A Soldier's Tale

Chapter 0: Preamble

Disclaimer I don't own My Hero Academia/僕のヒーロー


His superiors often told him that he was born in the wrong era.

They told him that he should have been born in the era of the World Wars.

His superiors even went so far and say that Japan would not have lost the 2nd World War if he had been born in that time period.

He would always hid his irritation and anger every time he heard those compliments.

He never wanted to be a soldier.

True, he had learned to love his occupation. He had learned to love every single one of his brothers-in-arms and sisters-in arms. He had even developed pride and affection for the Japanese Imperial Army.

That said, he was not a patriot. He would not claim that he hated his home country. He would not have survived four years in the military if he hated the country that he swore to protect.

That said, he did not love his country. He experience 10 years' worth of ridicule and discrimination because he was Quirkless for the first 15 years of his life.

It was not his fault that his Quirk was triggered by death.

That was an entire can of worms that he did not want to open.

If there was one thing that sold him to military life, it is that the Japanese Imperial Army was a meritocracy. There were several High Ranking Officers in the Imperial Army that are Quirkless.

He could have been one of them if he did not die in his fifth deployment in Russia.

Fucking Commies.

Secondly, he hated the talent that he was born with. As a child, as a an adolescent, and even as a young adult, he had dreamt of saving people, he dreamt of giving people assurance that they will not be harm, he dreamt of inspiring smiles to those who needed it. Unfortunately, although he could do all of those things, he had done all of those things, his primary talent lies with murder.

He is very, very, very good in killing people.

He hated that talent of his. He never wanted to harm people, much less kill them, but he was a soldier, and soldiers kill. At the end of the day, soldiers are merely legal killers, and he was born for it, much to his chagrin.

He never wanted to be a soldier, but at the time when he was at his lowest, the military opened its doors for him, and he joined out of necessity. He would be damned if he would abandoned the organization that gave him a chance, even if he hated his work.

And he really hated his work.

"Lieutenant Midoriya, Colonel Yaoyorozu is calling for you." A Private informed him as said soldier gave him a salute.

Lieutenant Midoriya Izuku gave a salute of his own before leaving his tent.

There is work to be done.

(Scene Change)

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

The sound of gunfire echoed within the enclose space.

The roar of gunfire reverberated within the ears of those within the vicinity.

*THUD* *THUD* *THUD* *THUD*

With each flash of gun fire, bodies fell to the ground, life leaving their eyes.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

*THUD* *THUD* *THUD* *THUD*

In the center of the gunfire and death stood Lieutenant Midoriya Izuku. He was wearing full military combat gear and he was wielding his rifle in a way that only an elite soldier could.

Izuku advancing slowly, the rifle in his hands was steady as it fired life ending projectiles to every hostiles he sets his eyes upon.

As he advances, his rifle never wavered, he had long graduated from hesitating to pull the trigger, and his aim true and lethal, he was a sharpshooter for a reason.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

*THUD* *THUD* *THUD* *THUD*

The hostiles around Izuku tried to fight back. They used their weapons, guns that were on par or even superior to the one that he was using. Some were even using their Quirks, superpowers given to them by their God.

All of them tried their best to strike down the demon that descended upon them.

All of them failed.

Izuku was just too good at killing.

Before their Quirks could activate, they were gun down.

Their own gunfire was dodge expertly before they themselves were taken down.

As a soldier, Izuku is very good. As a killer, Izuku excelled to the point of terrifying.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

*THUD* *THUD* *THUD* *THUD*

The gun fight lasted for a total of seven minutes. That was how long it took Izuku to exterminate 20 local insurgence.

Izuku exterminated all of them without the use of his Quirk.

It would have been faster if he had used his Quirk, but Izuku preferred using his Quirk as a last resort. He spent the first year of his career Quirkless and he had been excellent soldier. As far as he was concern, having a Quirk did not affect his ability to kill or serve the Japanese Imperial Army.

Izuku looked at the death and destruction that he had caused. He gazed at the men and women that he had killed.

None of them were moving and he could not sense an ounce of life from any of them.

Removing the hand that held the barrel of his rifle, Izuku removed the mask that covered his face.

