What if deku was in konosuba with the powers of knack

 

 

The air tasted of ash, ozone, and copper.

 

Izuku Midoriya could barely open his left eye; the right was swollen shut, crusted with blood and dust. His breathing came in ragged, shallow gasps that burned his throat. All around him, the city block was a jagged landscape of shattered concrete, twisted rebar, and overturned vehicles burning with a sickly green fire.

 

He couldn't even remember the villain's name. It was some monstrous amalgamation of a man driven mad by a Quirk-enhancing drug, a towering behemoth of kinetic energy and razor-sharp crystalline plating. Pro Heroes were down everywhere. Mt. Lady was unconscious three blocks away. Kamui Woods was trapped under a collapsed overpass. Bakugo was… Izuku didn't know where Katsuki was.

 

All he knew was that directly in the path of the villain's charging, earth-shattering stomp was a little girl. She couldn't have been older than Eri, clutching a torn teddy bear, frozen in the kind of pure, paralyzing terror that completely hollows out a person's soul.

 

The villain roared, raising a crystalline fist the size of a city bus, glowing with unstable kinetic energy. The strike was coming down.

 

Izuku didn't think. If he thought about his shattered right arm, his fractured ribs, or the agonizing tear in his left calf, he wouldn't have been able to move. But his body moved before his brain could process the pain. It was the fundamental instinct of a hero.

 

One For All: Full Cowling - 100%.

 

The world washed in a blinding, crackling green light. Red lines crisscrossed his skin, burning like molten iron. He felt the air explode behind him as he shattered the sound barrier, launching himself directly between the falling fist and the little girl.

 

He couldn't punch it away. He didn't have the leverage, and the shockwave alone would liquefy the child behind him. He had to take it. He had to absorb it.

 

He crossed his arms over his chest, planted his feet, and looked back over his shoulder at the weeping girl. He forced the corners of his mouth up, cracking his bruised lips, and gave her the brightest, most reassuring smile he could muster.

 

"It's going to be okay," Izuku whispered, his voice steady despite the roaring wind. "Because I am here."

 

Then, the world turned white.

 

There was no pain at the very end. Just a deafening roar that faded into a high-pitched ring, and then, absolute silence. The sensation of weightlessness washed over him, completely alien after a lifetime of bearing the weight of the world, of his mentor's legacy, of the expectations of the number one hero.

 

He was floating.

 

Am I… in the hospital? he wondered, his consciousness slowly knitting itself back together. Recovery Girl is going to be so mad at me. Aizawa-sensei is probably preparing my expulsion papers right now.

 

He tried to open his eyes. Strangely, his eyelids didn't feel heavy. In fact, he couldn't feel his eyelids at all.

 

When his vision cleared, he wasn't staring at the sterile white ceiling of a hospital room. He was sitting in a perfectly crafted, ornate wooden chair, upholstered in plush blue velvet. The room around him was unlike anything he had ever seen. It was vast, seemingly endless, bathed in a soft, ethereal golden light that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at once. The floor resembled polished marble, reflecting the golden hues, and fluffy, cloud-like wisps drifted lazily near the ceiling.

 

Sitting directly across from him at a small, elegant white table was a girl.

 

She was breathtakingly beautiful, with silver hair that cascaded down her back with a soft, lilac tint. She wore an elegant, flowing dress that looked like it was spun from moonlight and starlight, adorned with celestial motifs. A divine, gentle aura radiated from her, so palpable that it made the chaotic storm of Izuku's mind quiet down for a fraction of a second.

 

"Welcome, Izuku Midoriya," the girl said. Her voice was like wind chimes in a gentle breeze—soft, melodic, and infinitely kind.

 

Izuku blinked. He looked down at his hands. They weren't scarred. They weren't crooked. They were perfectly smooth, translucent, glowing with a faint, ghostly white outline.

 

The realization hit him like a bullet train.

 

"I'm… dead, aren't I?" Izuku whispered.

 

The silver-haired girl gave a solemn, empathetic nod. "Yes. You are in the afterlife. I am Eris, a Goddess who guides souls who have passed away young."

 

Panic, pure and unadulterated, seized Izuku's chest—or where his chest used to be. "The little girl! The villain! What happened to the city? My mom! Oh god, my mom, she's all alone, I promised her I'd be careful, I promised her—!"

 

"Peace, Izuku," Eris said softly, raising a delicate hand. "The little girl survived without a scratch. Your sacrifice absorbed the entirety of the kinetic blast. In the moments following, your classmates, spurred by your bravery, rallied and subdued the villain. The city is safe."

 

Izuku stopped hyperventilating. The translucent glow around him settled. He slumped back in the chair, a profound, heavy sorrow washing over him. "I saved her. But… I'm gone. My mom… All Might… Uraraka, Iida, Todoroki… I'll never see them again."

 

Tears—or something akin to them—welled in his ghostly eyes. He buried his face in his hands and wept. He wept for his shattered dreams, for the mother he left behind, for the mentor whose power he could no longer carry. Eris did not interrupt. She simply sat there, radiating a gentle warmth, allowing the young hero to grieve.

 

After what felt like hours, Izuku wiped his face and took a deep, shuddering breath. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be crying. A hero accepts the consequences of his actions."

 

Eris smiled, a genuinely warm expression. "You have nothing to apologize for, Izuku. Your soul is one of the brightest I have ever seen. You lived a life of complete selflessness. Because of your extraordinary bravery, I am here to offer you a choice."

 

Izuku looked up, his large green eyes (though currently ghostly white) wide with curiosity. "A choice?"

 

"Normally, a soul from your world would be cleansed of its memories and reincarnated into a new life, a new baby, to start fresh," Eris explained, pouring a cup of tea from a porcelain pot that hadn't been there a moment ago and sliding it toward him. "Alternatively, you could choose to pass on to Heaven. However, Heaven is… rather boring. You don't have a physical body, you can't eat, you can't feel the wind, and you mostly just bask in eternal peace."

 

"That does sound a bit… stagnant," Izuku admitted, his analytical mind beginning to reboot.

 

"Indeed. But there is a third option," Eris said, leaning forward, her expression turning serious. "There is another world. A world of swords and magic, of elves and monsters. It is a world terrorized by a being known as the Demon King. The people of this world live in constant fear, their towns burned, their families torn apart. Because of this, fewer souls wish to be reincarnated there, and the population is dwindling. The world is dying."

 

Izuku's ghostly hands clenched into fists upon the table. A world in danger? People crying out for help?

 

"I can send you there," Eris continued. "You would retain your memories, your personality, and your knowledge. You would be tasked with a grand quest: to defeat the Demon King and bring peace to that world."

 

"I'll do it," Izuku said instantly.

 

Eris blinked, startled. "Oh. You… you don't want to hear the rest of the pitch? Most people need a bit more convincing. It's very dangerous."

 

"If there are people in danger, and I have the power to help them, then it's my duty to go," Izuku said, his voice ringing with a conviction that seemed to make the golden realm shine a little brighter. "I don't need a reward. I just want to save them. But…" He looked down at his ghostly hands. "My Quirk. One For All. I don't feel it anymore."

 

"Ah. Yes. That brings us to the… complication," Eris said, wincing slightly. She rubbed the back of her neck, looking remarkably human and sheepish for a divine being. "You see, Izuku, normally, when I reincarnate someone into this fantasy world, I allow them to take one cheat item or power with them. A holy sword, immense magical talent, god-like strength. However, your situation is uniquely problematic."

 

Izuku tilted his head. "Problematic how?"

 

"When you intercepted that villain's kinetic blast…" Eris waved her hand, creating a small, magical projection in the air showing the explosion. "You didn't just die. The sheer force of the energy, combined with the 100% output of your… Quirk, completely atomized your physical body. There wasn't a single cell left intact."

 

Izuku grimaced. "That… explains why it didn't hurt at the end, I guess."

 

"Exactly. But reincarnation usually requires a template of the original soul's biological blueprint to reconstruct a physical form in the new world. I have your soul, but I don't have your blueprint. I cannot make you a human body of flesh and blood."

 

Izuku stared at her. "Then… how can I go? Will I be a ghost?"

 

"No, a ghost wouldn't be able to interact with the world effectively," Eris said. She reached beneath the table and pulled out an object, placing it gently between them.

 

It was a sphere, roughly the size of a grapefruit. It was incredibly intricate, made of overlapping, interlocking rings of dark, ancient-looking metal—brass, bronze, and something that looked like tarnished silver. At the very center of the rings floated a glowing, pulsating orb of bright, warm, yellow energy. It hummed with a quiet, rhythmic vibration, like a mechanical heartbeat.

 

"This," Eris proclaimed, "is an Ancient Relic Core. It is a magical artifact from an era long forgotten in the world you are going to. I am going to bind your soul to this Core."

 

"Bind my soul to a machine?" Izuku asked, his eyes wide. His hand flew to his chin, and despite being a ghost, the habit remained. He began to mutter at lightning speed. "If my soul is bound to an inorganic construct, does that mean I won't need to breathe? What about sensory input? Sight, hearing, touch? Does the core possess auditory receptors? If I'm just a core, how will I fight a Demon King? Can it shoot lasers? Is it like a support item? Hatsume would probably love to dissect this—"

 

"Izuku, please, breathe! Well, you can't breathe, but calm down!" Eris said, laughing nervously. "You won't just be a ball of metal! The Relic Core has a unique, ancient magic. It possesses the power of localized, conceptual magnetism."

 

She tapped the sphere. "The Core attracts and binds loose matter to itself to create a physical body. Specifically, it binds 'Relics'—remnants of ancient technology, carved stones, and specific elemental materials. Once your soul is inside, you can magnetically pull these materials to you, shaping them into arms, legs, a torso, and a head. You will essentially build your own body."

 

Izuku stopped muttering. He stared at the Core, his analytical mind firing on all cylinders. "So… I'd be like a golem?"

 

"In a way, but far more advanced," Eris explained, clearly excited to explain her workaround. "Your base form will be quite small, just the Core and a few foundational stones. But the more material you absorb, the larger and stronger you become. You could be three feet tall, or thirty feet tall, depending on how much material is around you!"

 

"That's… incredible," Izuku whispered. "It's like a combination of a gigantification Quirk and an assimilation Quirk! But what about damage? If I get hit by a sword, will I bleed?"

