THE TRIALS: Path Toward Godhood. (warning: MATURE CONTENT) - CH 65

Kuroha looked at the person standing in front of him. This person was encased in a red and gold armor.

Even though the two of them wore red armor, the differences were rather stark. Kuroha armor was a little bulky. Clearly designated for power and intimidation. What more, the helmet, had two little horns on the side, and had an animalistic form, namely, that of a dragon.

The one on the other side though had a more sleek appearance, extremely close to the body.

The design of the armor, with the way it emphasized her curves, showed that the wearer was either a woman or man in a woman armor, which was commonly known by people of culture as Trap. The helmet was golden and gave the impression of facing an emotionless being, as only two bright slits for eyes were on it.

The two of them standing face to face seemed to be a real-life depiction of the beauty and the beast.

But, in Kuroha mind, this girl, if it was one, was no mere beauty. In today’s society, while male chauvinism still existed somewhat, the time where women were really seen as inferior to men was long overdue. After all, quirks didn’t discriminate. Your gender didn’t determine what kind of quirk you’ll get.

As such, he refused to underestimate this person. He carefully asked,

“Who are you?”

A feminine, if somewhat synthetic was answered.

“I am a vigilante. Like you, Crimson Devil. You can call me Ferrum Femina.”

At first, Kuroha was a little embarrassed by being called Crimson Devil. He screamed this name in the heat of the moment but after that, he felt like dying. He really wondered how heroes could spout such embarrassing lines on a daily basis. Then, he felt a shiver go through his spin. He asked as his voice dropped below zero

“Since when? Why did you follow me?”

The drop in temperature made clear that if her answer didn’t satisfy him, he wouldn’t hesitate to go on the offensive. Femina, understanding this, raised her hand in a sign of peace before saying,

“Calm yourself. As I said, I mean no harm. You weren’t my original target. I heard that some villains were acting strangely, and I decided to investigate. I was on the verge of saving your friend when you appeared.”

While this didn’t make him totally lower his wariness, the chill in the air dissipated a little.

Femina patted her metal chest a little as if she was really scared, but Kuroha knew better. His killing intent wasn’t something that anyone could shrug off. At least, apart from the Pro heroes, he knew, even Mirio flinched a little the first time he showed it to him. Though it was more out of surprise than fear.

This girl though, her heartbeat didn’t change at all from start to finish. This didn’t mean that she was strong. Killing intent and resistance to it had nothing to do with physical strength, but this showed that she had nerves of steel, which, given her Vigilante name, was pretty fitting.

“Since I wasn’t your target, why did you follow me?”

“Hum… Interest I guess? I already managed to gather enough intel to foil their plans, the same goes for your bleeding friends over there. Once this discussion ends, I will go give the Intel to the heroes.”

Kuroha tilted his head, this behavior was pretty weird for a vigilante.

“You won’t rush by yourself to stop them?”

“*Snort* You think this is a hero comic? I’m a vigilante, not a kamikaze. Why would I do something as stupid as rushing into the enemy headquarter all alone? This would be begging to be shot to death.”

(Hero comic? Not manga? Hum…),

He found it rather weird for a Japanese to be a fan of comics, but hey, he was a fan of Xianxia. So who was he to judge?

“*Chuckle* Yeah, I am of the same opinion of you. Still, I am pretty surprised. Vigilante generally have an even bigger sense of justice than hero.”

Femina nodded,

“I won’t lie, nothing would please me more than to crush and destroy them. But I’m a realist, the ideal won’t save anyone. Rather than rushing to my death, like your friend over there, I would rather flee and deliver the info to those able to do the job.”

Kuroha also nodded, with Asa power, and with the absence of Hina and Muji, such wounds showed that he most likely engaged the enemies by himself without informing anyone. This kind of behavior generally got people killed pretty fast, but, once again, since he himself generally rushed alone, he couldn’t really comment on Asa’s choice without being hypocritical.

“Now, that you meet me, and showed yourself to me, what next?”

Femina bowed her head in silence before simply raising it.

“To tell the truth, I am rather new here. What’s more, since I am the cautious type, I don’t like operating without support. What do you think? Would you like to team up with me? Look, even our armor matches up a little.”

The Kuroha from a few years ago would have simply answered no and then teleport.

Frankly, with his [BLINK], he operated better alone. He could flee by himself but with a teammate, he would never be able to do so. Let’s be real, how could he ally with someone he literally just met and knew nothing about? Himiko didn’t count. The way they met was too special.

What’s more for all he knew all this Ferrum Femini said might be a lie or, most likely a mix of lie and trust. He couldn’t help but think bitterly.

(Next time I will take a lesson on how to determine if a person is lying through his heartbeat. This isn’t full proof, but this would still help a little.)