He took a deep breath and inhaled the stench of death and gunfire around him.

After he exhaled, he tapped a communication device on his left ear.

"This is Lieutenant Midoriya Izuku." Izuku announced with a leveled tone. "The area is clear. I repeat, the area is clear. Move in. Over!"

As those words left his lips, five soldiers, all wearing the same uniform as he, stepped into the room.

A man that towers over Izuku by a few feet moved to his side before gingerly clapping his right shoulder.

"Effective as always, Lieutenant." The giant soldier complimented.

"This is not worth a compliment, Colonel." Izuku replied before reaching for his superior's hand and removing it from his shoulder. "Killing is never worth a compliment."

(Scene Change)

Izuku dislike being in the Middle East.

Izuku hated sand in general.

In the Middle East, sand is everywhere.

Sand as far as the eye could.

He hated looking at sand. He hated working anywhere near sand.

Sand is depressing.

But he was a soldier, and soldiers tend to work in places that they are not comfortable in.

Izuku was currently positioned on top of a large sand dune. A sniper rifle in hand and a camouflage tarp over his body, Izuku overlooked an area of sand stretching across a few dozen kilometers.

He had been laying on top of the sand dune for at least five hours.

He had already pissed his pants three times already.

Regardless, he did not move. He was a sniper after all, and moving, even the minutest movement, will cost him. Especially considering that he had already identified at least six enemy snipers in the area.

Izuku is very confident with his skill as a sniper. He is the best sniper in his current regiment.

That said, the best or not, a single bullet could end him. He had that in his mind as he overlooked the area before him.

Izuku has a mission, he has a target to eliminate, and he would do so in the most efficient way possible.

If it requires him to wait for a few more hours under the scorching hot sun of the Sahara desert, and if it was necessary to piss his pants a few more times, then so be it.

He is a soldier. The mission comes first before comfort.

Izuku waited on his position, unmoving, unwavering for another four hours. In those four hours, snakes and other sand dwelling creatures crawled all over his body. In those four hours, he had pissed in his pants two more times.

Regardless of the discomfort, Izuku did not move an inch.

His patience paid off when an armored vehicle, guarded by a few more heavily armored vehicles, entered the area that he was overlooking.

He could see within his scope the target that he was tasked to eliminate.

Izuku adjusted his scope before removing the safety of his rifle.

Izuku steady his rifle. He took a deep breath before pulling the trigger.

A muffled bang echoed in his area as a .50 caliber bullet was fired from the barrel of his sniper rifle.

Izuku watched passively as the .50 caliber bullet punched through the feeble bullet proof glass.

Bullet proof glass is good and all, but having a large bullet traveling at the speed of sound tends to punch through everything that is not design to stop such projectile.

The vehicle that held his target skidded to a stop as the remaining occupants of the vehicle extracted a corpse from within.

Izuku let out a sigh as he confirmed the take down of his intended target.

Izuku stayed on his position for a few more hours. He could sense that the other snipers in the area are searching for him.

Izuku was half tempted to take down those six snipers but decided against it.

A sniper rifle was never meant for rapid fire.

A battle between snipers is determined by their accuracy and their swiftness to fire.

Izuku guessed that he could drop at least three snipers, four at most, before the other snipers could locate and eliminate him. Hence, he stayed his hand and waited for them to move from their positions.

It took three hours before all the hostiles left his immediate vicinity, and only then did Izuku move from his position.

Izuku smelled like rotten pissed, but the mission was accomplished, nothing else matters.

(Scene Change)

Izuku hated fighting in the jungle.

In jungle warfare, the vicinity is humid as fuck, there are too many places to be used for cover, distractions are abound in every corner, and there are more things in the jungle that could kill or harm him than the one he was ordered to kill.

Izuku was not, is not, and would never be fond of fighting in jungles.

That's why he hated his current position.

Izuku and his squad were making a retreat out of the Amazon forest while being shot at by the local militia. He had been in this situation more times than he would like, and if they were not extracting a high valued asset in the God-forsaken jungle, he and his squad would have torn those insurgence to pieces.

Unfortunately, the asset was a live one, and as much as Izuku wanted to leave said asset to his fate, the asset was an asshole, professional courtesy dictates that he and his comrades deliver the asset to safety.

