shaking her collar as her tight bun un-did itself from the harsh treatment, her eyebrows creased in horror and strands of hair sticking to her face from the perspiration of fear she had built up.
"NOW YOU... HURRY THE HELL UP OR YOUR BRAINS WILL BE SPLATTERED ON THE GROUND!"
The woman screamed as she began to sob, shaking her head back and forth as she tried to free herself from his grasp. Her heart was unable to take the scrutiny and malice directed at her. She felt frozen in place, defenseless, and weak as she waited for a hero to come and save her, and though there were so many people, only one had dared to walk forward.
And yet her resolve to protect the weak and fragile child in her arms remained. Although she herself couldn't move with the man keeping a hold on her, she clutched her infant to her chest who was hysterically crying, protecting them in her motherly embrace as she used her body to shield the baby.
...It enraged you how this talking creature could be so insolent. Had he known of who you were, he wouldn't have done such a thing in front of you. Nor would he even dare to look you in the eyes, and yet the creature spoke fluent in the human tongue and had the balls to ignore you.
"So be it." You simply said while slipping out the book from its accessory on your hip, the book that made up most of your good memories from your childhood. It floated up towards a height you could see, unaware of the gasps of awe while the criminal turned to look at what was going on.
The porcupine man looked confused at what you could have been implying with what you said, and having a sliver of intelligence in his skull, he let go of the woman with the baby as he realized he would be engaging in battle.
"I WASN'T REALLY LOOKIN' TO KILL NOBODY TODAY, BUT IT SEEMS YOU'RE BRAVE ENOUGH TO INTERFERE IN MY BUSINESS." The man said as he arched his back, the long spikes along his spine seeming to jut out further than what they looked to be earlier.
"That's very contradicting. So, what are you, a creature of the abyss?" You asked, seeing as this one was very talkative, and perhaps you could question him for details pertaining to the very source where creatures like him dwelled.
"WAS THAT SOME DUMB INSULT? WELL, NOT LIKE I CARE. ENOUGH TALKING, LET'S GET THIS OVER WITH SO I CAN STICK TO THE SCHEDULE!" The man said as he shot out one of the spikes on his back, the spear like thorn slicing through air as it lodged right in your direction.
In excitement, the blue spirit shot out of the catalyst, chirping in concern recalling its last encounter with you. You smiled to give it reassurance that you were fine, the calmness making the news reporters hold their breath and shout to watch out as the sharp spike was close to your face, nearing its destination to impale you.
Mitsuki shot up right in front of your face, its beady eyes seeming to narrow as it opened its mouth, the spike entering just as it did so causing the spike to incinerate into ash. Mitsuki hummed in delight at the meal before spitting the ashes out, the flaming ash shooting like a bullet in the assailants direction.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?! IS YOUR QUIRK SOME TYPE OF SUMMONING QUIRK?" The man shouted in disbelief as he jumped backwards, his feet skidding against the ground as to avoid the unknown bright blue beam of light headed in his direction.
It swiftly past by his face, and with the speed it was homing in on him, he was only just able to avoid it by the hairs on his face. His eyes shot wide open at the intensity of the heat it produced, a bit of his fur instantly charred and falling to black ash on the ground.
From the corner of your eye, you watched as the woman who was clutching onto her child snuck away, the crying of the child stopping as the infant looked over its mother's shoulder and cooed as seeing the bright blue flames.
You turned to look back at the man who was readying to throw more of those insanely sharp spikes on his back, bending over and aiming before shooting at least a dozen rapidly, the first shot only being a test shot.
"Mitsuki, show no mercy to those hailing from the abyss." You stated as your catalyst hovered in front of you, Homura and Himeko wanting to come out as well but you didn't allow it. After all, Mitsuki, the hottest of your three flame wisps, was more than enough to take on an abyss creature such as this one.
Mitsuki sent a soft look and hum at hearing the command from you, the floating flame turning around to stare at the incoming spikes, readying to send them back to the sender.
While the rapid back and forth battle between the porcupine man shooting spikes and Mitsuki sending them back flaming was going on, an ambulance had arrived on scene to assist the victim, reassuring the on-lookers that heroes were on their way.
You dodged a certain spike that had managed to get past Mitsuki, which Mitsuki sent a brief apologetic look for, but they couldn't stare much longer because it was like the longer this went on, the more spikes the guy would shoot.
"ARGHHHHHHHHHH! JUST DIE!" He shouted angrily as his chest hurt from the overexertion of his quirk, producing too many of the needles too rapidly. He ignored this fact and began to quickly shoot them off, faster and faster, resilient in trying to get this person he deemed a 'nobody' away from him so he could retreat to safety.
You just remained quiet as you trusted Mitsuki with incinerating as much as it can, spitting back some occasionally when it could but the rate of firing was so rapid, a moment of delay could mean that the spikes could hit you, or worse, the people behind you from the momentum the spikes had.
And with that final shout, in a last ditch effort, the porcupine man had sent out a few dozen at once instead of one at a time rapidly. You scanned each spike with narrowed eyes, the reporter's eyes widening in horror as one was coming directly towards them.
The reporter squeezed their eyes tightly, thinking this was the end for them. They were going to fall victim to a villain attack just because of their occupation. If they lived, they would surely quit.
The reporter hesitantly opened their eyes upon feeling no impact in the slightest, the image in front of them shocking them to the highest degree.
You stood in front of them with the spike gripped in your closed fist, having catching it before it could even touch the bystander. Your arm was extended out to the side with the spike in hand, the large camera still rolling live but the reporter paid it no attention as they chose to instead stare in complete awe at you.
With a small grunt, you tossed it to the side, a faint cut on your hand from just how sharp the quill actually was. A small streak of blood dribbled down your hand, and upon noticing it, you became completely enraged.
The man was fatigued, his last ditch effort ending in failure. He bent over with his hands resting above his knees to regain his breath, rapidly scanning around to look for an escape route, but there was such an influx of people there really was no way out because of the scene he created.
There was in fact already a hero here, but they were working on crowd control, pushing them back for their safety as they assumed you were a hero and could handle it yourself, but needed the civilians out of the way.
"HOW?! THERE'S NO WAY... MY QUILLS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN UNSTOPPABLE!" The man exclaimed as a frightened chill ran up his spine seeing you begin to walk eerily slowly over. Mitsuki burped loudly from the sheer amount of quills it had eaten, the flame shaking as it felt it would burst if they didn't release it all soon.
Step after step, everything went completely silent as you were the focus of everyone's attention on the battle field.
"Fool. You could have lived a bit longer if you hadn't drawn any blood from me." You said as your face scrunched up in displeasure, Mitsuki floating over beside you and holding back the urge to let the accumulated flame burst out.
"W-wait what are you talking about? You're a hero, aren't you? You're not seriously going to--" The man couldn't even finish his sentence as you had willed for Mitsuki to let everything out.
The scene was incredibly gruesome, recordings would have to blur out many scenes in the future.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" His raw and disfigured scream of unrivaled pain echoed throughout the streets, those hearing it alone having their hearts dropped realizing just what was going on.
You weren't stopping, you weren't putting the man under arrest, but you were killing him.
"Cremate and let your ash fly through the Anemo sky."
The sound of blaring sirens and the arrival of a certain hero on the scene would signify the shattered reputation of the young archon, the archon unknowingly in a world that festered on reputation.
They had only the best intentions when putting down the 'beast', and yet no one shared that sentiment of good-will, instead looking on in fear and resisting the urge to throw their stomachs up from the grotesque display.