So, here's a new version of that chapter of Soul of Defiance. I have to admit, I felt disquieted by Izuku's passiveness, while in character, during Toga's episode. It's a damned weird way to begin a relationship. But then, inspiration hit me on how to both continue the chapter, and to have an influence on Toga's behaviour for the better. I've brought in another Legacy of Kain character, one whom is probably going to be one of Izuku's mentors, and certainly one of Toga's. Who is it? Well, it's a surprise...

Now, before I go on, I'd like to answer Weary Curmudgeon's review. Izuku is only 12-13 years old when he kills for the first time. Combine that with the fact that he wants to be a Pro-Hero, and for the best of reasons, it's a devastating blow to his psyche and morale. While Raziel and Ariel try to help him, they're not exactly the best people to do so. Ariel, bluntly, was manipulative towards Kain (Raziel calls her out on this in Soul Reaver 2), and outside of the events of the original Soul Reaver and her final appearance in Defiance, treated Raziel with wariness at best, and with unwarranted contempt and hatred at worst, believing him to be an agent of the Hylden. Raziel, meanwhile, was self-righteous and obsessed with vengeance after Kain chucked him into the Lake of the Dead. It's part of the reason why I brought in the Legacy of Kain character who appears at the end of this chapter. Said character is perhaps the only character in the entirety of the series who wasn't (intentionally) out to screw Raziel over or hinder him or use him for their own gain.

Anyway, Izuku is a kid and has been traumatised by not just the killing, but also by the fact that he ate someone's soul. He was also called a monster by someone he considered (delusionally) to be a friend. Intellectually, he realises that he isn't an evil person, but the guilt is still eating away at him.

As for Toga's blood fetish, she had at the very least an obsession with blood from a very young age, considering it beautiful. Indeed, the moment that initially disturbed her parents was, apparently, when she brought in a dead, bloodied bird. They commanded her to act normal, and while some elements of Toga's relationship with her parents (briefly brought up in this version of the chapter) are my own invention, I did think that their apparently forcing her to put on a facade of normality instead of, well, trying to treat her somehow contributed to her later snapping. In any case, canon Toga is meant to be utterly disturbing, and I'm shaping events so that, while she still has many of her more disturbing traits, she'll still be undeniably a hero, and they won't come to the fore as much.

SOUL OF DEFIANCE (REVISED)

CHAPTER 1:

MEETING VAMPIRES

While I am a careful and prudent man who shapes events to my liking, I am also still very much a creature of whims. It was a whim that led me to the bar that would later give me my daughter. True, as a noble, I have admittedly sired a few bastard children, in all likelihood. I had slept with a number of women before my rather fatal date with destiny in Ziegsturhl. But those were memories that were forgotten even when I was still human. I did slake my lust a few times as a vampire, but no offspring eventuated. If Umah hadn't let her paranoia towards my intentions overwhelm her, she would have been my sole consort. I did not share Vorador's desire for a harem. Whether any issue would have come forth from such a union, well, vampires normally cannot reproduce in such a manner.

The woman I met at the bar had had something of a row with her fiancée. I lent her my ears and shoulder on a whim. I did not intend to seduce her. In truth, she tried seduce me on a drunken whim, and I eventually capitulated to her advances, not knowing and certainly not believing that she would bear my child. I was in disguise, and thankfully, the magical construct held through our coupling. I know my features as an ancient vampire are far from attractive. But despite my supposed sterility as a vampire, I had sired a bastard child, though I would not learn it until later. A daughter.

From a young age, my daughter showed a fascination towards blood, I later learned. Her mother and the man who thought himself the father tried to clamp down on this. Instead of treating her gift as something to be cultivated, even if cautiously, they treated it like a disease, something to suppress and treat, possibly cure. Humans, so quick to fear and judge that which they cannot comprehend.