Izuku hates dealing with American politicians. Most of them are cunts.

Izuku stopped running for a second as he turned around and returned fire towards there pursuers. Izuku bit his lips in irritation.

He was aiming to drop at least three but he only got one. His two other targets were smart enough to dive towards the nearest tree to avoid his bullets.

"Fuck!" Izuku grunted in irritation as he fired 10 more bullets, none hitting any of the targets as the trees in front of him stopped his bullets cold.

Wood can stop anything if they are thick enough, and trees in the amazon are extra thick.

"Keep moving, Angel." The Colonel, the highest ranking soldier in the squad, ordered harshly as he proceeded to fire his own bullets.

Bullets that were coming out of his fingers.

The Colonel's bullets were strong enough to blast through the thick wood with ease, but even with that, only a handful was taken down.

"Sir, go ahead, I'll catch up." Izuku told his commanding officer as he secured his rifle to his back. Taking a deep breath, Izuku slammed both his fist together.

A millisecond later, his fist was covered in amber flames, while a crown of same colored flames appeared on his forehead.

The Colonel smiled at the sight of his best friend using his hated Quirk. "Don't die, Angel." The Colonel ordered as rushed back to the asset and his other subordinate.

"Not planning to, Frank." Izuku replied, his voice deeper than normal. With a snap of the finger, an explosion of orange flame appeared in front.

When the explosion receded, a liger that was several times larger than Izuku appeared before him. The mane of the liger resembled that of emerald electricity crackling wildly around its upper body. The rest of its body was pure white with black stripes cascading throughout its body. Furthermore, the liger was adorn with green armor on its legs as well as on its forehead. Strangely enough, there was an emblem of two dragons devouring each other engrave on the armor on its forehead.

"Let's give them a reception, Yamikumo." Izuku stated to his companion as he was peppered with projectiles ranging from bullets to Quirk related attacks.

The liger that was now known as Yamikumo let out a ferocious roar. The roar caused the electricity upon its mane to grow exponentially until it covered Izuku.

The electric barrier that the liger generated block every projectile aim at Izuku.

As his trusted companion defended him, Izuku began, he began calculating the immediate position of his attackers. Izuku based his assumption from the angle of the attacks that were being disperse from his liger's shield.

Satisfied with his calculation, Izuku began his counter attack.

Izuku raised his left hand and pointed his middle and index fingers at his attackers. The tips of his fingers glowed bright orange before a beam of amber fire was shot out of his two extended fingers. The amber beam flew swiftly and pierce through the lightning shield as if it was not there. The amber beam hit and pierce through a thick tree like hot knife through butter. Izuku smiled in grim satisfaction as he saw a body fell to the ground.

Izuku began pointing at where he assumed his attackers were, and with each point, a beam of orange fire was shot out of his extended fingers. Each beam killed everything they pierced as the attacked punched through vital organs.

It took Izuku at least eight seconds to clear the area of hostiles.

All hostiles but one.

A golem made of wood and at least seven meters in height charged towards Izuku with hostile intentions. Said golem was roaring in anger as it crashed onto the shield that Izuku's liger created.

The liger stood unflinching. In fact, it looked disinterested as the golem attempted to overpower the shiled that it created.

Izuku watched in apathy as the golem tried to punch his was through his companion's shield, but it was to no avail. Yamikumo and its shield held firm..

When the golem tried to wind up a massive punch for a stronger blow, Izuku beat it to the punch, literally. Izuku threw a punch, and in that punch, he unleashed a massive wave of orange flames that incinerated the wood golem on impact.

Strangely enough, only the wood golem was incinerated. The surrounding woodland remained untouched.

Strangely enough, when the wood golem was incinerated, from its ashes emerged a man.

Izuku did not register the outward appearance of the man. He merely gave a mental order to Yamikumo.

With a growl, Yamikumo lunged at the defenseless man, its jaw's open and fangs bared.

With an apathetic look, Izuku watched as Yamikumo bit the hostiles head clean off.

With every hostiles cleared, Izuku dismissed Yamikumo. The liger was dispersed in a flash of orange flames. With the hostiles neutralize, Izuku rushed back to his squad.

