Chapter Text
Imperial Year 696
The Red Plains, Border of Marduk and Asterios
Toshinori Yagi spat the blood out of his mouth, gritting his teeth as he glared at the man before him. He groaned, feeling his life drain away from him. His grip on Ragnell was slipping, his arms and legs felt leaden, and every part of him wanted to lay down and die.
“What’s the matter, Yagi?” All for One taunted, dark magic shimmering around his hands. He coalesced the magic into a spike made of darkness, levitated smugly above the battered hero. “I thought Shimura’s chosen would put up more of a fight than this.”
“Shut up, you bastard!” Toshinari snapped, coughing heavily. “You will pay for what you have done!”
“Brave words. A pity that they come from a fool who doesn’t realize he is already dead,” the Immortal King mused, raising the spike of dark magic in his hand. “Goodbye, Yagi.”
He hurled the spike of dark magic at Toshi, impaling him with the malevolent energy. Toshi screamed in agony as pain coursed through his body, and he slumped forward, the edges of his vision fading away.
All-For-One smirked, watching Toshi’s lifeless body stand upright, held up by the spike. “That was easier than I thought it would be. No matter.”
The Immortal King turned to face the armies of Marduk and Asterios, raising his hands. His voice boomed across the Red Plains, stopping every soldier in their tracks. “Soldiers of Asterios! Hear me, and know that Toshinori Yagi is dead!”
The Asterian soldiers gasped, talking amongst themselves in disbelief. Some immediately launched into denial, calling the Marduk king a liar and a coward.
“You do not believe me? Then look for yourself,” All-For-One chided, turning around to show the people of Asterios their champion was dead. How destroyed they would be once they knew their fearless leader was dead.
His smug expression was wiped from his face as Ragnell pierced through the back of his skull. All-For-One didn’t have time to scream before his body fell limp on the blade. Toshi pulled the holy sword out of the tyrant’s corpse and let it unceremoniously fall to the ground.
“Never turn your back on an enemy unless you’re sure they’re dead,” Toshi spat, feeling the dark spike fade from his body. As he looked out onto the battlefield, he noticed that the Marduk forces were in full retreat. He took a step forward and fell to the ground, exhausted.
His time on the earth was coming to an end. As the life began to drain from his eyes, he watched as three dark mages warped around their fallen leader. They collected his body, and Toshi could only watch as they warped away, leaving him to die on the bloody earth.
He closed his eyes, and let death take him.
500 Years Later
The Library of Musutafu, located in the Kingdom of Asterios
“That’s it?” Izuku Midoriya asked aloud, turned the page on the history book he was reading. A scowl formed on his face, painting a clear illustration of frustration on the young man. “There has to be more! What had happened to All-For-One’s forces? What had happened to Yagi’s body? Why is there no further mention of Ragnell anywhere?!"
The short green-haired and green-eyed freckled youth had so many questions, and yet none of the tomes offered any answers. Despite having the largest library in the country, Musutafu’s books did not contain the history he so desperately wanted to know.
“There has to be some record of the aftermath of the Battle of Red Plains,” Izuku muttered under his breath. Quickly, he scanned the bookshelves for any more history books, finding The Complete History of Ladroth From Imperial Years 500 to 1,000. He hurriedly open the tome, coughing as its yellowed pages emitted clouds of dust. Carefully, he turned to the pages concerning the Battle of Red Plains, only finding the same information, much to his frustration. For a moment, Izuku wondered if his search had all been for naught, when he noticed a short passage that had not been present in any of the other tomes.
“‘In the hours following the death of All-Might, his body was taken to the holy city of Nabu. There he was entombed at the temple of Shimura alongside the holy sword Ragnell. However, there were accounts that Yagi survived the battle against All-For-One, but at a cost. What this cost was is unknown.’”
The passage ended there, leaving Izuku with a muddled brain. “All-Might lived? But how? No one could’ve survived a point-blank Dark Spikes T! I’ll have to do more research.”
He looked up towards the window, noticing the afternoon sun streaming through. His eyes shot open in panic, and he hurried out of his seat, shoving books and parchments as well as his own personal journal into a bag.
Izuku burst out of the library as quickly and quietly as he could. He scanned the busy street, eyes scanning for any sign of danger. Finding none, he sighed in relief. So far so good. Izuku turned towards the direction of his home and immediately bumped into someone.
“Sorry--” he mumbled, looking up and freezing when he recognized the tattoos on the man’s bare arms. His eyes traveled further up the man’s back to the red eyes glaring at him over the man’s shoulders, accompanied by spikey blond hair.