Had it not been for one of fate's more perversely fortunate twists, my daughter would have had her mask shattered, and she would have walked along a bloodstained path to Hell. Instead, she encountered a boy who wanted to be a hero. And while I would sneer at such sentiment, the truth is, he saved her from herself. But he was not the only one. An old…acquaintance of mine also had a role to play…

Izuku Midoriya felt ill at ease in this new school. He could understand why his mother took him away from Aldera Junior High and transferred him to Mondasu Junior High(1), but he still felt ill at ease. Part of this, he knew, was some part of him unable to part with his affection for Bakugou. Well, less an affection, and more of a desire for his approval now, to be a hero in spite of everything. But Izuku's desire for friendship from his explosive childhood ex-friend was not something that could be shaken off so lightly.

Of course, the lingering revenant of his one-sided friendship with Bakugou was only part of it. Even now, Izuku was struggling to get to grips with the fact that he had not only killed someone, but devoured their soul and integrated their Quirk into his being. It was a profoundly disturbing thing for any sane and intelligent person. For someone as moral as Izuku, it was even more so, and while he had been counselled by professionals and reassured by his mother, by Tsukauchi, and by All Might, the guilt merely abated, it never disappeared. Even with the spirits of those who had been part of the Soul Reaver couldn't help, not that much.

He still felt the taint of being a killer, and a killer who had killed his victim in something of a brutal manner. Even now, if he closed his eyes, he could see his attacker exploding into a fountain of gore and offal, the glowing cloud of the attacker's soul soon inhaled by Izuku, on instinct if nothing else. And he knew that the moment these people learned who and what he was, they'd shun him. Bakugou had to be warned by the police not to spread what Izuku did around, and thankfully, so far, his former friend seemed to have heeded their words.

Still, he hadn't lost hope. All Might had told him he could become a Hero, even with hands as bloodied as his, even with such a sickening ability. And it was not a hollow platitude. All Might promised to speak with him later, this coming weekend. The Number One Hero had much to do.

Izuku had noticed, even before his spiritual hangers-on did, how tired All Might seemed in person, how weary, and Izuku, once he realised how often All Might worked, could understand it. He was easily one of the hardest-working Pro-Heroes in Japan, never mind the world (indeed, he often worked in the US, and many of his attack names were named for states and cities in the US), and it made sense that it wore down on the Symbol of Peace. If anything, knowing that only served to increase the admiration Izuku had for All Might. To keep going, with a smile on his face, despite all that…it was admirable. He just hoped it never broke All Might.

Izuku found his musings interrupted when someone sat down next to him. He'd been having lunch and going over his Quirk Analysis Notebook while sitting on a bench. He was still jittery, still introverted. Nobody had wanted a Quirkless friend, or at least not once Bakugou drove them away. So to have someone sit down next to him was…

"Hi there," spoke a cheerful female voice. "You're the new kid, aren't you? Izuku Midoriya?"

Izuku turned to face his questioner. The girl was about his age (which was just a little while shy of thirteen now), maybe a little older, with blonde hair framing her features in a barely-tamed neck-length bob. While undeniably cute, there was something dangerous about her. The golden eyes with slit-like pupils, not unlike a cat or a reptile, didn't help matters, given that they were most definitely the eyes of a predator, and her smile was just a touch too wide, and her canines looked a little too much like fangs. He knew he was in the presence of a predator.

And yet, here she was, a girl who was talking to him. For the first time in…well, he wasn't sure, but it was a long time. His mother, Aunt Mitsuki, or Ariel didn't count. All three were grownups, and Ariel was thousands of years old, even if the vast majority of that time was spent bound as a spectre to the Pillars of Nosgoth.

"…I…I…I…"

"Three 'I's in one breath. That makes you sound egotistical(2)," the girl said cheerfully.

"No, it's just…"

"Hey, don't worry, I was kidding. I saw that line somewhere. You looked like the skittish stammering type, I thought I'd try it out on you. Sorry, that was mean. I'm Himiko, Himiko Toga! Nice to meetcha!"

"…Hello," Izuku said, a little uncertainly.

Himiko peered at his book. "Ooh, wow, are you analysing that new hero Kamui Woods and his Quirk? This is…pretty detailed, actually. You must be pretty smart, Izuku."

"Thanks. I've been…uh, analysing Quirks since I was young. I thought it'd help me when I became a Pro-Hero."

At this, Himiko seemed to become solemn. "…A Pro-Hero, huh? What's your Quirk?"