(Scene Change)

Izuku hated being deployed in urban areas.

In general, Izuku hated operating in areas that are heavily populated by civilians.

He is a soldier, and those living in the area would know the reason why he was within their area.

Izuku hated being the reason of distress of the local residence.

That, and because urban areas tend to have large infrastructures that any half-decent cunt can use for cover or shelter. Not to mention, urban areas are a snipers wet dream. The number of elevated buildings that can be used as vantage points is a nightmare to comprehend.

Also, the infrastructure in urbanize areas could be used as a weapon.

Regardless of how powerful a person is, there are very little counters against tons of concrete and rebar that are falling from the sky.

Another thing that Izuku hated in working in urban areas…

"Found another one." Izuku announced as he carefully removed a trash can from a street corner.

Under the trash can was an Improvise Explosive Device, and it was currently counting down.

…urban areas are playgrounds for crazy bombers.

"Cover me." Izuku ordered as he fished out his bomb defusal kit from his gear.

The two soldiers with him stood ready behind him.

Izuku, giving them an appreciative smile, began the defusal process.

Izuku hated working with bombs. He hated making bombs, using bombs, or defusing bombs, but he is a damn good explosives expert.

'From experience.' Izuku thought bitterly as he made quick work of the IED.

In a matter of a minute, Izuku dissected the IED and rendered it useless.

After the dissection, Izuku isolated the batter and charge of the IED while leaving the other parts to the ground.

An IED is useless without its explosive charge and battery.

"Defusal successful." Izuku announced as he gestured his companion to move out. "Let's go find a few more."

And that was basically Izuku's day. He went around the city, defusing IEDs scattered around the area,

He hated this part of the job, for the single reason that those around him were looking at him and companions with distrustful eyes.

Izuku could not find it within himself to blame them.

Afghanistan had been a warzone, in one form or another, since 2001. The locales are probably distrustful of any foreign soldiers.

"Part of the job I guess." Izuku whispered to himself as he defused his 17 bomb of the day.

"How many bombs are there in this shithole?" One of his companions complained in frustration and irritation.

"From the size of the city, probably thousands." Izuku answered his companion as he set out towards another area. "10 more and our quota for the day is complete." Izuku told his companions as he gestured them to an alley between two barely standing buildings.

In a matter of second, Izuku found another bomb precariously positioned in the alley. With a remarkable, hidden sense of irritation, Izuku began diffusing the bomb.

Izuku was barely able to finish when he whispered a single word.

"Yamikumo!"

In a millisecond, Izuku's companion burst into existence in a flash of amber flame. Yamikumo, at the moment, had a flame or purple flames, and it was adorned with purple armor.

The second Yamikumo manifested, the liger jumped towards Izuku's companions. On mid-jump, a duplicate of Yamikumo appeared beside the original, and both ligers dragged the two startled soldiers out of the alley.

A second late, dual explosions, one in each building, tore through the area as the two already desolated building collapsed. Izuku could only look up as concrete fell towards him.

"I hate bombs." Izuku grumbled to himself as he activated his Quirk, the crown of orange flames flashing to life on his forehead.

With an ease born from hours of practice and hours of combat, Izuku erected a barrier of amber flames over himself. Izuku watched with disinterest as the concrete was reduce to ash and dust the moment they fell upon his shield.

"Start hunting." Izuku ordered quietly.

From where he stood guard, Yamikumo growled as intense purple flames roared in intensity around the liger. In a matter of seconds and in multiple flashes of purple flames, several copies of Yamikumo appeared

In a single second, three dozen ligers, all having flames of purple as their mane and all adorned in purple armor, populated the area.

With a reverberating roar, all but two ligers began to prowl the street with the intention of hunting the idiot who dared attempt to kill their partner.

For Izuku's part, he increase the intensity of the flame that he was producing the clear the rubble around him.

He still needed to diffuse seven more bombs to meet his quota.

The sooner he meets his quota, the sooner he could get back to base and rest.

(Scene Change)

"Do we really have to defend this drivel, Colonel?" Izuku asked dispassionately as the ground beneath shook and the sound of artillery shell exploding roared through the walls of their temporary bunker.