Izuku shuddered under the gaze of his childhood tormentor, Katsuki Bakugo, feeling every bit like a cornered prey animal. Every instinct of his screamed at him to run, and yet, he found himself frozen under the blonde’s blood-red glare.
Fortunately for him, Katsuki seemed to be in a good mood. He ignored Izuku and continued chatting with his fellow soldiers. Quietly, Izuku thanked whatever deity had saved him and hurried through the busy city square. While Musutafu wasn’t the biggest city in Asterios, it was still large enough to be a major trading power, bringing metals and wood south from the Charnel Empire, and furs from the laguz nations to the west.
Laguz hailed from the northwest of Ladroth. They possessed the ability to shift into animal forms, which granted them great power. In their human forms, they retained some of their animal characteristics, such as ears, tails, wings, and superior senses. Their differences from the beorc, or the laguz word for normal humans, made the beorc fear them, and ultimately launched Ladroth into a war that ravaged the land for ten years.
Eventually, the fighting once Queen Koko of Asterios and the Emperor of Charnel both signed a law emancipating all laguz slaves on the continent of Ladroth in the year 1096. Peace talks began, and eventually, laguz slowly ventured into beorc nations, trading and building relations between the two races. The last century had seen more and more laguz merchants offering their wares at market, making the shifters a common sight in the city.
Izuku made his way through the square, cutting through the temple grounds. He passed the temple of the Goddess Shimura, and then he stopped.
He looked to his right down an alleyway. It was overgrown and out of place in the normally well-kept temple grounds, which made him wonder why it was here. Curiosity got the better of the young man, and he ventured down the path.
The plant life increased the further back Izuku walked. Eventually, it grew thick enough to impend his progress, but he pressed on. He was too far into this journey to turn back now, and he kept going. The growth eventually gave way, and Izuku found himself in a small courtyard.
It looked like no one had been there for a very long time. The shrine was overgrown and covered with moss, with a hole in the roof. Most of the sacred charms were gone. Those that did remain had become illegible due to weather exposure. In the center of the shrine was an altar, presumably for the deity the shrine was built.
Izuku approached the altar, carefully clearing away the moss. He peered at it, barely making out letters. Strangely enough, the text appeared to be an archaic form of the common tongue. Thankfully years of reading and research offered a bit of insight.
“‘Nemuri,’ uhh… ‘Goddess of’... man this word is tricky. ‘Affection?’ No…, ‘Trust?’ No, ummm, ‘Love?’” Izuku paused, considering the translation. “Yeah, that seems right. ‘Nemuri, Goddess of Love.’ Well it’s nice to meet you, Nemuri. I’m Izuku Midoriya.”
He looked up at the setting afternoon sun and realized it was getting late. “Well, I can’t stay long. But I’ll be back tomorrow to clean this place.”
Izuku turned away, briefly wondering why he had talked to an empty altar. He shrugged, considering that maybe this goddess was as lonely as he was, and maybe they just needed a friend. Izuku looked over his shoulder at the shrine one last time, then headed back through the underbrush, leaving the shrine to its lonesome.
A few minutes after he left, a silhouette of a woman manifested before the shrine, looking in the direction Izuku left. Her hair was as dark as the midnight sky, with blue eyes that sparkled like diamonds rimmed with a pair of glasses, and ruby red lips. Her skin was pale, and she wore a tattered black dress that had better days. It hugged her figure, showing off her curves. She smiled softly, raising a hand to her chin in quiet consideration.
“Oh my~. Such a handsome young man, and considerate too~,” she purred, sighing contently. “I’ll have to keep my eye on you, Izuku Midoriya~.”
“You have your lunch, right?” Inko Midoriya asked in her usual worried mother tone. She fawned over Izuku, making sure he was all packed and ready to go. “And you have all your books and everything, yes?”
“Yes, Mom,” Izuku answered patiently, wisely understanding that no matter what age he was, his mother would worry for him.
“And if you need anything like healing elixirs, don’t be afraid to visit the apothecary!” Inko added, handing Izuku his water canteen. “And don’t forget--”
“I think he’s got it, Inko,” another woman nearby interrupted. She resembled Katsuki Bakugo, but she was taller than the angry dandelion brigand. Her arms were decorated with the same tribal tattoos her son bore, and she carried the same air of confidence that he did. “Just take care of yourself, okay pipsqueak? We don’t want you getting hurt.”
“I will, Mitsuki,” Izuku promised. His mother sniffed, wrapping her only son tightly into a hug. He sank into her embrace, breathing in her comforting scent silently. The scent let him know that he was safe. That he was home.