 

"No blood," Eris confirmed. "If you take damage, the impact will sever the magnetic connection to some of your outer materials. You will literally 'drop' pieces of yourself. The more damage you take, the smaller you get, until only the Core is left. If the Core is destroyed… well, that is true death."

 

Izuku nodded slowly. It was a fascinating trade-off. He wouldn't have the flesh-tearing, bone-breaking recoil of One For All anymore. He would be modular. He could rebuild himself as long as there were materials.

 

"There is one more thing," Eris said, her tone softening. "To use your ultimate attacks—to release the kind of devastating power you used in your old world—you will need energy. The Core runs on ambient magic, but to perform a 'Smash', as you call them, you will need to absorb concentrated magical crystals called Sunstones. They are scattered throughout the world, hidden in dungeons and ancient ruins. Absorb a Sunstone, and your Core will supercharge, allowing you to unleash massive shockwaves or elemental tornadoes."

 

Izuku stood up from the ghostly chair. He looked at the glowing Relic Core, then at Eris. The sadness of his death was still there, a heavy weight in his heart, but a new spark had ignited. A new world needed saving. And he was given the tools to do it.

 

"I accept the terms, Eris-sama," Izuku said, bowing deeply. "I will go to this world. I will stop the Demon King. I will be a hero again."

 

Eris smiled, a radiant, blinding expression of divine approval. "I knew I chose well. Your new body will take some getting used to, Izuku Midoriya. You will arrive in the beginner town of Axel. Find allies. Grow stronger. And please… try not to blow yourself up on the first day."

 

She raised her hands, and the golden realm began to swirl and dissolve around them. The Relic Core on the table floated into the air, its yellow center pulsing faster and faster, matching the phantom heartbeat in Izuku's chest.

 

"May the blessings of the Goddess be with you," Eris's voice echoed as the light consumed everything. "Good luck, Hero."

 

Izuku felt a sudden, intense rushing sensation, like he was falling down a bottomless well. The wind roared in his ears, gravity reasserted its brutal dominance, and then—

 

CLACK-CLATTER-CLUNK.

 

Izuku hit the ground. It wasn't a soft landing. He felt himself bounce, something hard and metallic striking against solid stone, before rolling to a stop in a chaotic jumble of noise.

 

"Oww…" Izuku groaned.

 

Wait. He didn't have vocal cords. How did he groan?

 

He opened his eyes. The perspective was completely wrong. He was staring at the side of a wooden barrel, and it looked massive. The stone cobblestones beneath him looked like boulders. He was incredibly low to the ground.

 

He tried to sit up, and the sound of grinding stone and clinking metal filled the air. He looked down at his hands, and a sharp gasp escaped his nonexistent lungs.

 

He didn't have hands. He had a collection of smooth, geometric stones—mostly grey cobblestone with strange, glowing golden runes etched into them—floating in the vague shape of a hand. There was no flesh, no bone, no joints connecting the fingers. The stones merely hovered near each other, held together by an invisible magnetic force.

 

He looked at his body. His torso was a small cluster of metallic rings and ancient, oxidized bronze plating, housing a brightly glowing yellow core in the center. His legs were made of stacked, angular stones.

 

He stood up, wobbling slightly as he adjusted to the strange center of gravity. He felt incredibly light, yet remarkably sturdy. He walked over to a small puddle in the cobblestone alleyway and peered into it.

 

Staring back at him was a creature that looked like a magical toy. He was barely two feet tall. His head was a large, smooth stone helmet shaped vaguely like his old hero mask, with two prominent, ear-like metallic protrusions pointing backward. His eyes were not human eyes, but rather two hollowed-out slits in the stone where glowing, expressive yellow light shone through.

 

"I'm… I'm tiny," Izuku squeaked. His voice sounded like his own, but layered with a faint, metallic reverberation, like he was speaking through a high-end synthesizer. "I'm a tiny rock mascot."

 

Panic began to bubble up. "Okay, don't panic. Eris-sama said this was just the base form. She said I can absorb things to get bigger. Okay. Focus. Be rational. Analyze the situation."

 

He paced back and forth in the alleyway, the stones of his feet clacking rhythmically against the ground. The alley was situated between two medieval-looking buildings made of plaster and timber. Smells of roasting meat, stale ale, and horse manure drifted through the air. This was definitely a fantasy world.

 

He looked around for materials. The alley was littered with junk. There was a pile of broken, mossy bricks from a crumbled wall, several rusted iron barrel hoops, a discarded pile of chainmail links, and chunks of loose cobblestone.

 

"Alright," Izuku muttered, settling into a wide stance. "How do I do this? Conceptual magnetism. I have to pull them to the Core."

 

He closed his eyes—or rather, dimmed his optical lights—and focused on the humming yellow orb in his chest. He imagined a gravitational pull, a magnetic field extending outward from his soul, targeting the broken bricks and rusty iron.

 

Suddenly, the Core flared with a brilliant yellow light.

 

Izuku felt a strange, exhilarating rush of energy. The pile of junk in the alley began to rattle. Then, defying gravity, the bricks, iron hoops, and cobblestones floated into the air. They swirled around Izuku like a miniature tornado.

 

As they touched the invisible magnetic field of his body, the materials magically reshaped themselves. The bricks smoothed out into geometric armor plating; the iron hoops snapped into structural joints; the chainmail links wove themselves into flexible mesh between the larger stones.

 

CLACK-CLACK-SNAP-BOOM!

 

The materials slammed onto his base form, expanding him outward and upward in a matter of seconds.

 

Izuku opened his eyes. He was no longer looking at the bottom of the barrel. He was looking over it. He held up his hands. They were now massive, blocky gauntlets made of sturdy red brick and reinforced with rusted iron bands. His arms were thick columns of stone. He looked down at his torso; the Core was now deeply protected beneath layers of heavy cobblestone and chainmail.

 

He walked over to a nearby window of a dark building and checked his reflection.

 

He was roughly five foot five—his original human height. But he looked like a formidable, abstract golem. The chaotic mix of red brick, grey stone, and rusted iron gave him a rugged, battle-worn appearance. He had instinctively shaped the stones on his head to mimic his old hero costume even closer, with an iron grate acting as a mouthpiece guard. He looked strong. He looked ready.

 

He threw a practice punch into the air. The speed was incredible. As his arm extended, the stones physically separated, connected only by the golden magnetic energy, allowing for massive reach and flexibility, before snapping back together with a satisfying CRACK.

 

"This is amazing," Izuku breathed, his glowing eyes widening in pure joy. "I don't have to worry about breaking my bones anymore! The kinetic impact is absorbed by the separation of the relics! It's the ultimate shock-absorption system! I can fight at full strength—well, maybe not 100% One For All strength, but at peak physical capacity—without destroying myself!"

 

He couldn't wait to find a notebook and write down everything about his new body. He needed to test the limits. How heavy was he? Could he swim, or would he sink like… well, a literal rock? What happened if he absorbed wood instead of stone? What about ice?

 

"Wait, focus, Izuku," he chided himself, slapping his brick-cheeks with his stone-hands. It made a loud clattering sound. "Eris-sama said to go to the beginner town of Axel and find allies. This must be Axel. I need to find the Adventurer's Guild."

 

Izuku stepped out of the alleyway and onto the main street.

 

The town of Axel was bustling, colorful, and completely chaotic. Carts pulled by giant, ostrich-like birds trundled down the cobblestone streets. People in armor, robes, and bizarrely revealing leather outfits walked around carrying massive swords and staffs. Stalls sold strange fruits that glowed slightly, and skewers of meat from animals Izuku couldn't identify.

 

As Izuku walked down the street, people stopped and stared.

 

"Whoa, look at that thing," a warrior with a giant broadsword said, nudging his companion.

 

"Is that a familiar? Some kind of high-level earth golem?" a mage in a purple robe whispered, eyeing Izuku's glowing core.

 

Izuku, ever polite, bowed to the people staring at him. "Good morning! Beautiful day, isn't it?"

 

The pedestrians jumped back in shock.

 

"It talks!" a merchant shrieked. "The rock monster is polite!"

 

Izuku sweatdropped—a purely emotional reaction, as he had no sweat glands. "Ah, sorry to startle you! I'm an adventurer! Just… new in town! Do you know where the Guild is?"

 

A trembling shopkeeper pointed a shaky finger toward a massive, tavern-like building at the end of the street, adorned with a wooden sign depicting a sword and shield.

 

"Thank you very much!" Izuku said brightly, jogging toward the building. His heavy, stone-and-iron footsteps echoed loudly: Thud-clank, thud-clank, thud-clank.

 

He reached the heavy wooden doors of the Adventurer's Guild. He could hear the raucous noise from inside—laughter, clinking mugs, the roar of a roaring fire, and someone yelling about cabbages. Izuku felt a swell of excitement. This was it. The beginning of his new journey. He was going to meet brave warriors, wise mages, and noble paladins. He was going to form a party of true heroes to defeat the Demon King.

 

He pushed the doors open.

 

The interior of the Guild was massive, filled with long wooden tables packed with adventurers drinking heavily, despite it being barely past ten in the morning. Waitresses navigated the chaos carrying trays of frothy ale and roasted meat. A large bulletin board plastered with parchment stood near the back, and a row of reception desks manned by beautiful, uniformed women lined the right wall.

 

Nobody immediately noticed Izuku entering, which was fine by him. He stood near the entrance, his glowing eyes scanning the room, analyzing the patrons.

 

That man has a scar over his eye and a massive battleaxe. Probably a veteran vanguard. That woman in the corner is reading a grimoire, definitely a high-level spellcaster. There are so many strong people here! Izuku thought, his metaphorical tail wagging.

 

However, his attention was quickly drawn to a pathetic display happening near one of the central pillars.

 

A young man, perhaps around Izuku's age, was standing on a chair. He was wearing a bizarre outfit for a fantasy world—a green and yellow tracksuit that looked uncomfortably out of place. He had messy brown hair, a cynical slouch, and the absolute most exhausted, dead-inside expression Izuku had ever seen on a human being.

 

Beside the tracksuit boy was a girl. She was undeniably beautiful, with flowing water-blue hair tied in a loop, wearing a short blue skirt and a translucent pink hagoromo that floated around her. But any divine beauty she possessed was completely ruined by the fact that she was currently on her hands and knees, clinging to a passing adventurer's leg, sobbing hysterically.