The current Kuroha though hesitated. Of course, he wouldn’t accept it, but he shouldn’t be too blunt with her. It was always better to have more friends than foe. Finally, he decided to say the truth, she seemed to be the kind to like that,

“I won’t lie to you. I am unable to really trust you. As such, any answer I give you would be clouded by my prejudice. Why not take the time to get to know each other better?”

While saying this, he slowly walked toward her, before stopping right in front of her. She was about 170cm while kuroha was 179 cm with the difference in height, and the closeness of the two, the contrast was even more evident. Femina had to raise her head to look at him while he looked down on her.

After a tense silence, Kuroha slowly clenched his fist before slowly bringing it in front of him,

“Check?”

Femina nodded, before bumping his fist with her,

“Check.”

After this, she continued,

“I’m happy to form this initial agreement with you. Let’s meet here tomorrow at the same time if you are okay with it;”

Kuroha felt a little guilty, about marking her, but, still, he acted as if nothing happened and nodded. One should always be cautious.

After that, Femina bid him farewell before slowly vanishing in front of him. Since he could hear her heartbeat slowly going away, it was clear that she was going into some sort of stealth mode. An invisibility type quirk? Interesting.

Now, that there was no problem, Kuroha went back to Asa position and waited. The discussion between him and Femina didn’t last that long.

While he was waiting, he began to think of the concept of vigilante in this world.

Nowadays, even though crime is still rampant, this was nothing compared to the earlier time.

After the outbreak of quirks, society was faced with its own ugliness. People acted like animals set free from all binding. Some even began to take themselves as god and saw their fellow humans as trash. After all, back then the situation was totally the opposite of the current one. People with quirks were still a minority.

It was then that the first rays of hope began to appear. They came from all call of life. From the humblest of the humble to the most elite. They stood against evil and gave their lives for justice. They were called… Vigilantes.

They were true heroes. No one knew their identities. They received nothing for their service. They bleed and grieved for the peace of the world. Then, their era ended, without the law about quirk usage and the implementation of the hero system.

Even now, despite the regulation on quirks, vigilante still held a special place in society. They’re more known as illegal heroes.

Officially, their activities were considered to be a crime worthy of prison. But, most of the time, heroes and the police keep an eye closed when they see one. As long as said Vigilante didn’t cause too much problem, no one apart those obsessed with rules would try to catch them.

He looked at the pale face of Asa and sighed. Frankly, rather than being a hero or a vigilante, he would have rather become a bounty hunter. This suited him more and he wouldn’t need to be afraid of being chased or lose his popularity.

*Step* *Step* *Step*

The sounds of hurriedly coming steps sounded in his ears. Soon, he could see Muji with his usual (disgusting) white coat and Hina with her lollipop in her mouth. Behind them, a huge bald man was following. He was a hulking mass of muscles and thick nerves could be seen pulsating under his skin. This guy should have a pretty powerful strength type quirk.

Once they reached him, the two immediately stopped next to him, while the man went close to Asa and began verifying his pulse. He was a little shocked,

“Is he…A healer?”

“Yep”

Muji answered nonchalantly. He knew what should be going through Junketsu mind, and understood his bewilderment.

Kuroha was speechless. He looked at the tanned skin, the tattoo on the arm, the bald head, etc. Nothing made this guy look like a doctor. People really shouldn’t be judged by their cover.

Hina, on the other hand, had no time to pay attention to them and looked anxiously at the man.

“Can you save him?”

The man stayed silent for a while before answering.

“You know how my quirk [SACRIFICE] works? I need to use my own vitality to heal him. If I only use a part I can put him out of danger before you guys go to a hospital associated with the guild. Still, the cost will be high.”

“Money isn’t a problem”, answered Hina with conviction. Muji didn’t speak back, and Kuroha wasn’t part of the team.

The rest went pretty fast. Once the man finished, Asa’s eyes trembled a little before slowly opening,

“ASA!!!*Sob*”

Hina threw herself at him, careful not to touch his wound.

“*Ugh* Seems like I was nearly done in. Muji please, before I pass out, search the pocket of my pants. There’s a USB key on it. Some details of a very sinister plot are on it…. And, Devil? Thank you for saving me. I owe you another one.”

Those words seemed to drain him of his strength, as, after them, he really passed out. Afterward, Muji and Hina also thanked him before going away. You could say that anything that happened next had basically nothing to do with him.

“*Sigh* What a tiring day.”

After that Kuroha teleported back to Himiko’s room. He tilted his head as he looked at the stain on his shirt, but since she told him it was just water he didn’t pursue the question.

The same night, he received rather interesting information. UA will not open tomorrow, as such and until next week, classes were suspended.

What Kuroha didn’t know was how explosive the information of Asa and Femina obtained were. No war starts right off the bat. Wars began as the result of an accumulation of many little events and reasons. This info would be later regarded as one of the first sparks which brought the war that rocked the very foundations of japan itself.

(AN: Thanks you guys for your answer yesterday. It was really insightful.)