"Yes, we do Lieutenant." Colonel Yaoyorozu, a giant, muscular man with scars throughout his body, answered bluntly.

"Fuck." Izuku said with resignation. "You suck at picking bunkers." Izuku told his superior.

"For the record, I didn't choose this place, the General Staff did." The Colonel replied as he offered a canteen to his subordinate.

Izuku took the canteen and greedily drunk from it. With the canteen empty, he handed it back to his superior. "I know, but blaming you is better than blaming General Yotsuba."

The Colonel rolled his eyes at that replied. "I forgot that you are part of the General's cult."

Izuku could only offer a smile to that. "Some worship Jesus, some worship Allah, some worship Buddha, I worship General Yotsuba Tatsuya." Izuku stated with his shoulders squared and chest puffed out. "At least I know he exists."

The Colonel snorted, though some of his rumored waned when a particular loud explosion shook their makeshift bunker. "Has Yamikumo-chan found the enemy?" The Colonel inquired, feeling a bit irritated with the continuous sound of artillery barrage.

Izuku closed his eyes for a moment before answering. "30 seconds." Izuku answered before he pulled an object from his back.

The object that he pulled out from his back was a broken long sword.

The broken long sword did not have a complete blade, only the ricasso. The ricasso measured up to 5 inches in length and 2 and a half inches in width. One end of the ricasso has an engraving of a liger with the wings of the dragon, on the other end of the ricasso was an engraving of a liger shrouded in flames.

The cross guard from end to end measure ten inches in length and a half inch in width. There were engravings of flames etched from shoulder to shoulder of the cross guard. A liger's head was engrave upon the center guard of the broken sword.

The handle of the blade was ten inches in length and was wrapped in black leather. Furthermore, the handled was fluted to provide a stronger grip. The pommel of the handle was two inches in length and it resembled that of a Queen's crown.

Overall, the object had a total length of 17 and a half inches.

Seeing the familiar sword handle, Colonel Yaoyorozu smiled in bloodlust.

"So the Angel of Death deigns to grace the battlefield." Colonel Yaoyorozu stated with an excited smile.

Izuku grimaced at that name. "I hate being called that name." Sharing an epithet with a Nazi War Criminal was something that Izuku hated with a passion. "Why can't I have a cool nickname like the Devil of the Rhine or something?"

"Major Tanya von Degurechaff had beaten you for that name." The Colonel reminded him. "You can always challenge her for it."

Izuku grimaced at that idea. "I'd rather charged towards artillery fire with nothing but a shovel and a vegetable peeler." Izuku was not dumb enough to fight Germany's White Silver or a stupid epithet. "Still, if you are going to call me a name, I'd rather you use the Eastern Lion or the Silent Hunter."

The Colonel adopted a look of mocking contemplation before snorting. "Angel of Death has a better ring to it, and it's more badass." The Colonel laughed as Izuku gave him an irritated look.

"Fuck you." Izuku grumbled under his breath before he stood straight to his feet. "Permission to engage and eliminate targets?" Izuku asked, voice serious and grave.

"Granted." Colonel Yaoyorozu answered, voice lacking the humor that it held earlier ago.

With a nod, Izuku disappeared in a flash of amber.

What replaced Izuku was Yamikumo the Liger. This time around, Yamikumo had indigo flames for a mane and her armored had the same color.

The Colonel and Yamikumo looked at each other for a solid second before the liger unceremoniously flopped on her belly.

The Colonel merely offered the creature a nod.

A few dozen miles from the bunker where he previously hid, Izuku stood several dozen meters across a group of militia. The Militia group were using outdated but functional artillery to bombard the base of operation that his battalion was using as shelter.

He cannot, in good conscious, have that.

Gripping the hilt of the broken sword, Izuku whispered a name as he activated his Quirk.

"Escalus."

Orange flames as brilliant as diamonds erupted from the guard to the ricasso, and several few inches after that.

When the flames receded, the once broken sword was given new life. From the flash of orange flames, a steel that resembled amber obsidian was born. The blade that manifested was double-edged, and a cascade of pattern flames was rippling throughout its body.

