"Ok, let me get this straight. You want me to go into some kind of slave contract with Yaoyorozu and Uraraka in which they would basically become my belongings as slavery works in order to have a better party."
"To some degree...Yeah." Izuku stared at Naofumi, extremely amazed this was even an idea to suggest.
"What kind of sicko would even want to do this to somebody else and what idiot would even accept this as an offer!?" The Cardinal quirk user didn't even realize that he was talking to a said 'sicko' and two said 'idiots' were beside him listening to the offer. "My decision is no right off the bat! To think you'd even suggest this is beyond-"
"Let me explain." Naofumi tried to stop Izuku while explaining why he'd even suggested such a thing. "In a Slave Contract, your slaves earn 1.5 times the Exp. you'd gain naturally. If you wish to grow your party's skill and experience as quickly as possible. As an added part, you only need one demand from the said slaves in order to keep the Slave Contract. For me, I keep those that are under it with only one option. Never lie. I get it. It doesn't sound pretty. When I had to use it, I wasn't too fond of it either. But I needed someone to fight for me. I needed allies. You need fighters to help and you need strong ones. I get it's a terrible thing to think, but do you have the option to be picky?"
Yaoyorozu listened to everything before asking a question about the contract. "Would this be known by anyone outside of our group?"
"Yaoyorozu! What do you even think you're suggesting!?"
"Look at yourself right now, Midoriya. We couldn't really help you before this Myne, Bitch or Witch or whatever her name is woman did what she did to you. Using what you know, what proof do you have that you can fight this woman again during the next Wave after she did all this? It's a disgusting idea and it obviously sounds terrible knowing of slavery, but is there a better alternative that we can use to get strong enough to fight with you on equal footing?"
Izuku looked away, clearly enraged before asking Ochako about it. "What about you, Uraraka? What's your stand on this?"
"Well, I agreed to get stronger for you to not rely on the Curse Series. If this is what I have to do, then fine."
"*sigh* Fine. We're in. I'm still against the idea, but we really don't have options that outweigh this one." Naofumi began pulling out the tools needed to create a Slave Crest. Once he was ready, Izuku cut his thumb a bit for blood to go into the mixture. After, Naofumi placed a brush in and had it absorb some of the liquid before making a circle over the top of Ochako and Momo's chests near the center part of their collarbone. A large sting came to them before a notification on Izuku's screed showed itself.
Ochako Uraraka and Momo Yaoyorozu have officially become your slaves.
Looking at the suggested commands, Izuku continually went down them and took them off while also seeing what the suggestions were. Outside of the 'Never Lie', none were really worth keeping on with some of the more 'unwanted' commands forcing him to question just what type of sick freak would even keep them on. "Alright. Feel free to say whatever you want about the Crests, but remember that leveling up and equipment only get you so far. Also, Hawks is coming here in the afternoon to bring you to a cave with a spring in it. He says it can remove curses by a single bath."
"Lovely."
Later that afternoon
As the day continued, some of the girls of class A began noticing the markings of the Slave Crest on Momo and Ochako's chests while changing for heroics. They explained broadly that this was proof that they were officially part of Izuku's party. It wasn't a total lie, but it wasn't explaining exactly how. Thanks to this explanation, Ashido began calling it a 'Hero Crest' with neither of the girls denying it. When the end of the day came though, Hawks came to the school and got Izuku, Momo, Ochako and Mocha to bring them towards the cave in question Now standing in front of it, the small group began walking in with Hawks and Izuku in the front.
"So what's so special about this spring that makes it dispel curses?"
"From what I was told, it has something to do with the source of the water. It's apparently from another world from a spring that actually dispels curses naturally with the mineral compounds in the cave itself keeping the water purified as well as amplifying the healing properties."
"So it's like Kizuna and everyone. From another world." Ochako asked in a simpler term for an explanation of the water for Hawks to turn back and smile.