Inko hesitantly let go of him, kissing him on the forehead one last time before letting him go off into the world. As Izuku opened the door to the house, she waved goodbye, calling after him, “Make sure to be home before dark!”
“I will Mom!” Izuku called back. “I love you!”
“I love you too!”
Izuku walked down the street, making his way back to the temple grounds. It wasn’t far from his home and he could make good time there and back. He came to the overgrown path and turned down it, pushing past the stubborn foliage and stepping out into the clearing on the other side.
He observed the shrine for a moment. It still was overgrown with moss and part of the roof was collapsed, and the masonry had definitely seen better days. Still, for some odd reason, he felt obliged to fix it. And so he pulled out one of his journals and began sketching.
Books on a multitude of topics offered a beginner’s insight into architecture and woodworking, but Izuku knew next to nothing about the actual trade. He continued sketching, spending most of the morning creating a drawing of what he thought the original shrine would’ve looked like, along with notes on how to repair it.
“I’ll have to visit the masons for advice. This kind of architecture looks old, almost as old as Lady Shimura’s temple. Maybe someone knows something about this place. But if someone knew about it, then why would this place still be covered with growth? It doesn’t matter. I’m not sure how I’ll be able to get all these materials, maybe if I do a brief apprenticeship the masons will give me the stone, but that still doesn’t cover the roof. Not to mention that I’m not sure if this is even accurate to the original design, or if it’s good enough for Nemuri--”
“It looks perfect, Midoriya.”
Izuku let out a noise that was not human and jumped higher than he was tall, dropping his journal to the ground and fleeing to the other side of the clearing. Standing next to him was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and he watched as she picked up his pencil and journal from the ground, gazing at his drawing. “I actually like the additions you’ve made to the architecture. Makes my shrine a bit less bland.”
“Y-Your shrine? D-Does that mean y-you’re Lady Nemuri?”
“No, I’m some other goddess that happened to materialize at the one shrine you’re planning,” Nemuri replied sarcastically. “Yes, I am the goddess Nemuri. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Izuku Midoriya.”
“Y-You know my name?”
“Yes, Izuku,” she replied smugly. “Pardon the state of my clothing. I haven’t had any worshippers for about six centuries, and it shows.”
“Y-You still l-look beautiful, Goddess,” Izuku stammered honestly. He immediately slapped his hand over his mouth, color rushing to his face as he realized what he had just said.
Nemuri grinned. “Why thank you, Izuku. Now, can I ask you something?”
“Sure?”
“What brought you to my shrine?”
“Uh,” Izuku paused, considering his answer. “I was walking home, and while I was passing Shimura’s temple I saw the entrance to this place. Honestly, I think I just got curious.”
“Curiosity led you to my shrine?” Nemuri remarked, an eyebrow raised. She squinted suspiciously at Izuku, making him sweat nervously. After a few seconds, she leaned back and shrugged, swishing her hair back behind her. “Well, I detect no falsehood from you, nor an ulterior motive.”
“Tell me, have you applied for the local army?” she asked suddenly.
“Yes, b-but I wasn’t accepted.”
“Something to do with your Brand, yes?” Nemuri inquired. Izuku flinched, his hand instinctively drifting to his lower back, where the Brand proving he had a laguz ancestor. Nemuri noticed this and nodded in confirmation. “I see. While I do not excuse the choices of the recruiters, I can understand why they made that decision, considering most Branded never make it past their childhood years.”
The Goddess paused for a moment, leaving Izuku to wonder what she was thinking. Maybe he had displeased her somehow and now a bolt of lightning would drop from the sky to end his existence. Izuku silently began saying his goodbyes to his mother, one of the only people who had cared about him.
“Izuku, I’ve come to a decision.”
Nemuri’s Judgement was near. Hopefully, his death would be quick and painless.
“In light of your selfless deeds made towards the repair of my shrine, I’d like to make you my knight.”
Wait, what?
“M-Me?”
“Yes, Izuku,” Nemuri confirmed. Izuku knelt to accept the honor, but Nemuri quickly stopped. “Hang on, I’m not giving you the knighthood that easily.”
Izuku cocked his head in confusion. “I’m afraid I don’t follow, Lady Nemuri.”
“Well, first off, you need a bit more… muscle than that. You won’t be able to move in armor or swing a sword effectively in your current state. Secondly, you still have to repair my shrine to my satisfaction. Thirdly, the shrine and the area around it needs to be cleaned. In addition to those tasks, you are the only person permitted to clean and repair my shrine. As for the final task…, I’ll keep that to myself for now,” she mused with a small smile. “Do you agree to these terms, Izuku Midoriya?”