 

"Please! You have to join our party!" the blue-haired girl wailed, tears streaming down her face in comical waterfalls. "Kazuma is useless! He has no combat skills! He's just a NEET who died of shock! We need a strong vanguard or we're going to starve to death eating nothing but frog meat!"

 

"Let go of me, you crazy priestess!" the adventurer yelled, trying to shake her off. "I told you, no one wants to party with you! You guys took a simple toad-hunting quest yesterday and ended up covered in slime while crying for help! You're the laughingstock of the Guild!"

 

"I am a Goddess! A Goddess of Water!" she shrieked, refusing to let go. "If you join us, I will bless you with eternal fortune! Or at least, I'll bless your beer so it never goes flat!"

 

The boy in the tracksuit—Kazuma—pinched the bridge of his nose, looking like he wanted to crawl into a hole and die for a second time. "Aqua, shut up. You're embarrassing me. Just let him go. We'll just... I don't know, work construction until we die of old age."

 

The adventurer finally kicked his leg free, sending Aqua sprawling onto the floor, and hurried away, muttering curses. Aqua sat up, rubbing her nose, and began to cry even louder, a high-pitched, childish wail that echoed over the din of the tavern.

 

Izuku stood frozen.

 

His analytical brain was trying to process the scene. The boy is wearing modern clothing. Did he reincarnate here too? But why is he acting so defeated? And that girl claims to be a Goddess, but she's acting like a spoiled child throwing a tantrum. Is this some kind of ruse? A tactical deception to test the true hearts of potential recruits?

 

Izuku's heroic instincts flared. Ruse or not, he saw people in distress. They were struggling. They were being ridiculed. They needed help.

 

Without a second thought, Izuku began walking toward them. His heavy footsteps—Thud-clank, thud-clank—drew the attention of a few nearby tables, but he ignored them. He marched right up to the pillar where Kazuma was contemplating jumping into a slime pit.

 

"Excuse me!" Izuku said, his voice loud, synthesized, and perfectly polite.

 

Kazuma blinked, looking down from his chair. His eyes widened as he took in the sight of the five-and-a-half-foot-tall construct made of red brick, oxidized iron, and floating grey stones, with a brightly glowing yellow core in its chest and a metallic face guard.

 

"What the..." Kazuma muttered. "Is this a promotional event? Did someone summon a golem to kick us out of the guild?"

 

Aqua stopped crying, sniffing loudly as she looked up at Izuku. Her divine senses flared slightly. She didn't sense any dark magic from the creature, but she didn't sense normal life, either. Just a weird, ancient, pulsing energy.

 

Izuku bowed, placing a heavy stone fist over his chest plate in a traditional knightly salute. The stones of his arm shifted and clacked smoothly with the motion.

 

"My name is Izuku Midoriya!" he announced cheerfully. "I'm a new adventurer in town. I couldn't help but overhear that you are looking for party members! I would be honored to offer my services as your vanguard!"

 

Kazuma stared at the blocky, glowing rock-man. He looked at Aqua, who was still sitting on the floor with snot running down her nose. He looked back at Izuku.

 

"You… want to join our party?" Kazuma asked, his voice dripping with suspicion. "Us. The people everyone in this room is currently laughing at."

 

"Yes!" Izuku said earnestly. "A hero doesn't care about rumors or laughter! A hero helps those in need. You need a vanguard to protect you, and I need allies to help me learn about this world. It seems like a perfect partnership!"

 

Kazuma slowly climbed down from the chair. He walked around Izuku, knocking a knuckle against Izuku's brick arm. It made a solid, hard thwack sound. Kazuma winced and shook his hand.

 

"Ow. Okay, you're definitely solid rock," Kazuma muttered. He looked at Izuku's glowing eyes. "Are you… a guy in a suit? Or are you actually a sentient pile of rubble?"

 

"I'm a human soul bound to an Ancient Relic Core," Izuku explained happily. "It's a long story, but the short version is that my physical body was destroyed, so a Goddess gave me this body so I could fight the Demon King!"

 

Aqua gasped, scrambling to her feet and pointing a dramatic finger at Izuku. "A Goddess?! Which one?! Was it Eris?! That padded-chest thief! She's handing out overpowered golem bodies now while I get stuck with a NEET who uses his only skill to steal panties?!"

 

"Hey!" Kazuma yelled, his face turning red. "Steal is a highly tactical skill! And don't bring that up in front of the new guy!"

 

Izuku tilted his head, the stone 'ears' on his helmet shifting slightly. Steal panties? he thought. Maybe it's a mistranslation of a high-level disarming technique? I shouldn't judge too quickly.

 

"Yes, it was Eris-sama who sent me here," Izuku confirmed.

 

Aqua scoffed, crossing her arms and turning her nose up in the air. "Hmph. Typical Eris. Well, Rock-Boy, you should know that you are in the presence of a far superior deity. I am Aqua, the Goddess of Water! And since Eris sent you, it is only natural that you serve your senior Goddess!"

 

Kazuma slapped a hand over Aqua's mouth, giving Izuku a desperate, manic smile. "Don't mind her, she has brain damage. Look, Izuku, right? You're literally made of rocks and iron. You look like you could take a hit from a charging rhino and not even blink."

 

"I don't have eyelids, so I literally cannot blink!" Izuku replied cheerfully. "But yes, my defensive capabilities are quite high. When I take damage, my outer layers separate to disperse kinetic energy, meaning I don't feel physical pain the way a flesh-and-blood human does."

 

Kazuma's eyes lit up with the greedy, desperate fire of a gamer who just found an exploit. A tank who doesn't feel pain? A literal meat-shield made of bricks? This was exactly what he needed to survive the brutal, unforgiving quests of this terrible world.

 

"Izuku Midoriya," Kazuma said, extending his hand. "Welcome to the party. I am Satou Kazuma. This idiot is Aqua. We are thrilled to have you."

 

Izuku took Kazuma's hand in his massive, stone gauntlet and shook it firmly, making sure not to crush the boy's fingers. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Kazuma-san! Aqua-san! I promise I'll do everything in my power to protect you both and help you achieve your goals!"

 

"Great," Kazuma sighed, a genuine smile of relief crossing his face. "Because we have negative money, we owe the innkeeper for our stay, and if we don't kill five giant toads today, we're sleeping in the stables again. Think you can punch a frog, Rocky?"

 

Izuku slammed his fists together. The magnetic field flared, and the stones of his arms cracked with golden energy, mimicking the visual of his old Full Cowling.

 

"I can absolutely punch a frog!" Izuku declared, his voice filled with heroic resolve.

 

Thus, the most chaotic, bizarre, and dysfunctional party in the history of Axel gained its third member. Izuku Midoriya had lost his Quirk, his body, and his world. But as he followed Kazuma and a complaining Aqua out of the Guild doors and into the bright sunlight of a fantasy world, his glowing yellow core pulsed with undeniable warmth.

 

He was a hero once again. And he was going to save this world, one punch—and one flying brick—at a time.

 

 

The first order of business in a new world, Izuku Midoriya decided, was not to immediately rush off and fight a dragon. It wasn't to challenge the Demon King, nor was it to swear a blood oath of vengeance against the forces of evil.

 

No, the very first thing Izuku needed was stationary.

 

"Let me get this straight," Kazuma Satou said, his voice flat, staring at the towering golem of brick, iron, and stone currently blocking the doorway of Axel’s premier general store. "We have a combined net worth of roughly two hundred Eris. We owe the guild for Aqua’s bar tab from yesterday, which is accruing interest. We haven't eaten anything but stale bread in twenty-four hours. And you want to spend our last remaining coppers on… a book?"

 

Izuku shifted on his feet. The motion produced a heavy, grinding skrrrk-clank sound as the rough cobblestones of his left thigh rubbed against the oxidized iron bands of his waist. He still wasn't used to the sheer weight of his new body. He felt incredibly dense, yet somehow weightless, a paradox held together by the glowing yellow core humming steadily in his chest.

 

"It’s not just a book, Kazuma-san!" Izuku protested, his synthesized voice echoing slightly from behind his iron face-guard. He bowed his head respectfully, the motion slightly stiffer than it would have been in his human body. "It's a foundational tool for tactical assessment! Back in my… ah, my homeland, I kept detailed journals on every Hero and Villain I encountered. Their Quirks—I mean, their magic, their combat styles, their weaknesses. If we are going to form a functional party and survive, I need to analyze our synergy!"

 

Aqua, who was currently leaning against a barrel of pickled cabbages outside the store, whined loudly. "Kazuma, just buy the rock-man his stupid book! My stomach is touching my spine! If we don’t get out there and hunt something soon, a beautiful, divine Goddess is going to wither away into dust!"

 

Kazuma pinched the bridge of his nose. He looked at Izuku. Despite the imposing, five-and-a-half-foot-tall exterior of jagged masonry and rusted metal, the glowing yellow slits of Izuku’s eyes conveyed an expression of such pure, desperate, puppy-dog earnestness that Kazuma actually felt a twinge of guilt.

 

"Fine," Kazuma grumbled, digging his hands into the pockets of his green tracksuit. He pulled out three tarnished copper coins. "But we are getting the cheapest one. And you owe me. The second you get a bounty, I’m docking your pay."

 

"Thank you, Kazuma-san! You have the true, generous spirit of a leader!" Izuku beamed, his core pulsing with a bright, happy yellow light.

 

Kazuma blinked, taken aback. He wasn't used to genuine compliments. "Uh. Right. Just… don't make it weird, Rocky."

 

A few minutes later, Izuku walked out of the store holding a roughly bound ledger made of cheap, coarse parchment, and a thick stick of drawing charcoal. Holding the items presented the first real challenge of his new physiology. His hands were currently massive, blocky gauntlets made of solid red brick. Every time he tried to pinch the charcoal, the sheer density of his fingers threatened to snap the brittle carbon in half.

 

Analysis, Izuku thought, his mind slipping into its familiar, comforting rhythm. My body is held together by conceptual magnetism. Eris-sama said I can shape the materials. If I don't need absolute structural integrity for a combat scenario, I should be able to refine the extremities.

 

Izuku stopped in the middle of the dirt road. He focused on his right hand. He visualized the magnetic field shrinking, tightening, becoming more precise.

 

Clatter, clatter, plop.

