"Kaminari! Hey, Kaminari!"
Someone is shouting desperately...
"So noisy..." Monoma thought.
Blue eyes slowly open and after blinking a few times, his vision finally became clear. Monoma widens his eyes in shock when he saw Kaminari a few feet ahead of him, lying face down with a very clear slash across his neck...
And gathering around Kaminari... is Kirishima, Amajiki and Togata.
"No way, how could this be...!" Kirishima shouted as tears run down his face.
Huh...?
Oh, that's right. Right before that female vampire was about to attack him, Kaminari pushes him away. A fight broke out and Monoma remember how that vampire easily knock him away like he was a fly. Thus, causing him to hit his head against the wall and lose conscious.
What happened after that?
No... the answer is simple. Kaminari must have fought hard to protect Monoma while he's unconscious, which must be the reason why he's now... dead.
As for the reason why that vampire isn't around now, he couldn't come up with an answer to it. She probably ran away after seeing Kirishima and the senior hunters. No matter how powerful she is, Monoma doubt that she can win against a talented hunter like Togata and a vampire like Amajiki.
Kaminari wasn't the bravest nor best in combat. He could have abandoned Monoma and escape instead of fighting an enemy he couldn't win against. And yet Kaminari chooses to stay, for the sake protecting him. This guy really is stupid, he wouldn't lose his life if he were to fled.
It's not like they were best friends or anything. Monoma couldn't really understand why Kaminari would go through such length to protect someone he's not close with. If Monoma were more careful and didn't get knocked out, Kaminari would probably still be alive.
Once again, someone lose their life because of his carelessness.
Getting up without drawing attention to himself, Monoma quietly slips away from the scene. Work first, drown in guilt later...
Amajiki noticed Monoma leaving but keep silence, as this doesn't seem like the best timing to call out to him. Even if Amajiki did try to stop him from leaving and doing anything rush, Monoma definitely won't listen to him. That aside...
Turning his attention back to Kaminari, Amajiki can tell that he's not going to make it through. Kaminari's already at the death door. In another few more minutes, he'd be dead. That's how it always has been when it comes to their line of work. One small mistake and it will cost you your very own life.
"We need to get him to the hospital-"
"It's no use. We won't be able to make it... he's... going to die soon."
Amajiki averts his eyes when Kirishima looks up and stare at him with eyes that are full of sadness and desperation. Kirishima and Kaminari have been best friends for a long time. The thought of losing a best friend is unbearable and Amajiki can understand it. If the person lying on the ground right now was Togata, Amajiki's spirit would definitely break.
"So you're saying that there's no saving him?!" Kirishima exclaimed.
"I..." Amajiki trailed off.
The 'him' before would definitely say 'yes' and give up. When Amajiki first joined, he has seen other hunters died in front of him before and he too, had cling onto the hope that there's still some way to save his allies from the hands of the death god. But some things are just impossible to prevent and the harsh reality has taught Amajiki about it the hard way.
However, things are different now and a way to save someone from dying... he has it. But it requires a lot of careful thinking because once it's made, there's no going back.
"There's a way to save his life. I mean... I can try to save him. But it comes with a great cost." Amajiki finally said after a moment of silence. "Knowing that, do you still want me to save him...?"
"Tamaki, could it be that you're implying that you'll...?" Togata thought as he stares at his friend in disbelieve. The message is clear to everyone here. What's left now is making the choices of 'save' or 'don't save'. And Kirishima will be the one to make that choice.
"Please save him, senpai! Whatever that happen next, I'll take the full responsibility for it!" Kirishima pleaded. There was no hesitation as he was sure of the choice he made. If Kaminari were to be angry at him, Kirishima will gladly bow his head, apologize and even accept a punch in the face.
As long as his best friend is still with him, he'll accept any punishment.
"Turn him over."
"Got it." Kirishima nodded and gently turn Kaminari's body around so that he's lying on his back.
"Make sure you hold him down if he were to start struggling." Amajiki said. Lifting a hand up to his mouth, Amajiki bit his wrist and blood begin to flow out. With his bleeding wrist right in front of Kaminari's face, Amajiki let his blood drip into his mouth. This is his first time doing this so he cannot be 100% sure that it will went well. But he does wish that this is going to be a success. Hopefully, this is also the last time he'll be doing this.
The transformation for each human turning into a vampire is different. For most of them, they will experience an immense pain like their body is being torn apart or burning from the inside. And that's what Amajiki experienced. As for the rest... they are just lucky enough that their transformation is painless.
For Kaminari, Amajiki prays that it will be a quick and painless one.
~~~
Licking the hunter's blood off his hand, Muscular grinned as his eyes starts to heal. He can feel a murderous intent coming from the fledgling behind him. But he didn't care about that at the moment. The scent of human blood is making his vampire instinct excited and the thirst for blood is building up. The hunter was injured and is within his reach, Muscular could easily kill him and drink his blood to recover some strength.
Katsuki cursed under his breath as Muscular's eyes has now completely healed up just with a little bit of blood. Just then, an iron rod piece through Muscular's chest and he cough out blood.
Turning around, Muscular stares at Izuku, who is growling and glaring at him with blood red eyes.
Katsuki quickly noticed a bunch of iron rods at the side. This is a construction site after all, so it's totally normal to find those things lying around here. Honestly, Katsuki was surprised to see that Izuku would throw an iron rod at the enemy like that. While killing a vampire like Muscular with those things is impossible, weakening him is possible.