Izuku nodded with determination blazing brightly in his eyes. “Yes, Lady Nemuri.”
“Good. Now, I imagine that you will gain the musculature necessary to wear armor and wield a claymore by moving stone and other materials. Do not worry about learning swordsmanship now, Izuku. I will take care of that when the time comes. For now, I believe the first task will be to clean my shrine. You can start as soon as you would like. There is no rush, so take your time. I’d rather have my temple sparkling clean in a year than half-assed in a month. Do you have any questions?”
“Yes, my lady. Am I allowed to take lessons from the stonemasons so that I may carve your likeness correctly?” Izuku asked, already fully committed to the momentous task before him.
“Of course, my dear. As long as no one is physically helping you with any of the materials, it’s fair game.”
“Thank you. I shall begin at once!”
Izuku bowed politely, then got to work. It was difficult to uproot the weeds and other plants from the stones of the old courtyard. He realized he had been underprepared, and therefore he worked rather inefficiently throughout the day. As the sun began to set, Izuku rose from the ground with his hands and knees covered with dirt.
“I’ll be back tomorrow, Lady Nemuri,” he promised, bowing one last time to his newfound goddess.
“I’ll be waiting,” she replied, giving Izuku a seductive flutter of her eyes as he retreated down the path to the grounds of Shimura’s temple.
“Oh, you’re something special, Izuku. I’ll have a lot of fun with you~.”
The following day, Izuku returned with proper gardening tools and became the scourge of the weeds that populated the grounds of Nemuri’s shrine. The moss that watched on the pillars of the shrine shuddered, knowing that they were next.
Izuku spent the next week cleaning every last cobblestone in the courtyard until they sparkled like diamonds. Sure, his knuckles might’ve seen better days, but that was beside the point. He then turned his sight to the shrine and scrubbed off any and all moss he could. By the end of it, he had rubbed his hands raw in several places and become acquainted with a few of the clerics at Shimura’s temple.
Once the grounds were completely clean and free of weeds and any other unwanted plant life, Izuku turned to the markets to find a stonemason that would teach him the craft. Surprisingly, there were a handful of masons who were willing to teach him. It took months for Izuku to learn how to mason decently, even at his rapid learning pace. Of course, they made him exercise until he had enough strength to move the stone with minimal assistance.
Izuku began sculpting in the late summer. His first sculpture of Nemuri’s likeness had been misshapen and ugly, he threw it away. The next sculpture had been cracked in half as well, he threw that away too. Izuku went through a dozen statues before one of the masons stopped him.
“The bloody statue is perfect, laddie! You’re wasting stone at this point!”
Izuku stopped mid-chiseling and realized that he had, in fact, been wasting resources. He humbly apologized to the masons and began the long journey back to Nemuri’s shrine. It took him the rest of the day and most of the night, even with a cart. That night he hauled the statue out of the cart and barely managed to get it into the shrine.
He adjusted the statue to his liking, panting heavily. With his entire body feeling leaden and heavy, Izuku slowly made his way back home, not noticing Nemuri observing her likeness. She cocked her head, adjusting her glasses ever so slightly.
“Stars above. He even remembered to put in my beauty mark!”
Autumn winds came from the north of Ladroth and with them the harvest. Izuku built up his muscles by hauling grain from the fields outside Musutafu into the city, and he was paid a decent amount of gold for it. With the profits from the wheat, he walked into the market searching for wood.
Unfortunately, none of the merchants would give him a fair price for the wood until he stumbled across a redheaded woman with her hair in a ponytail who called herself Anna. Unlike the other merchants, Anna actually gave him a chance.
“Here at Anna’s General Wares, we value our customers. Now you said you were looking for wood, yes?”
“That’s right,” Izuku confirmed. “I need enough for a small roof.”
“Small roof, huh? Well, I just have the thing for you!” Anna cheered, bringing him over to the back of her shop. “This here is would straight from the forests of Charnel! It’s strong and won’t need to be replaced for half a century!”
“I see. How much will it cost me?”
“Five hundred gold per log--”
The backdoor of the store blew open, and a girl with pink, octopus-like hair flew out. She slid across the floor and crashed into a display of magic tomes. The books cascaded on top of her, burying her in a pile of magic literature.
Anna gave Izuku a practiced mask of positivity. “Excuse me for one moment.”