 

Half a dozen red bricks detached from his wrist and hand, dropping heavily to the dirt. In their place, the remaining smaller stones—smooth, river-washed pebbles he had unconsciously picked up in the alley—snapped together to form a much smaller, slenderer, and far more articulated hand. It looked almost skeletal, made of small grey stones, but it was perfectly proportioned for holding a writing implement.

 

Izuku picked up the charcoal with his new, delicate fingers. He squeezed gently. The charcoal didn't break.

 

"Fascinating," Izuku muttered, immediately opening the ledger to the first page. The charcoal flew across the coarse paper. "Test 1: Modularity and Micro-manipulation. The Relic Core’s magnetic field is not static. By actively disengaging larger masses (bricks/iron), I can utilize smaller particulate matter (pebbles) for fine motor skills. This implies I could theoretically reshape my limbs on the fly depending on the required task. If I need a lock picked, I use pebbles. If I need a door smashed, I pull in boulders. Note to self: find a gravel pit to test aerodynamic projectile shaping..."

 

Kazuma and Aqua stood a few feet away, watching as the towering golem stood in the middle of the street, rapidly scribbling in a book with a tiny, delicate stone hand, muttering at a speed that sounded like a hive of robotic bees.

 

"What is he doing?" Aqua whispered, looking slightly unnerved. "Is he casting a curse?"

 

"I think he's broken," Kazuma whispered back. "Hey! Midoriya! Wrap up the spellcasting, we have a quest to do!"

 

Izuku snapped the book shut, his muttering ceasing instantly. "Right! Sorry! Ready when you are!"

 

 

 

The Adventurer’s Guild had assigned them a beginner quest: clear out a minor infestation of low-level slimes that had migrated too close to the southern trade road. The reward was a measly 5,000 Eris, barely enough for a decent meal and a night at the inn for three people.

 

As the trio walked along the winding dirt path out of Axel, rolling green plains stretching out toward distant, snow-capped mountains, Izuku took the opportunity to conduct his interviews.

 

He held his notebook at the ready. "Alright, Kazuma-san! As the party leader and tactician, I need to know the full extent of your capabilities. What is your class, and what are your primary skills?"

 

Kazuma shoved his hands in his pockets, kicking a pebble. "My class is Adventurer. It's the lowest tier class you can get."

 

Izuku’s eyes widened. The charcoal hovered over the paper. "Adventurer," he wrote, underlining it twice. Wait, Izuku thought rapidly. In many role-playing games I played with Kacchan when we were kids, the base 'Adventurer' or 'Freelancer' class is often a late-game powerhouse! They usually have no restrictions on equipment or skill acquisition! It's a high-risk, high-reward class meant for tactical geniuses who can mix and match abilities from other classes to create unpredictable combos!

 

"Incredible," Izuku breathed, looking at Kazuma with a newfound, starry-eyed reverence. "A class with infinite potential! That requires an immense amount of strategic foresight to utilize properly. What skills have you acquired to synergize with this build?"

 

Kazuma looked at Izuku, slightly unnerved by the golem's intense, glowing gaze. "Uh. Well. I learned 'Tinder'. I can make a small fire off my thumb. Good for campfires."

 

Izuku nodded furiously, writing it down. "Tinder. Pyrokinesis. Likely used for environmental manipulation. Blinding enemies, igniting flammable terrain, or perhaps causing localized thermal expansions to shatter enemy armor. A highly versatile utility skill."

 

"And I have 'Lurk'," Kazuma continued, scratching his cheek. "It makes it so monsters can't detect me if I hide in shadows or behind things. It’s… mostly so I can run away without getting eaten."

 

"Lurk," Izuku wrote. "Stealth/Invisibility equivalent. Incredible. So Kazuma-san operates as an invisible vanguard/assassin. He uses 'Lurk' to bypass enemy front lines, infiltrates their backlines, and uses 'Tinder' to sabotage their supplies or blind their spellcasters. He is a master of asymmetric warfare!"

 

"And finally," Kazuma said, a slightly creepy, self-satisfied smirk crossing his face. "I have 'Steal'. It lets me snatch one item from a target. It's based on the Luck stat, and my Luck is exceptionally high."

 

"Steal. A disarming technique," Izuku muttered rapidly. "By relying on a high Luck stat, Kazuma-san can instantly remove a boss monster's primary weapon, their magical artifact, or their defensive shield before the battle even begins. He completely nullifies the enemy's win condition."

 

Izuku looked up from his notebook, staring at the scrawny teenager in the tracksuit. He may not look like All Might, Izuku thought, his heart swelling with respect, but his tactical acumen is terrifying. He is like Aizawa-sensei. An underground hero who fights from the shadows, dismantling his opponents mentally and physically.

 

"Kazuma-san," Izuku said solemnly, bowing his heavy brick torso. "I am honored to serve under such a brilliant strategist."

 

Kazuma stared at him. "Are… are you making fun of me?"

 

"Not at all!" Izuku replied earnestly.

 

Kazuma squinted, trying to find the sarcasm in the golem's glowing eyes, but found only pure, unadulterated admiration. Kazuma puffed out his chest, his smirk widening into a grin. "Well, what can I say? You have a good eye, Rocky. Just follow my lead and try not to get in my way."

 

Aqua, who had been marching ahead of them, suddenly spun around, pointing a dramatic finger at Izuku. "Hey! What about me?! You haven't asked about my divine abilities! Ask me! Ask me right now!"

 

Izuku turned to the blue-haired girl. "Ah, yes! Aqua-san. You mentioned you were a Goddess. Does that mean your class is some form of high-tier Priest or Paladin?"

 

Aqua flipped her hair haughtily. "My class is Archpriest! The highest possible tier of the clergy! All of my stats are completely maxed out, right from the start! My magic is unparalleled, my healing can bring back the dead, and my purification spells can turn a poisoned swamp into spring water!"

 

Izuku was practically vibrating. His core pulsed rapidly, the golden light flashing. "Archpriest. Maxed stats. Resurrection. Environmental Purification," he scribbled frantically.

 

This party is unbelievable, Izuku thought, overwhelmed by the sheer power he had stumbled into. Kazuma handles the tactical sabotage and assassination, while Aqua serves as an impenetrable fortress of healing and divine artillery. She can resurrect the fallen, meaning we have infinite sustainability in a war of attrition! She's like Recovery Girl, Thirteen, and Lady Nagant all rolled into one!

 

"Furthermore!" Aqua declared, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a small, folding paper fan. "I have mastered the ultimate Party Trick skill: Nature's Beauty!"

 

She snapped the fan open and waved it gracefully. A small, perfectly clear arc of water sprayed from the edge of the fan, catching the sunlight and creating a tiny, localized rainbow.

 

Izuku gasped. "Water manifestation without a source! He crossed out 'Party Trick' and wrote 'Aqueous Light Refraction'. She can create instant prisms in the air! In a combat scenario, she could use this to blind a charging monster by reflecting the sun directly into its eyes, or she could create a localized mist to hide Kazuma-san while he uses Lurk! The synergy is flawless! They've thought of everything!"

 

Izuku snapped his book shut and slammed his massive, blocky fists together, producing a resounding CLANG that echoed across the plains.

 

"I understand!" Izuku declared, his voice ringing with heroic fervor. "Kazuma-san! Aqua-san! I see the brilliant tactical web you have woven! As your Vanguard, I promise to be the immovable shield that allows your masterful strategies to flourish! Let us vanquish these slimes and bring peace to the trade route!"

 

Kazuma looked at Aqua. Aqua looked at Kazuma.

 

"Is he... okay in the head?" Aqua whispered loudly.

 

"I think whatever explosion killed him in his past life scrambled his brain," Kazuma whispered back. "But hey, he thinks I'm a genius. Don't ruin it."

 

 

 

Thirty minutes later, the illusion of the ultimate tactical strike force shattered into a million pieces.

 

The target was a small rocky outcropping near a stream, where a cluster of five slimes had gathered. They weren't particularly intimidating—just translucent, knee-high blobs of blue, gelatinous goo that wobbled as they moved.

 

Izuku crouched behind a bush, his heavy body sinking slightly into the soft earth. He looked to his commanding officer. "Kazuma-san. What are your orders? Shall I draw their aggro while you use Lurk to flank them and Steal their internal cores?"

 

Kazuma looked at the slimes. He looked at his shortsword, which was essentially a glorified butter knife. He swallowed hard.

 

"Uh. Right. Tactics," Kazuma stammered, sweat beading on his forehead. "Aqua. You're... you're an Archpriest. Water is your domain. Slimes are mostly liquid. Go... do something divine to them!"

 

"Ha! Leave it to me!" Aqua declared confidently. She stood up from the bushes, marched right out into the open, and pointed her staff at the slimes. "Listen well, you foul blobs of gelatin! You face Aqua, the Goddess of Water! Bow before my divine might!"

 

The slimes, lacking ears, eyes, or a central nervous system capable of understanding theology, continued to wobble. One of them slowly bounced toward her.

 

"Aqua-san is initiating the engagement!" Izuku whispered fiercely to Kazuma, his notebook out. "She's drawing their attention! This must be a setup for a massive area-of-effect purification spell! Kazuma-san, get ready to move in on her signal!"

 

"Yeah... her signal..." Kazuma muttered, slowly taking a step backward.

 

Aqua raised her fist. "Take this! God Blow!"

 

Her fist glowed with a brilliant, holy blue light. She stepped forward and delivered a devastating, divine punch directly into the center of the approaching slime.

 

Squelch.

 

Aqua's arm sunk elbow-deep into the slime. The holy light flickered, and then fizzled out completely. The slime jiggled, completely unharmed.

 

Aqua blinked. She tried to pull her arm back. It didn't move. The slime’s gelatinous body was incredibly sticky, holding her arm in a vice-like grip.

 

"Huh?" Aqua said.

 

The slime slowly began to expand, climbing up her arm, emitting a faint, hissing sound as its mild acidic properties began to dissolve the fabric of her sleeve.

 

"Ah," Aqua noted.

 

Then, the other four slimes noticed her. They slowly bounced over, forming a circle around her feet.

 

"Ahhhhh," Aqua whined, her lip trembling.

 

One of the slimes bounced up and attached itself to her leg. Another attached itself to her waist.

 

"K-K-Kazumaaa!" Aqua shrieked, tears exploding from her eyes. "Kazuma! It’s cold! It’s sticky! They’re dissolving my hagoromo! Help me! Save meeeee!"