That aside, Izuku's eyes are blood red and that's not a good sign. Katsuki will need to find a way to snap Izuku out of it before things get ugly.
"Nice, very nice! That's how a proper vampire should be! Go ahead and give in to the instinct to kill and the thirst for blood!" Muscular exclaimed, ripping the iron pole out of his body without even flinching from the pain.
Ignoring the hunter for now, Muscular ran straight at Izuku. Even though his speed went down a lot due to the tranquilizer darts, that didn't stop him from trying to tear the fledgling apart and spill blood over the place. Yeah, such actions should be allowed since Shigaraki didn't say anything about bring the fledgling back in one piece after all.
Leaping over Muscular's fist, Izuku did a roundhouse kick at his head. Killing Muscular is impossible without the help of the hunter's weapons. So Izuku wanted to knock him out, making him slowly bleed out and then take his time to torment him slowly.
Watching from the side, Katsuki couldn't help but to feel that something is terribly wrong with Izuku. The nerd's every movement clearly shows that he's going for the kill. From the look of it, this is going to be a battle that will never end until one of them fall.
Both vampires continue to duke it out until Izuku was one second slow to dodge and took a punch to the face and that send him down onto the ground.
"You seem to enjoy kicking so let me show you what a real kick is!" Muscular exclaimed as he kicks Izuku on the gut harshly and sending him up into the air. Wearing a sadistic grin, Muscular leap into the air and then grab Izuku by the collar and flung him back down to the ground, creating a small crater.
Muscular landed right next to Izuku and quickly planted his foot down on his back, prevent him from getting up.
"Now, where should I start first? I could tear your legs and arms off. Or maybe I could kill that hunter right in front of you, since you seem to be rather fond of him."
Izuku widen his eyes at those words. Muscular is going to kill Katsuki? The nerve of this bastard who thinks he can steal his prey away from him!
Placing both hands on the ground, Izuku tries to push himself up despite the foot that's pressing him down to the ground.
"Did his strength suddenly increase?" Muscular thought.
"Move your foot, you scum...!" Izuku growled angrily. With a battle cry, he manages to get up and quickly aim a kick at Muscular's ankle, throwing him off balance.
"No, I'm the one who is losing strength...!"
The effect of the tranquilizer darts is now coming at full force and Muscular can feel his strength fading away at a frightening speed. He soon found himself sitting at the ground, unable to stand up even if he wanted to.
A shadow looms over him and he turn his gaze up. The fledgling was standing in front of him, looking at him like he was a piece of trash with those red eyes as the blood moon is high above them. This sight is something that sends a chill down his spine. This is what coming face to face with 'death' feels like. This is... just like the time where he challenged Shigaraki and almost died.
When Muscular saw Izuku's hand coming closer to his face, he saw a split image of Shigaraki with his hand dangerously close to his face.
Grabbing Muscular's hair, Izuku did the same thing that was done to him not long ago. And that is to smash Muscular's head against the ground. Blood spill across the ground but Izuku didn't stop there. Instead, he smashes the Muscular's head onto the ground once more. And he repeating the same action by doing it again and again until he completely crushes half of Muscular's face.
With a cracked skull, a part of the brain being exposed and blood dripping like a small waterfall, Muscular's still not dead. However, he won't be able to heal such injuries so easily.
Despite beating Muscular to the point where he's not only unconscious but also badly injured, this is still not enough to satisfied Izuku's anger for all the pain and injuries that he received. Muscular treated him like a ragdoll and for that, he shall pay double the price for it-
"DEKU!"
"..."
Izuku let go of Muscular and slowly turn around, staring at Katsuki with those inhuman red eyes. Katsuki can feel a bead of sweat rolling down his face. Those eyes are exactly like the eyes of a hungry predator, watching its prey carefully while waiting for the perfect chance to strike.
"It's already over. You have done enough, Deku." Katsuki said, as calmly as he can in order not to trigger Izuku's hunting instinct.
"It's already over.'
The words seem to echo inside his mind. Strangely enough, it's giving off an effect Izuku doesn't know. The danger is gone, it's already over so he can rest easy now and lower his guard...
Katsuki was relief when Izuku's eyes turns back to its usual green. Then, Izuku's knee give out on him as he kneels down on the ground. Worried about him, Katsuki quickly rushes over to Izuku's side to check on him.
"Deku, you-"
The sound of a growling stomach cuts Katsuki off. It surprised him but it also reminds him that he's bleeding. He shouldn't be this close to Izuku as the smell of blood could make him go feral and attack him.
"I'm hungry, Kacchan..." Izuku muttered weakly.
Reaching for the remaining chocolate bars he has, Katsuki internally curses at their horrible luck. These chocolate bars were supposed to keep Izuku's hunger under control for the whole night. But that fight with Muscular took a lot out of Izuku and he need to eat in order to heal those nasty wounds.
"Eat and heal up, Deku. Our job is still not done yet." Katsuki said as he offers the chocolate bars to Izuku.
"No Kacchan, I can't eat all... we'll definitely need more later on." Izuku protested.
"Shut up and eat it. If dunch face and shitty hair is at the shopping mall, there should be vending machine nearby. I'll buy something for you to consume there."
Knowing that there's no changing Katsuki's mind, Izuku nodded his head in defeat. "...Okay, Kacchan."
The night is still long and far from over. It would certainly be great if they didn't run into another pure-blooded vampire like Muscular.