"…I'd rather not say."

"…Heh. That's what I would have said if you had asked me what mine is," Himiko said quietly, her cheerful, too-wide grin changing to something more morose. "I'm not wholly sure what it is. All I know is…it's probably a Villain Quirk. Probably all it's good for."

"I'm sure that's not the case," Izuku said quietly. When Himiko looked at him sharply, he said, "Himiko, think about how many Pro-Heroes' powers could easily be used for bad purposes. If Endeavour ever became a criminal, think about how easily he could wipe out entire neighbourhoods, burn them down. Cementoss could drown someone alive in cement, Thirteen could tear them to shreds with their Black Hole power…and look at Vlad King. If he uses blood as a weapon, and yet is seen as a Hero…sorry, I have a tendency to ramble."

"It's fine. You're trying to cheer me up, and I'll admit, Vlad King is one of my favourites for what he can do. It's better than most of these guys do. We live in a world where we flaunt Quirks, and the flashier or more heroic it seems, the better. And most Pro-Heroes do it for fame and fortune," Himiko said, bitterness tinging her tone. "It makes me sick. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd do it for the same reasons. I want to be loved by as many people as possible, and to love them back, but…so many do it just to become rich celebrities, not to help people. Heroes don't always come to help people. In fact, they can't always help people."

"…Yeah, I know that. But I want to be a hero who saves people, wherever I can. Even if I can't be exactly like All Might, saving people with a smile on his face, no matter what, I will still save people, help them, catch criminals so that the world is a better place, even if only in small bits."

"Wow," Himiko chuckled. "That's a pretty grown-up way to look at it."

"So were you," Izuku said with a weaker chuckle, before the sound of conflict reached his ears, and he looked across to the nearby sports field. A boy who looked quite a bit like him was fighting another person. "Who's that?"

"Oh, that's Saito. He's pretty popular with the other kids here," Himiko said, her solemnity gone in favour of admiration. "Dunno what his Quirk is, but he stands up to the bullies here."

Izuku nodded, absently wondering why this boy wasn't at Aldera, protecting him from the other students…and Bakugou. Still, the boy was taking one hell of a beating, his face bloodied. He also began speculating what the boy's Quirk was, if any. Maybe he was Quirkless. If so, Izuku felt for him. But…wait, why was Himiko breathing so heavily?

Indeed, she was. At first, he thought it was something to do with stressing out over seeing Saito being beaten. But when he turned to look at her, her cheeks were flushed, her eyes had become hooded, and her smile had become even more disturbing than it was. "…Himiko, are you all right?" Izuku asked.

As if realising what he had seen her doing, she shook her head. The smile didn't go away completely, and neither did the blush, but they receded, like a predator that had been poking its snout from a hole, only to retract into it when it felt it had been noticed. And yet, there was an element of genuine distress there. "…Sorry. I just…never mind."

Izuku suddenly made a connection. She mentioned Vlad King as being one of her favourite Pro-Heroes. In addition, she had been reluctant to discuss her Quirk. It was, admittedly, a stab in the dark, but, given her fangs and her eyes… "Your Quirk…it's blood-based, isn't it?" he asked quietly.

Himiko stiffened. "I…how did…?"

"Just a guess. Look, Vlad King's Quirk is blood-based, and he's a Pro-Hero. Just because it's blood-based doesn't mean it's bad."

Himiko, after a moment, grimaced. "The real world isn't so kind," she said bitterly, before getting up and leaving…

Izuku had to wonder how bad her Quirk could be. Himiko seemed to be avoiding him, and when he asked for advice from Raziel and Ariel, he got very little in the way of an answer. Well, nothing that he didn't know already. They gave him advice, true, and they intended to help him train in his skills and abilities that he had inherited with the Soul Reaver later, but helping a girl with severe psychological issues was a bit out of their depth. Ariel had never been a mother, and Raziel had never really had to deal with much in the way of teenage drama when he became a vampire, his time as a Sarafan virtually absent from his memory.