 

Izuku watched in absolute bewilderment. He looked at his notebook. He looked at Aqua, who was now flailing wildly, dragging three slimes around as she cried. He looked at Kazuma, expecting the brilliant strategist to execute his master plan.

 

"Kazuma-san!" Izuku said urgently. "The vanguard is compromised! Are you going to use Tinder to burn them off?"

 

Kazuma was trembling, clutching his shortsword like a lifeline. "Are you crazy?! If I use Tinder, I'll set her on fire! Slimes are resistant to physical attacks! My sword will just bounce off! We have to retreat!"

 

"Retreat?!" Izuku repeated, his voice glitching slightly. "But they are beginner monsters! And Aqua-san is being digested!"

 

"She's a Goddess, she'll regenerate!" Kazuma panicked, actually turning to run. "Let's go get the town guard!"

 

Izuku’s glowing eyes went wide. His highly analytical brain violently recalibrated.

 

Kazuma-san is terrified. Aqua-san’s attacks deal zero physical damage. They have no plan. They have no strategy.

 

The realization hit Izuku like a freight train. They aren't underground heroes or tactical geniuses. They are complete and utter amateurs.

 

"Kazumaaaaa!" Aqua bawled, falling to the ground as a slime enveloped her head. Her muffled screams echoed across the plains.

 

Izuku didn't need to think. He didn't need a strategy. He saw a person in danger. His body moved on its own.

 

Thud-clank. Thud-clank. BOOM.

 

Izuku burst from the bushes, his heavy stone legs tearing up the turf as he sprinted. Despite being made of hundreds of pounds of solid rock and metal, he was terrifyingly fast, propelled by the raw magical energy of his core.

 

"Aqua-san! Hold on!" Izuku roared.

 

He reached the pile of slimes. He planted his left foot—a massive block of carved granite—deep into the dirt. He pulled his right arm back. The red bricks of his gauntlet shifted, the magnetic field humming with a furious, golden intensity.

 

If slimes are resistant to piercing and slashing, Izuku thought, his combat instincts taking over, then the only way to destroy them is overwhelming, concussive blunt-force trauma to rupture their surface tension!

 

He threw the punch.

 

In his old life, throwing a 100% smash meant the agonizing, sickening crunch of his own bones turning to powder. It meant a blinding flash of pain that would leave his arm a useless, mangled ruin. He instinctively braced himself for the agony.

 

His brick fist slammed into the slime attached to Aqua's head.

 

BOOOOOOM.

 

The impact was deafening. The sheer kinetic force of Izuku's punch didn't just rupture the slime; it completely atomized it. The blue gelatin exploded outward in a massive shockwave, raining down over a twenty-foot radius like a torrential downpour of gooey rain.

 

But Izuku didn't feel pain.

 

Instead, he felt a bizarre, deeply satisfying sensation. As his fist struck the dense gelatinous mass, the physical blowback—the kinetic rebound that normally would have shattered a human humerus—traveled up his arm.

 

Before the force could reach his core, the magnetic bonds holding his arm together intentionally slipped. The red bricks of his forearm and bicep suddenly detached from each other, expanding outward into a loose cloud of floating stones held together by golden threads of energy. The kinetic shockwave harmlessly dispersed through the empty space between the bricks.

 

A split second later, the magnetic field tightened. The bricks snapped back together with a sharp, heavy CLACK, forming a solid arm once again.

 

Izuku stood frozen, his arm extended. He looked at his fist. He looked at his shoulder.

 

"It didn't break," Izuku whispered, his synthesized voice trembling with awe. "My arm... it didn't break. I absorbed the recoil. I... I can fight without destroying myself."

 

A profound, overwhelming sense of liberation washed over him. For years, his power had been a double-edged sword, a curse of self-mutilation that he bore for the sake of others. Now, he was free. He could go all out.

 

"Ahem," a muffled voice squeaked.

 

Izuku looked down. Aqua was sitting in the crater he had just created, completely covered head to toe in viscous blue slime. Only her eyes were visible, glaring up at him.

 

"Oh! Sorry, Aqua-san!" Izuku chirped.

 

The remaining three slimes, sensing the destruction of their brethren, immediately turned their non-existent attention to the new, massive threat. They hissed, bubbling aggressively, and launched themselves at Izuku.

 

"Look out!" Kazuma yelled from the bushes.

 

Izuku didn't flinch. The first slime leaped at his chest. It bounced off his heavy, oxidized iron breastplate with a pathetic boink, doing absolutely zero damage. Izuku casually backhanded it out of the air. His arm separated slightly, absorbed the impact, and snapped back as the slime exploded into blue mist.

 

"Two left!" Izuku called out.

 

He stomped his foot, crushing the third slime into the dirt.

 

The final slime, however, seemed slightly larger, darker blue, and was vibrating violently.

 

"Wait, Rocky, stop!" Kazuma yelled, his gamer instincts kicking in. "That one’s glowing! It’s going to burst!"

 

Izuku turned. The slime inflated like a balloon, its internal fluid turning a toxic, acidic green. With a wet, ripping sound, it fired a pressurized stream of highly corrosive acid directly at Izuku’s chest.

 

It’s an area-of-effect projectile! Izuku’s mind raced. At this proximity, dodging left or right is impossible. My mass is too high to achieve the necessary lateral acceleration! If that acid hits my iron chest-plate, it could corrode through to the Relic Core!

 

He had a fraction of a second to act.

 

"Eris-sama said conceptual magnetism..." Izuku muttered rapidly. "If I can pull them together, I can push them apart!"

 

Izuku closed his eyes and visualized the golden hum of his core. Instead of holding on tight, he let go. He commanded the magnetic field to undergo a total polarity reversal.

 

"Scatter!" Izuku yelled.

 

Just as the stream of sizzling green acid was about to strike his chest, Izuku Midoriya exploded.

 

He didn't detonate in a fiery blast. Rather, every single brick, iron band, and cobblestone making up his five-and-a-half-foot body instantaneously violently repelled from the core. His physical form burst into a wide, swirling cloud of debris.

 

The acid stream shot directly through the center of the cloud—passing harmlessly through the empty air where his chest had been a millisecond prior—and splashed onto a distant boulder, immediately melting it into slag.

 

Kazuma, watching from the bushes, felt his jaw physically drop. His eyes bulged out of his head. "He... he just phased through it. He literally ceased to be a solid object."

 

Inside the cloud of swirling debris, Izuku's glowing yellow core hung suspended in the air. He felt weightless, completely incorporeal. He could see everything perfectly.

 

It worked, Izuku thought, giddy with the discovery. It's not just shock absorption. It's an absolute evasion technique. As long as I time it perfectly, attacks can pass right through me!

 

The core pulsed. Izuku engaged the magnetism again, targeting a spot directly behind the confused slime.

 

Swoosh-CLANG-SNAP!

 

The cloud of debris rapidly coalesced, the bricks and metal snapping back onto the core in perfect alignment. In less than a second, Izuku had reformed, perfectly intact, standing right behind the slime.

 

"Texas... SMASH!" Izuku roared, driving a heavy brick boot directly down onto the slime.

 

The resulting explosion of gelatin sent a shockwave through the grass, flattening the terrain in a ten-foot circle.

 

Silence descended on the plains, save for the gentle bubbling of the melting boulder.

 

Izuku stood up straight, dusting a few stray drops of slime off his iron chest. He checked his arms, flexing his blocky fingers. He was in perfect condition. He turned around to face his party, the glowing slits of his eyes curving upward in a happy, inverted 'U' shape to simulate a smile. He held up a thumbs-up.

 

"Target neutralized, Kazuma-san!" Izuku called out cheerfully. "And I didn't even drop a single pebble!"

 

Kazuma slowly stood up from the bushes. He walked over to Izuku, his eyes wide, his expression a mix of absolute horror and profound, greedy awe.

 

He looked at the craters. He looked at the melted rock. He looked at the massive, indestructible golem who could hit like a runaway carriage, absorb kinetic impact, and literally turn himself into an untouchable cloud of debris to dodge fatal attacks.

 

Kazuma’s mind, always looking for the easiest way out of any problem, went into overdrive.

 

He doesn't feel pain. He doesn't take physical damage from standard attacks. He can draw aggro just by being massive. He can dodge un-blockable attacks by turning into a jigsaw puzzle.

 

Kazuma slowly raised a trembling hand and placed it on Izuku’s cold, stone shoulder. A slow, deeply unsettling, ear-to-ear grin spread across Kazuma’s face. It was the smile of a man who had just rolled the rarest, most broken character in a gacha game.

 

"Izuku," Kazuma whispered, his voice trembling with emotion. "You beautiful, rocky bastard. You aren't just a vanguard."

 

"I'm not?" Izuku asked, tilting his head.

 

"No," Kazuma said, his grin widening until it looked almost villainous. "You are the ultimate meat-shield. You are the cheat code that is going to keep me alive in this hellhole of a world. I am never, ever letting you out of my sight."

 

Izuku, completely missing the cowardly, opportunistic undertone of Kazuma's declaration, felt his core swell with pride. He sees my worth! He acknowledges my utility to the team!

 

"Thank you, Kazuma-san!" Izuku beamed, saluting sharply. "I will be the shield that protects your brilliant mind!"

 

"Uhm. Excuse me," a small, pathetic voice squeaked.

 

Izuku and Kazuma looked down.

 

Aqua was still sitting in the dirt. Her blue hair was matted to her face, dripping with viscous slime. Her beautiful hagoromo was ruined. She smelled faintly of sour milk and frog water.

 

She looked up at Izuku, her eyes completely devoid of the arrogant, divine light she possessed earlier, replaced by the hollow stare of someone who had seen the bottom of the food chain and realized she belonged there.

 

"Can someone... please wipe my face?" Aqua whispered. "It went up my nose."

 

Izuku immediately dropped to one knee, pulling a scrap of cloth from his pocket—which he had thoughtfully purchased at the general store along with his notebook—and began gently dabbing the slime off the weeping Goddess’s face.

 

"There, there, Aqua-san," Izuku soothed, patting her head with a brick hand. "You did a great job drawing their attention! Very tactical!"

 

Kazuma watched the scene, shaking his head. He looked up at the blue, cloudless sky of the fantasy world he had been cursed to inhabit.

 

He had an idiot Goddess who couldn't fight her way out of a wet paper bag, and an absurdly overpowered, painfully polite rock-golem who treated combat like a high school entrance exam.