"You got it." He turned back towards the front while keeping a serious face. "The problem is, this cave recently became a nest for giant spiders after one of the last few Waves in the area and now reaching the spring is a little more dangerous. At your strength right now with the curse on you, I don't think you'd be able to handle them as well."
Izuku gripped his fist in anger while thinking he's in as sorry of a state he's in. "If only I knew I had a quirk when I was younger. Maybe things would've been different."
"In all honesty, I think the doctor did the right thing in having you not know about your quirk." Haws blurted this out with Mocha running up to hold Izuku's hand.
"What are you talking about? Wouldn't it be easier for Midoriya if he had a quirk at the age everyone does?"
"Not quite, Yaoyorozu. I'm sure you all touched the surface of the problem we face, but it's more complicated the more you learn about it. Until about a year ago, there was no chance we had against the Waves as much as we do now. The only actual peace of mind was the Vassal Weapons that we had. Thanks to some issues, we only had three of the eight in the world known for protecting the world. It got to the point that if one died and another was found to hold the Vassal Weapon, the world leaders of each country would forcibly take them in and make them weapons of war. Ryukyu at least had most of her childhood lived before becoming the Band Vassal Weapon holder. Me on the other hand, I was found to have it when I was about 6. Thanks to that, I was forced to become a dog on the government's leash. Forced to fight unfathomable monsters as a child whose struggles should've been 'what do I play today' and 'what will my mommy and daddy cook for dinner tonight'. Now my concerns were if I was even going to survive the next Wave and how I was going to combat it if needed. It made me sick to my stomach knowing." Hawks gripped his torch even harder, remembering his past before loosening it. "If Midoriya would've been found out to be a Cardinal Weapon holder, he'd be in worse of a situation than mine since they're even more important than us with Vassal Weapons."
Izuku looked away thinking of his life. He always thought in the back of his head that he would've been better off having his quirk at a young age, but never actually thought about how horrible things could've been if this was the case. Hawks however was a perfect example of what could've been and it scared him. The lack of freedom, lack of compassion and the lack of innocence. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."
"It wasn't all bad. At least I didn't have to worry about scrutiny from kids my own age like you did."
"Ha! You're right about that. *sigh* Kids can be just as terrifying as any other villain." The sound of movement stopped the entire group for them to look around. "I hear them, but I can't see them."
"Umm...How big are these spiders?" Ochako asked in some fear as Hawks lifted his wings up.
"Big enough to stand on the same height as All Might." As he said this, one of the said spiders came out and began going for Momo.
"HOLY CRAP! THAT'S BIG!" Before it could do anything though, Izuku gave a solid punch to its eyes and sent it back before pulling his left fist back and punching through its thorax. "Thanks for the help."
"Save the thanks for after. We're surrounded." Everyone looked around to see several spiders surrounding them with some even dripping venom. "Of course. Not even like they were bad enough without the venom."
"Master! Can I fight these guys?" Mocha asked with some excitement for Izuku to nod. She immediately transformed into her Filolial Queen form and pulled her wings back. "Fast Tornado!"
The spiders behind the group were all being pulled into a tornado with Izuku taking advantage of the attack.
"Zweit Thunderbolt!" The electric current sent shocked all the monsters for them to fall on the ground burnt to a crisp. This surprised Momo and Ochako how in sync the two were for a spider to almost attack them if hawks didn't send a feather through its head.
"Don't just stand there! We've got several more here to deal with!" They came back to reality with Momo creating two metal staffs and giving one to Ochako. Once ready, the two joined the fight with Hawks acting as long distance for the two for the front, while Izuku and Mocha covered their back for each to destroy as many spiders as possible.
2 hours later
"*sigh* Finally, all done." Ochako panted as she was struggling to stand up with Momo not in a better state. Before they continued on, Hawks and Izuku fed pieces of the spiders in their weapons and unlocked two different weapons. For Izuku, this also unlocked a skill for the specific weapon called 'Thread Creation' as well as a 'Poison Resistance' boost that could be added onto himself.