He wondered what her Quirk might be, and why she seemed to be afraid of letting people know. Of course, the fact that he correctly guessed that it was blood-based was a big clue, but there had to be more to it than that. In truth, he couldn't blame her for keeping it to herself anyway. At least one of his abilities could be considered villainous.

The Soul Reaver itself was a potentially lethal weapon, one that, when charged completely, would blast the body apart, liberating the soul within, and consuming it, integrating any Quirk with it into Izuku's arsenal. It could be imbued with elemental properties, including fire, darkness, and light. It could even fire projectiles for long-ranged attacks. As some would say, it was very OP.

But on top of that, Izuku had gained abilities Raziel had gained during his own adventures. Telekinetic powers, the ability to shift between the material and spectral realms, an ability to swim without needing to take a breath for a very long time, an ability to climb certain surfaces with ease, an ability to 'constrict' things he ran around, and more were part of his arsenal. And that was without going into the Glyphs Raziel had collected, magical sigils that allowed him to emit shockwaves of telekinetic force, or sound, or fire, or sunlight.

That being said, later that afternoon, he had an appointment with a Quirk Counsellor the school retained on a freelance basis. He was an Underground Hero, but one who had given second chances to certain people. They called him Nephilim, after the name for the offspring of a fallen angel. Raziel and Ariel found the name portentous, and pretentious.

Soon before his appointment came around, he saw the door open, and heard a soft, but strongly accented voice speak. "…Good thing to restrain your urges, Miss Toga. I will speak to your parents again about testing your Quirk under controlled circumstances."

Raziel, who had been all but sleeping in Izuku's mind, roused himself. "I know that voice," he murmured, even as Himiko Toga walked out of the office. "Impossible…of all the people to end up here…"

"They won't give you permission. They don't want to admit I have a problem," she scoffed.

"I will persuade them," the Quirk Counsellor said, following her out. "Never forget, Quirks are neither evil nor good. It is the intent behind them that paints them as such. If you have any further troubles, do not hesitate to contact me."

Himiko nodded morosely, before leaving, barely acknowledging Izuku. Izuku, by this point, had found himself transfixed by the man who had appeared in the office door. "Izuku Midoriya?" the man asked.

"…Y…Yes," Izuku said. He couldn't help but stare at the man. Tall, with blue skin, a triptych of fingers on each hand, ending in wicked claws, and a pair of raven black wings protruding from his back. Golden eyes peered back at him, and the mouth had fangs.

And yet, there was a beauty and serenity to the man. His face, while clearly that of a man in his middle age, had a dark beauty to it, not of malevolence, but of sadness and weariness. His hair was dark, speckled with grey. He had the solemn, serene air of some sort of priest, helped by the robes he wore.

"Good afternoon, Mr Midoriya. Allow me to introduce myself. Publicly, I am the Underground Hero Nephilim. However, my true name is Janos Audron. And I believe we have quite a lot to talk about…"

CHAPTER 1 ANNOTATIONS:

Oh dear. Janos Audron is in this world? Well, we don't know where he ended up after Blood Omen 2. He wasn't in my original version of this story, but frankly, he's one of the nicest characters in the entirety of the Legacy of Kain games. He's pretty much the only one of Raziel's allies who wasn't trying to manipulate or control him, and when he realised what danger Raziel was in from the Soul Reaver, he was remorseful. Plus, while I'm not a Star Trek fan, Rene Auberjunois' performance was brilliant, as was his more villainous role as Andrew Ryan in Bioshock.

Now, in the original version of this story, this chapter had Toga attack Saito, only for Izuku to intervene. I felt…disquieted by that scene, for while it was certainly in-character for an Izuku who was still traumatised by what happened, it felt like he was too forgiving. Bringing in Janos Audron was actually a godsend. Janos, having been cursed with bloodthirst as one of the Ancient Vampires, is well-placed to help Toga. This version of events feels more natural.

1. Many of the places in My Hero Academia are named for planets in the Star Wars franchise. However, being the Whovian I am, I named the high school Toga and Saito went to after Mondas, the original homeworld of the Cybermen from Doctor Who.

2. Another Doctor Who reference, this time to The Caves of Androzani, where a similar exchange takes place between Peri and the newly regenerated Sixth Doctor.