 

"Well," Kazuma sighed, pulling his shortsword out of the dirt and sheathing it. "At least we won't die today. Let's go cash in our five thousand Eris and get some real food. I call dibs on not carrying the slime cores."

 

As they walked back to Axel, Izuku pulled out his notebook again. He crossed out his entire page of notes on Kazuma and Aqua.

 

New Assessment, he wrote in small, charcoal letters. Party composition is completely unbalanced. Leader is a coward with low stats. Healer is highly magical but possesses negative battle-IQ and attracts monsters. Defensive strategy must be completely overhauled. I will have to draw 100% of enemy aggro.

 

He looked up at Kazuma, who was currently laughing at Aqua as she tried to wring slime out of her skirt, and smiled inwardly.

 

They might not be the elite tactical unit I thought they were, Izuku thought, his core pulsing warmly. But they're my party. And I won't let a single monster touch them.

 

The thudding, rhythmic clanking of Izuku's heavy stone feet echoed down the dirt road, a steady, reassuring sound that announced the arrival of Axel's strangest, most earnest new hero.

 

He was Deku. He was the Relic Hero. And he was just getting started.

 

 

The Adventurer’s Guild of Axel was a place of boisterous laughter, clinking tankards, and the smell of roasting meat that could make a starving man weep. For Satou Kazuma, it was currently a place of profound economic depression.

 

Kazuma sat at a sticky wooden table, his chin resting on his hands, staring blankly at the three small copper coins resting on the grain. Beside him, Aqua was actively drooling while watching a waitress walk by with a platter of fried giant-lizard skewers.

 

Sitting across from them, occupying two chairs pushed together to support his immense weight, was Izuku Midoriya. The five-and-a-half-foot golem of brick, iron, and floating cobblestone was meticulously writing in his cheap notebook with his delicate, pebble-constructed fingers. His glowing yellow core pulsed with a steady, rhythmic hum, the only light source at their dark corner table.

 

"Five thousand Eris," Kazuma muttered, his voice hollow. "We killed five slimes. We got five thousand Eris. Do you know how much a single night at the inn costs, plus a meal that isn't stale bread? Two thousand Eris. Per person."

 

"Math!" Aqua cheered weakly, her stomach letting out a long, tragic rumble. "Wait. If it's two thousand each, and there are three of us, that means..." She held up her fingers, her brow furrowing in deep, painful concentration.

 

"It means we are one thousand Eris short of basic survival," Kazuma snapped. "And that’s assuming Rocky over here doesn't eat."

 

Izuku looked up from his notebook, the yellow slits of his eyes curving upward happily. "Oh, you don't need to worry about me, Kazuma-san! As a soul bound to an Ancient Relic Core, I do not require organic sustenance! I draw ambient mana from the atmosphere to maintain my structural integrity. Though, I do find that standing in direct sunlight makes my core feel pleasantly warm, almost like drinking hot cocoa after a winter patrol!"

 

Kazuma stared at him. "Great. My vanguard is solar-powered. That's actually the only good news I've had all day. But it doesn't solve the problem that Aqua and I are going to starve."

 

"We just need a higher-paying quest!" Izuku declared, clapping his brick hands together with a resounding CLANG that made several nearby adventurers jump. "We established a solid baseline yesterday. Now that we understand our party dynamics—that I will serve as the immovable wall while you two provide tactical support and divine magic—we should be able to tackle a mid-tier threat! What does the bulletin board say?"

 

Kazuma sighed, pulling a crumpled piece of parchment from his pocket. He tossed it onto the table. "I grabbed this before we sat down. It pays one hundred thousand Eris."

 

Aqua gasped, her eyes turning into literal sparkling stars. "One hundred thousand?! Kazuma! We'll be rich! We can buy the premium bubbly water! We can get the lizard skewers with the extra spicy sauce!"

 

Izuku leaned over to inspect the parchment. His glowing eyes scanned the text. "Quest: Giant Toad Extermination. Three days out of the city. Mating season has caused an overpopulation. Warning: High risk of being swallowed whole."

 

Izuku’s metaphorical gears began to turn. He quickly flipped to a fresh page in his notebook. "Giant Toads," he muttered rapidly, his synthesized voice buzzing like a hive of robotic bees. "Amphibian physiology. In my world, frog-type Quirks, like Asui-san's, excel in aquatic environments and possess incredible leg strength for leaping. Their primary weapon is usually a prehensile tongue. If these are 'Giant' Toads, their mass must be significant. Their skin is likely covered in a mucous layer to prevent desiccation, which might render slashing attacks ineffective, similar to the slimes. However, blunt-force trauma to the cranium or exploiting their cold-blooded nature should yield optimal results. If I can intercept the tongue attacks..."

 

"Midoriya. Midoriya, stop," Kazuma interrupted, waving his hands. "You're doing that creepy muttering thing again."

 

Izuku snapped back to reality. "Ah! Sorry! It's a habit. But Kazuma-san, this quest seems perfectly suited for us! As a construct, I cannot be digested! If a toad attempts to eat me, it will merely be swallowing rocks and iron. I am completely immune to their primary offensive capability!"

 

Kazuma’s eyes widened. He looked at Izuku's heavy, metallic chestplate. He looked at the quest flyer.

 

He's right, Kazuma realized, his inner tactician—which was mostly just a survival instinct—flaring to life. Giant Toads kill people by eating them whole and digesting them in acid. But Rocky doesn't have flesh. He doesn't need to breathe. He's literally an indigestible jawbreaker.

 

"Izuku," Kazuma said, a slow, predatory grin spreading across his face. "You are a genius. This is free money. Aqua! Get your staff! We’re going frog hunting!"

 

 

 

Two hours later, standing in the rolling, vibrant green plains outside of Axel, Izuku Midoriya realized that the word 'Giant' in this world meant something entirely different than it did back home.

 

"Fascinating," Izuku whispered, his notebook out.

 

Sitting roughly fifty yards away, sunning itself near a large pond, was a toad. It was not the size of a dog. It was not the size of a car. It was the size of a two-story house. It was a massive, blubbery mound of mottled green and brown flesh, its enormous throat expanding and contracting with a rhythmic, thunderous croak that vibrated through the soles of Izuku’s stone feet.

 

"It's huge," Kazuma whimpered, hiding firmly behind Izuku's broad, oxidized-iron back. "It's the size of a bus. Why is it the size of a bus?! The slimes were knee-high!"

 

"This must be a natural evolutionary adaptation to a mana-rich environment!" Izuku noted excitedly. "With a larger body mass, it can store more water, allowing it to survive further from the pond! And look at those hind legs! The muscle density required to propel that much weight into the air must be staggering! A kick from that thing could shatter a reinforced concrete wall!"

 

"Stop praising the monster!" Kazuma hissed. "How do we kill it?!"

 

Before Izuku could formulate a tactical vanguard formation, Aqua confidently strutted out from behind them. She spun her wooden staff, her blue hagoromo fluttering in the wind.

 

"Do not fear, my pathetic little NEET and my loyal rock-golem!" Aqua laughed, pointing her staff at the gargantuan amphibian. "Toads are creatures of water! And who am I? I am Aqua, the Goddess of Water! These lowly beasts will naturally submit to my divine authority!"

 

Izuku watched her march toward the toad. "Incredible," he muttered. "Aqua-san is taking the initiative! She must have a specific pacification spell that only works on aquatic creatures. If she can tame it, we won't even need to fight!"

 

Aqua stopped about twenty feet from the monster. The toad slowly turned its massive, bulbous yellow eyes toward her.

 

"Heed my words, foul creature!" Aqua shouted, striking a dramatic pose. "I am the Goddess Aqua! Bow your head, cease your mating calls, and return to the depths of the—"

 

THWAP.

 

It happened faster than human eyes could track. The toad's mouth snapped open. A massive, pink, fleshy tongue shot out like a harpoon, wrapping entirely around Aqua’s waist.

 

"Eh?" Aqua squeaked.

 

With a sickening wet SLURP, the tongue retracted. Aqua was yanked off her feet, flying through the air, and vanished directly into the toad's gaping maw. The jaws snapped shut with a heavy, fleshy thud. The toad gulped visibly, its throat bulging.

 

Silence descended upon the plains.

 

"AQUA!" Kazuma screamed, dropping to his knees and pulling at his hair. "SHE GOT EATEN! SHE GOT EATEN IN FIVE SECONDS! WHAT KIND OF USELESS GODDESS GETS EATEN ON THE FIRST MOVE?!"

 

Izuku’s core flared a blinding, frantic yellow. The notebook was instantly dropped, his delicate pebble fingers scattering to the grass. In a microsecond, he pulled the heavy red bricks and rusted iron bands back to his hands, forming his massive gauntlets.

 

The Vanguard failed! A civilian—no, a party member—has been captured!

 

"Hold on, Aqua-san! I am coming!" Izuku roared.

 

He planted his feet and dashed. The sheer force of his acceleration gouged deep trenches in the dirt. He crossed the fifty yards in a fraction of a second, his metallic body a blur of grey, red, and gold.

 

He approached the toad's massive flank. He knew he couldn't use piercing attacks, so he had to rely on concussive force. He pulled his right arm back, the magnetic field whining as the bricks separated slightly to maximize the kinetic snap.

 

"Detroit... SMASH!" Izuku yelled, throwing a devastating right hook directly into the toad's blubbery side.

 

Back in his world, a 100% Smash, even a fraction of one, would shatter steel and obliterate concrete. Izuku expected the toad to be launched across the plains, or at least suffer massive internal hemorrhaging, forcing it to regurgitate Aqua.

 

Instead, his brick fist sank deep into the toad's side. The creature's skin was incredibly rubbery, and beneath it lay feet of dense, shock-absorbing blubber.

 

Izuku felt the kinetic energy of his punch travel forward, hit a wall of absolute elasticity, and violently violently bounce back.

 

BING.

 

The KonoSuba world operated on cartoonishly literal physics when it came to Giant Toads. They were immune to blunt-force trauma.

 

The recoil hit Izuku like a freight train. Because he didn't have bones to break, his Knack biology reacted instinctively to disperse the fatal back-force.

 

CRACK-SCATTER!

 

Izuku’s entire right arm, right shoulder, and the right side of his iron chest-plate violently exploded outward. Dozens of red bricks, cobblestones, and twisted pieces of metal were blasted backward, raining down across the grass in a fifty-foot radius.