"Alright. Let's keep going. The spring shouldn't be that much farther." Hawks got up to walk towards the front with Izuku doing the same. Before he could, however Izuku began feeling immense pain to collapse on the ground to panic Mocha.
"Master!" She transformed back into her human form to try and help pick him up off the ground. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah. I just overdid it a bit." His clothing began getting soaked red for Ochako and Momo to notice and immediately try to support him. Once they had a better hold on him, the two helped Izuku up and brought him deeper into the cave.
"You should've told us you were overdoing it, Deku. You can't fight so carelessly right now."
"Uraraka's right.You're not in the best shape right now."
"Sorry. I just needed to do what I could to avoid us getting hurt."
"That doesn't mean you should fight till you hurt yourself. You're already a wreck and this doesn't help. Let us help where we can." Ochako tried to reassure Izuku he didn't have to do any of this alone for him to feel a little dumbfounded. He glanced away a bit ashamed he had thought the way he did.
"Thanks. I'll...I'll try to do a better job in the future relying on you both."
"Don't forget, you have me too master!" Mocha looked up and smiled to make Izuku feel even more happy with the help others have to give.
"Alright. Let's stop this sappy soap opera before I start feeling too many things and forget why we came here." Hawks mentioned for the group to continue going down into the cave. Once they got to a large room, the ground was illuminated by minerals inside of a spring. From how clear it was, you could see the deepest part that could go easily 20 feet down. "Alright. All you have to do now is just bathe in the water. Your call if you wanna strip or not. Doesn't matter."
"Right." Izuku was able to move well enough now where he could get towards the water. When he did, the Cardinal quirk user fell headfirst in for everyone to silently wonder if he was even ok. A few moments after, a strange dark haze came from where Izuku went in before disappearing and him swimming to the surface. "OH THAT'S COLD!"
"You feel any better now?"
Izuku unbuttoned his shirt and pulled off the bandages to present his chest completely healed to smile a bit. "Much. Thanks for the help."
"Just doing what I gotta to make sure we don't lose since we all die if you do. If you wanna help train the girls and the squirt, there's an area near here that holds a lot of monsters. Just make sure you do something with the corpses when you're done so they don't cause problems."
"Like what?"
"I don't know. Feed them to the girl over there eating a spider." Hawks motioned to Mocha who was in her bird form eating a spider corpse whole with no worry.
"Sometimes the fact she's an omnivore scares me more than it should." Izuku states this with a little disgust with everyone not that far off from his logic.
Meanwhile, with Bakugou
Bakugou had sat in his room contemplating what had gone on in a matter of days. The power of Izuku's Curse Series on full display against a monster strong enough to kill All Might, the Waves and how dangerous of a threat they pose, the members of Seayetto and their weapons, and the Vanguards of the Waves as they're called with the woman that was able to capture him and nearly kill Izuku. He continued thinking about this with anger, realizing that he's so far behind someone like Izuku that he was a liability in the first Wave. "DAMMIT!" He punched the wall in anger while remembering the next to no effects done to Myne as she used the Curse Series. "I hate admitting it, but the nerd's got a worse situation than me. But that Curse Series thing. Maybe he'd be able to do more if he'd have better control over it." A smirk came to his mind thinking about the possibility of how to get Izuku better. "Maybe if he keeps using it, his body will get more used to the strain. It's a natural thing when you keep pushing your limits that your resilience is better."
"KATSUKI! GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE! IT'S ALMOST DINNER!"
"I'M COMING, YOU HAG!" Bakugou stood up and walked out of the room with a smirk on his face. 'If that thing's called a Wrath Series, maybe giving Deku something to be angry about will help make it stronger and get him stronger.'
And that finishes this chapter. So Ochako and Momo joined Izuku's party more due to a Slave Crest ritual. Before anyone goes after me, Izuku is literally only using the 'Never Lie' trait it uses. Also, the bit with Hawks shows that yeah, Izuku's life was in the dumps. However, that doesn't mean the alternative actually was the better case. See what happens next time. Hope you all enjoyed and thanks for reading.