The blade was now 38 inches in length. Overall, Izuku was now wielding a long sword measuring exactly 50 and a half inches.

Hefting the Longsword over his head, and with this action, the blade was bathed with orange flames as brilliant and radiant as the stars. Izuku swung his blade towards the militia.

A tidal wave of brilliant orange flames overcame the militia in a second.

With a single stroke, Izuku ended the hostiles that were dumb enough to threaten him and his comrades.

With no more hostilities in the area, Izuku swung Escalus to the side. The amber-steel blade disappeared with his swing, leaving only the handle and ricasso. Securing his weapon on his back, Izuku made his way back to the bunker.

Maybe this time, he can have two hours' worth of sleep before tomorrow's deployment.

(Scene Change)

"When was the last time you took a vacation?" Colonel Yaoyorozu asked his favorite subordinate and best friend as he and Izuku walked towards a cargo plane.

The good Colonel was carrying a duffle bag while Izuku was carrying his trusted sniper.

"When my Quirk first activated." Izuku answered his superior and best friend. "Mind you, General Yotsuba had to drag my ass kicking and screaming out of Iran?"

"So three years ago." Colonel Yaoyorozu mused before a laughed escapes his lips. "And I remember that! Maya-dono's laughter was glorious."

Izuku shuddered at the mention of that name. "Not my finest moment." Izuku admitted to himself.

"But seriously brother, you are overdue for some R&R." Colonel Yaoyorozu said as he looked at his friend in the corner of his eye.

"I'll get R&R when I'm dead." Izuku stated dismissively. "And without you here, the rest of those fucks would probably mess things up, and it took us two months to pacify the insurrection here. I'd rather not have to fight the cunts here twice."

Colonel Yaoyorozu conceded at that. His people were competent, but Lieutenant Midoriya Izuku is second only to General Yotsuba Tatsuya in terms of competent and ability.

After all, both of them are Strategic Type level soldiers, with Izuku being a named [Apostle].

The less said about General Yotsuba Tatsuya's destructive capabilities, the better. There was a reason why there was religion that revolves around Japan's youngest and most capable General. There was a reason why a soldier of Izuku's caliber worship the ground the man walks on.

"Still, you need a well deserve vacation. When was the last time you visited our country?"

"I'll go back to Japan when those damn politicians finally gives us an order to put down that sorry for an excuse of a Civil War." Izuku growled in annoyance. "Are Regime alone had put down five civil wars, none of them being on our country. I would love to put down the civil war taking place in our country."

Colonel Yaoyorozu had a solemn look on his face. He agreed with his friend. As much as the politicians back home denies it, Japan was currently embroiled in Civil War, and it irked every soldier in Japan that the military could not interfere because of a bullshit law.

Japan's military could have easily ended the Civil War back home in a month, but because the Heroes were handling it, the Civil War had been going on for more than three years now.

"Well here we are." Izuku announced suddenly, interrupting the Colonel's train of thought. "I'll see you in a month, Colonel." Izuku stated as he saluted his superior.

The Colonel saluted right back. "Stay alive until then." Colonel ordered his best friend.

The two looked at each other for a few seconds before they both laugh and hugged each other.

"Have fun with the family, Frank." Izuku whispered to his friend. "Tell the kids I said hi!"

"Don't overwork yourself, brother." Frank exclaimed as he patted his friend on the back.

The two pulled themselves of each other as Colonel Nono 'Frank' Yaoyorozu walked towards the cargo plane that was headed to Japan.

Izuku, for his part, made his way back to his barracks.

If Izuku stayed for a few more second, he would have heard the worst nine words that he could ever have heard uttered by his commander.

"Maybe I should recommend him to the War College." Frank mused. "He is overdue for a promotion."


A story I come up with after watching the Saga of Tanya the Evil.

Speaking of which, do you guys know where I can find Fan Translation of the light novel of the Saga of Tanya the Evil. I fell in love with the series.

Don't expect quick updates for this fic, I have other priorities.

On one hand, I think I found a job after two months of searching. To the readers who has experience working in logistics, any advice for someone who has the chance to work in a logistics.

Well read, enjoy, and review.