 

Izuku staggered, suddenly lopsided, his body drastically reduced in size on one side. His core was partially exposed, humming wildly.

 

The toad barely even registered the hit. It slowly turned its head, looking down at the half-shattered golem with mild, amphibious annoyance. It let out a low, rumbling croak.

 

"M-My punch..." Izuku stammered, staring at his stump of a shoulder where only golden magnetic threads remained. "It completely absorbed the kinetic energy... It's immune to Smash attacks!"

 

"ROCKY! YOUR ARM!" Kazuma screamed from the distance. "ARE YOU DEAD?! CAN ROCKS DIE?!"

 

"I am functional!" Izuku called back, panic edging his synthesized voice. "But blunt attacks are ineffective! The cellular structure of its blubber acts as a perfect kinetic dampener! I need piercing weapons!"

 

Kazuma pulled out his shortsword. It was six inches long. He looked at the three-story-tall toad. "I... I don't think my knife is going to cut it, Midoriya!"

 

The toad, deciding that this annoying, crunchy thing was not food, ignored Izuku and began hopping toward Kazuma.

 

"Ah! No! Lurk! LURK!" Kazuma shrieked, diving into a nearby bush and curling into a ball.

 

Izuku’s mind raced. His arm was scattered. He couldn't punch it. But Aqua was still inside that thing, slowly suffocating or dissolving. He had to pry its mouth open.

 

Izuku ran in front of the toad. He leaped into the air—a heavy, gravity-defying jump powered by his core—and landed squarely on the toad's massive snout. He wedged his remaining left hand under the creature's top lip and grabbed the bottom jaw with the magnetic stump of his right shoulder.

 

"Open... up!" Izuku grunted, his core blazing as he tried to physically pry the jaws apart.

 

The toad flailed, violently shaking its head to dislodge him, but Izuku held on. Suddenly, a muffled, gurgling cry came from within the toad's belly. It sounded distinctly like Aqua crying for her mommy.

 

"I can't get enough leverage!" Izuku analyzed frantically. "I need more mass! Kazuma-san! Gather my scattered bricks and throw them to me! I need to rebuild my right arm to pry the jaw open!"

 

Kazuma peaked out of the bush. "Are you insane?! I'm not going near that thing!"

 

Suddenly, a voice echoed across the plains. It was not a cry of fear, nor a croak of a toad. It was the clear, commanding, and incredibly theatrical voice of a young girl.

 

"Behold! The beast that swallows the innocent and terrorizes the plains! Your reign of gluttony ends today!"

 

Izuku, still wrestling the toad's snout, managed to twist his stone helmet to look toward a nearby grassy knoll.

 

Standing atop the hill was a young girl, perhaps fourteen years old. She wore a striking red dress, a black cloak that billowed dramatically in the wind, and a wide-brimmed witch's hat. She held a gnarled wooden staff tipped with a glowing red crystal. An eyepatch covered her left eye.

 

"A mage?" Izuku gasped. "Wait, that eyepatch. Is she injured? No, her stance is too confident. Could it be a physical limiter? Like Aizawa-sensei's goggles? Does she need to cover one eye to suppress a volatile ocular Quirk?!"

 

The girl pointed her staff at the toad. "I am Megumin! Archwizard of the Crimson Magic Clan! Wielder of the most powerful offensive magic known to man! Foremost genius of Axel, and master of the explosive arts!"

 

Kazuma poked his head out of the bush. "Who is this weirdo?"

 

"She's a Pro Hero!" Izuku yelled back, still struggling to hold the toad. "Look at her costume! It’s highly stylized, indicative of a strong branding strategy! She must be a high-ranking elemental specialist!"

 

Megumin’s singular visible crimson eye narrowed. She began to chant, and the very air around her seemed to warp and heat up.

 

"Detonation... Detonation... Detonation... Wielder of the most glorious, powerful, and grand magic of my people! Let the crimson flames of the underworld burn through the fabric of reality!"

 

The sky above the toad began to darken. Swirling red and black runes, massive and complex, manifested in the air, spinning like the gears of a doomsday clock. The ambient mana in the plains rushed toward the tip of her staff, creating a localized windstorm that tugged at Izuku’s heavier stones.

 

Izuku’s glowing eyes widened to their absolute maximum. He had seen powerful Quirks. He had seen Endeavor's Prominence Burn. He had seen Bakugo’s Howitzer Impact. But the sheer density of energy gathering above this girl was staggering.

 

"The atmospheric pressure is dropping rapidly!" Izuku calculated, his core throbbing. "She's pulling all the ambient magic into a single focal point! If she compresses that much thermal energy..."

 

"My power is absolute!" Megumin screamed, her voice echoing with magical reverberation. "Feel the wrath of the Crimson Demons! EXPLOSION!"

 

She swung her staff down.

 

A beam of pure, blinding white-hot light shot from the magic circle, striking the toad dead center.

 

Izuku barely had time to react. He immediately released his magnetic hold on his physical body. "SCATTER!"

 

Just as the spell made contact, Izuku’s body disassembled into a cloud of loose rocks and metal.

 

The resulting explosion defied logic. It wasn't just a fireball; it was a cataclysmic, earth-shattering detonation. A massive dome of crimson fire expanded outward, vaporizing the grass, melting the topsoil into glass, and sending a shockwave that flattened trees a mile away. The boom was so loud it momentarily deafened Kazuma in his bush.

 

A massive mushroom cloud of smoke and fire plumed into the sky, casting a dark shadow over the plains.

 

When the smoke finally cleared, a massive, smoking crater remained where the toad had been. The toad itself was gone, utterly obliterated. At the center of the crater, completely covered in steaming, foul-smelling blue slime, lay Aqua, coughing and sobbing.

 

A few feet away from the crater edge, Izuku’s Relic Core floated in the air. It quickly pulsed, drawing the scattered, scorched bricks and stones back to it. He reformed his body, missing his right arm still, but functional.

 

He didn't run to Aqua. He didn't check on Kazuma.

 

Izuku pulled his notebook out with his left hand, clamped it beneath his stump, and pulled out his charcoal. He sprinted up the hill toward the girl.

 

Megumin, having cast her spell, had immediately collapsed face-first into the grass, completely immobile.

 

Izuku dropped to his knees beside her, his single brick hand hovering over her. "Miss! Miss Megumin! Are you alright?! Was the recoil too much?! Did you exceed your Quirk limit?!"

 

Megumin slowly turned her head, her face pale, a triumphant but weak smile on her lips. "I... I am fine, golem. I have simply expended... all my mana. I cannot move a muscle for the rest of the day."

 

Izuku gasped. "A severe physical drawback!" he muttered furiously, scribbling in his book. "Her power output is immense—easily surpassing Bakugo Kacchan's strongest blasts—but it completely drains her stamina reserves, leaving her paralyzed! A one-shot ultimate move! The tactical implications are staggering! She must require a vanguard to protect her while she chants, and a retrieval unit to carry her out of the hot zone afterward!"

 

Izuku looked down at the paralyzed girl with profound respect. "Megumin-san! That was the most incredible display of raw firepower I have ever seen! It was like a miniature nuclear strike! Your dedication to your craft is truly heroic!"

 

Megumin’s eye widened. Usually, people called her a crazy, useless one-trick pony. This massive, intimidating stone warrior was looking at her like she was a god. A blush crept up her cheeks. "Y-You think so? Yes! Of course! You have a good eye, construct! I am the greatest wizard in Axel!"

 

"MIDORIYA!" Kazuma screamed from the plains.

 

Izuku turned around.

 

Aqua had crawled out of the crater, crying hysterically, dragging her slime-soaked body toward Kazuma. But that wasn't the problem.

 

The sound of the explosion had echoed across the plains. And from the nearby pond, two more Giant Toads had emerged, hopping rapidly toward the disturbance, their bulbous eyes locked onto the delicious, crying blue-haired snack.

 

"Two more targets!" Izuku analyzed. "Megumin-san is paralyzed. Aqua-san is traumatized and covered in slime. Kazuma-san is hiding. And I am missing an arm and my blunt attacks are useless!"

 

This was a disaster. It was the USJ all over again. He needed to buy time. He needed to save them.

 

Izuku stood up, preparing to launch himself down the hill to act as a decoy, even if it meant getting swallowed.

 

Suddenly, a blur of silver and blonde shot past him.

 

"Halt, foul beasts!" a booming, fiercely noble voice declared.

 

Izuku watched as a tall, beautiful woman in shining, heavy silver plate armor charged into the valley. She had long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail, and she wielded a massive broadsword. She moved with incredible speed and purpose, planting herself directly between the two charging toads and the retreating Kazuma.

 

Izuku’s core flared with hope. "A Paladin! A heavy knight class! Look at that armor! It’s designed to withstand massive physical trauma! Her stance is flawless! She's a true frontline defender!"

 

"I will not let you harm these innocent adventurers!" the knight yelled, raising her sword. "Come, monsters! Taste the steel of Dustiness Ford Lalatina!"

 

The first toad hopped forward, its massive maw opening.

 

"Strike!" the knight roared. She swung her broadsword in a massive, horizontal arc. It was a swing containing immense physical strength.

 

It completely missed. It didn't even come close. She swung so early that the blade cut nothing but air, and the momentum spun her around like a top.

 

"Eh?" Izuku whispered.

 

The toad, unfazed, lashed its tongue out. It struck the knight square in the chest, wrapping around her heavy armor.

 

Instead of screaming, or bracing herself, the knight’s face flushed bright red. She let out a heavy, shuddering gasp.

 

"A-Ahhh!" she breathed, her voice suddenly losing all its nobility and replacing it with something deeply, unsettlingly euphoric. "S-Such raw strength! To be bound by the slimy appendage of a beast... to be rendered helpless! Oh, the humiliation! Do your worst to me, you vile creature! Defile my knightly honor!"

 

Izuku dropped his notebook.

 

The toad reeled her in. She didn't struggle. She completely went limp, panting heavily, a blissful smile on her face as she was dragged through the mud.

 

"Yes! Swallow me whole! Let me melt in your acidic belly while I am unable to protect anyone!" she moaned loudly.

 

Kazuma, watching from his bush, looked physically ill.

 

Izuku, however, completely misread the situation. His pure, innocent, hero-obsessed mind could not comprehend the concept of a masochist. He saw a hero deliberately missing her attack, allowing herself to be captured, and crying out about being helpless and melting in acid.