She stormed over to the pile of books and rummaged through it, pulling the girl out by her collarbone and dragging her to the backroom. “Mei, how many times have I told you not to mess with your magic while I’m working?!”
“I almost got it to work this time!” Mei exclaimed, completely ignoring Anna’s scolding. “I just need to figure out how to stabilize the containment field--”
“Well, maybe you can figure that out while you’re busy cleaning the stable!” Anna yelled, throwing her out the back door. “You’re not coming back in until those stalls are sparkling, you hear me?!”
She slammed the door shut. Anna took a moment to compose herself and returned back to Izuku. “Sorry about that. For your troubles, I’ll offer a forty percent discount. Three hundred gold per log!”
“Deal,” Izuku confirmed.
Winter meant snow. Snow meant being stuck at home. Being stuck at home meant not working on Nemuri’s shrine. Which left a very frustrated Izuku drawing Nemuri’s likeness, pacing in his room, chatting with his mother about different topics ranging anywhere from the weather or the latest news from the royal family.
Izuku had also taken to working out as often as he could. Due to the constant snowstorms in the winter, he had plenty of time to do push-ups, curl-ups, squats, pull-ups, and any other exercise known to him. Mitsuki had given him plenty of pointers on how to maintain his musculature, and Izuku had taken them in stride, gaining a body that rivaled that of most of the soldiers in the Asterian Army.
However, it was not without a cost. Izuku eventually spent every waking moment of every waking hour exercising. At breakfast he pumped iron. Mid-morning he could be seen doing squats as he watched the snow melt outside. At lunch he did curl-ups while eating Inko’s katsudon, midafternoon he was doing one-handed push-ups while finishing up a sketch. Once he reached his one-hundredth push-up, Izuku stood up and immediately collapsed, blacking out.
When he came to, he found himself laying on some very comfortable pillows. He groaned not really aware of his surroundings until he realized he was still in his room. “Wha…?”
“Good evening, Izuku.”
Izuku looked up, too tired to be surprised. “Lady Nemuri…?”
“Hello, my little knight. You’ve really tuckered yourself out. Your mother was so worried about you, she nearly worked herself up into a nervous fit.”
His only response was to groan sleepily. Nemuri chuckled and ran her hand through his hair, the feeling soothing. “You must be so exhausted. Working so hard to rebuild my shrine… it fills me with such joy knowing I have such a devoted follower. But you mustn’t work yourself to the point of collapse like you have been.”
“But… I need to finish your shrine,” Izuku mumbled, still half-asleep.
“And you will, come spring, Izuku,” Nemuri promised. “But for now, you must rest. Allow your body to heal and restore itself after months of your hard work.”
“All… alright…” Izuku promised, closing his eyes again.
“Sleep well, my little knight, and may you enjoy pleasant dreams,” Nemuri cooed, humming a lullaby as Izuku drifted off to sleep, dreaming of the moon in the midnight sky.
After what felt like an eternity, spring finally came. Warm weather and the sun’s rays washed away the snow, clearing the obstructions keeping Izuku from his duty. The second he was able to, Izuku burst from his home and dashed to the shrine with supplies in hand. He sawed and planed wood, painstakingly working on the ornate structure of the roof until the sunset.
He came back as the sun rose, adding the finishing touches to the shrine. A bit of polish here, some extra carving there, and before he knew it, all that was left was to clean the altar for the last time. He did so slowly, taking a moment to appreciate the craftsmanship that had gone into the altar as he cleaned it thoroughly.
Finally, it was finished. He had done it. Izuku took a step back and admired his handiwork before tilting his head back and screaming his victory to the heavens, scaring a few birds away in the process.
“Well done, Izuku.”
He turned around to see Nemuri with a proud smile on her face. He tilted his head, noticing that her dress was no longer tattered, and she seemed healthier. “Thank you, Lady Nemuri. I must say that you’re looking beautiful today.”
“I’m glad you noticed,” Nemuri chuckled, the sound sending shivers down Izuku’s spine. “It’s all thanks to you, after all.”
Izuku blushed and looked away. “I-It was n-nothing. A-Anyone would’ve d-done the same!”
“Nonsense. You have done well, Izuku. Take some pride in your achievements.”
“I-I will try, my lady.”
“Good. Now, before I grant you a title, I have one last trial for you,” Nemuri explained. “Are you ready?”
“Yes, Lady Nemuri!” Izuku said with confidence.
Nemuri smirked. “Alright then. My final trial is a simple task. All you have to do is…”
She grabbed the hem of her dress and pulled it up to her waist, revealing her moist, pink slit.
“Eat this~.”
“EH?!!!”