 

Izuku’s mind connected the dots in the most tragic way possible.

 

"She's traumatized," Izuku thought, sheer horror gripping his Relic Core. "She has severe psychological damage from a past battle! She feels like a failure as a knight, so she actively seeks out punishment to atone for sins she believes she committed! She's engaging in self-destructive, suicidal behavior because she thinks she deserves to suffer! She's just like... she's just like me when I tried to fight Shigaraki alone!"

 

Tears of pure, empathetic sorrow (which manifested as tiny sparks of yellow light) leaked from Izuku's glowing eyes.

 

"I won't let you do this to yourself!" Izuku screamed, his voice thick with emotion. "You don't have to suffer alone anymore, Knight-san! I will save you from yourself!"

 

Izuku leaped off the hill, plunging like a meteor toward the toad that was just about to swallow the heavy knight.

 

"No, wait, rock-boy, I'm enjoying this!" Darkness protested as Izuku hurtled toward them.

 

"Scatter!" Izuku yelled.

 

Mid-air, Izuku violently separated his bricks. But instead of reforming right away, he aimed his scattered stones like a shotgun blast. Dozens of heavy cobblestones and iron bands pelted the toad in the eyes and face. While blunt force didn't hurt its body, a brick to the eyeball was a different story.

 

The toad croaked in pain, its tongue releasing the knight. Darkness tumbled into the grass, looking profoundly disappointed.

 

"Knight-san! Are you okay? Do you need a psychological evaluation?!" Izuku yelled, landing beside her and reforming his body, though he was still missing his right arm.

 

"I... I was so close..." Darkness whispered, blushing fiercely, squirming in her armor. "The sticky, wet embrace of the abyss..."

 

"It's okay! You don't have to put up a brave front!" Izuku assured her, patting her silver pauldron with his left hand. "We all carry trauma! But we don't have to die for it!"

 

Before Darkness could explain her very specific kinks, the second toad, ignoring the commotion, lunged directly at Izuku.

 

Izuku turned, but he was too slow. He didn't have his right arm to block. The toad's mouth opened wide, completely eclipsing the sun.

 

CHOMP.

 

The jaws slammed shut around Izuku. Darkness screamed. Kazuma screamed. Aqua continued to cry in the mud.

 

Darkness reached out. "No! The noble golem sacrificed himself for me! He took the punishment meant for my flesh!"

 

Inside the toad, it was completely pitch black. The smell was horrendous—a mix of rotting fish and potent stomach acid. Izuku felt himself sliding down a slick, muscular tube. The crushing pressure of the toad's throat squeezed against his stone body.

 

"Okay. Don't panic," Izuku thought, his synthesized voice echoing weirdly inside the fleshy chamber. "I'm not organic. The acid won't dissolve stone and iron immediately. But I am trapped. Blunt force won't work on the inside either. I need to induce a gag reflex."

 

He felt the toad's throat constricting, trying to push him down into the stomach.

 

"If I can't punch my way out," Izuku analyzed, the yellow light of his core illuminating the grotesque, slimy walls of the esophagus. "Then I just need to make myself impossible to swallow."

 

Izuku stopped trying to fight the walls. He focused on his core. He didn't use 'Scatter', which would just turn him to gravel and allow him to be digested. Instead, he used a variation of his assembly magic.

 

"Expansion!"

 

Izuku violently pushed his magnetic field outward, but maintained the bonds. His body didn't break apart; it stretched. The red bricks of his chest, the heavy iron bands, the cobblestones of his legs—they all forcefully jutted outward in random, jagged directions.

 

In a matter of seconds, Izuku transformed from a humanoid golem into a five-foot-wide, completely irregular, heavily spiked sphere of jagged stone and rusted metal, lodged firmly in the center of the toad's throat.

 

Outside, the toad suddenly froze. Its eyes bulged comically out of its head. Its throat, which had been thick and smooth, suddenly looked like it had swallowed a giant, spiked mace. Jagged points of pressure poked violently against its skin from the inside.

 

GURK.

 

The toad's massive body began to heave. It made a horrifying, wet hacking sound. Its front legs came up, pawing desperately at its own throat.

 

"What is it doing?" Kazuma asked, slowly creeping out of the bushes.

 

"The golem... he's fighting it from the inside!" Darkness gasped, her face flushing again. "Oh, the internal torment he must be causing! Tearing it apart from within!"

 

GAAAAACK.

 

The toad lurched forward, its mouth opening as wide as a cavern. With a thunderous, wet explosion of air and slime, it violently regurgitated the spiked ball of masonry.

 

Izuku flew through the air, covered in thick, translucent mucus, and slammed into the grass. The toad, its throat severely lacerated by the jagged bricks and thoroughly traumatized by the experience of trying to eat a caltrop the size of a man, let out a pathetic squeak, rolled over onto its back, and fainted.

 

Izuku lay in the grass. He slowly pulled his magnetic field back in, the jagged spikes of stone retracting and snapping back into his standard humanoid shape. He sat up, wiping a thick glob of slime from his iron faceplate.

 

"Well," Izuku muttered, his glowing eyes flickering. "That's one way to achieve a rescue."

 

He looked around. The first toad was atomized. The second toad was knocked out from choking. The third toad, having witnessed its comrade choke on a rock, turned and hopped frantically away toward the mountains.

 

The plains fell quiet.

 

Kazuma slowly walked over to Izuku. He looked at the unconscious toad. He looked at the crater. He looked at the paralyzed girl on the hill, the sobbing Goddess in the mud, and the heavy knight who was currently hyperventilating while staring at the toad's slimy tongue.

 

Kazuma let out a long, exhausted sigh. "Midoriya. Remind me to never, ever let you get eaten again. The sound it made was disgusting."

 

Izuku beamed, giving a thumbs-up with his slime-covered left hand. "Mission accomplished, Kazuma-san! Zero casualties!"

 

 

 

That evening, the Adventurer’s Guild was lively once again. At the party's table, a feast was laid out. Thanks to the toad quests (and the giant, intact carcass Izuku had dragged back), they had finally hit the jackpot. Roasted meats, fresh bread, and actual vegetables covered the wood.

 

Aqua was currently stuffing her face, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks as she inhaled a roasted lizard leg. Megumin, having recovered slightly, was sipping soup, leaning on her staff. Darkness sat rigidly, eating politely, occasionally casting slightly unnerved but deeply respectful glances at Izuku.

 

Izuku sat at the end of the table. His right arm was fully restored, having gathered his scattered bricks from the plains before they left. He was currently writing furiously in his notebook.

 

"Let me get this straight," Kazuma said, pinching the bridge of his nose as he looked at the three girls. "You. Aqua. You're a Goddess whose physical attacks are useless and who acts as monster bait."

 

Aqua paused, a piece of meat hanging from her mouth. "I am a divine healer!"

 

"You literally got eaten instantly," Kazuma deadpanned. He turned to Megumin. "You. You can cast the most powerful spell in the world, but you can only do it once a day, and then you become a paralyzed sack of potatoes."

 

Megumin tipped her witch's hat proudly. "The path of explosions is a solitary and demanding one."

 

Kazuma finally looked at Darkness. "And you. You're a heavy knight who can't hit a stationary target, and you joined us specifically because you want monsters to physically and emotionally abuse you."

 

Darkness blushed fiercely, looking away. "I-It is a knight's duty to serve as a shield! If I must endure the sticky, humiliating fate of being a toad's plaything, then so be it!"

 

Kazuma slammed his head onto the table. "This is a nightmare. I am in a party of defective weirdos. I'm going to die. I'm actually going to die again."

 

Izuku snapped his notebook shut. He looked at the group. He saw a cynical boy who was terrified of dying. He saw a spoiled Goddess who just wanted to be respected. He saw a passionate wizard dedicated entirely to a singular, flawed art. And he saw a knight who, despite her bizarre inclinations, genuinely wanted to protect people.

 

To Kazuma, they were useless. To Izuku Midoriya, they were a team. They were broken, imperfect, and completely unbalanced.

 

But Izuku knew a thing or two about being broken.

 

Izuku stood up. The heavy scrape of his stone chair drew everyone’s attention. He placed his massive brick hands on the table, leaning forward. His glowing yellow core pulsed with a warm, comforting light that illuminated their faces.

 

"Kazuma-san is wrong," Izuku said firmly, his synthesized voice completely devoid of his usual nervous stutter.

 

Kazuma looked up, surprised.

 

"You aren't defective," Izuku told them, his glowing eyes curving into a bright, unwavering smile. "Megumin-san has the ultimate finishing move. Darkness-san has an impenetrable defense and the willpower to take any hit. Aqua-san has unparalleled healing and purification magic to keep us in the fight. And Kazuma-san has the tactical mind to orchestrate it all."

 

Izuku placed a hand over his metal chestplate, right over his core.

 

"You all have incredible Quirks—I mean, skills! You just need someone to cover your blind spots. You need a vanguard who can take the hits so Megumin-san can chant. You need someone to draw aggro alongside Darkness-san. You need someone to protect Aqua-san while she casts." Izuku bowed deeply. "I am Izuku Midoriya. And I promise, as long as I have a single rock left to my name, I will be the shield that protects this party. We are going to do great things together."

 

The table was dead silent.

 

Aqua sniffled, her eyes welling with fresh, non-slime-related tears. "Rock-boy... you're so nice! You're way better than Kazuma!"

 

Megumin pulled her hat down to hide her blushing face. "Hmph. Such grandiose speeches. But... I suppose every Archwizard needs a loyal golem."

 

Darkness stared at Izuku, her eyes wide. "He's so earnest... so pure... The guilt of corrupting such a noble soul... Oh, it makes me shiver!"

 

Kazuma stared at the towering construct. He saw the pure, unadulterated heroism radiating from the golem. It was blinding. It was completely absurd.

 

But as Kazuma looked around the table, he realized that for the first time since he arrived in this hellish world, he didn't feel completely doomed.

 

"You're an idiot, Midoriya," Kazuma sighed, but a small, genuine smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He raised his tankard of ale. "But I guess you're our idiot. To the party."

 

"To the party!" Aqua and Megumin cheered.

 

Izuku raised a wooden mug of water. He couldn't drink it, but he clinked it against Kazuma's tankard anyway.

 

The classic KonoSuba party was formed. And right in the middle of it, a boy who had lost everything found a new family to protect.