Blood and bones and heroism
is a My Hero Academia fanfic by Elia41 in which, rather than getting a Quirk, Izuku finds out about magic and decides to use it to become a Hero specialized in Blood Magic and casting spells through the Major and Minor Arcana.
Tropes contained in Blood and bones and heroism:
- Adaptive Ability: After discovering she has an affinity for the Natural Sphere, Setsuna decides to walk its Unseen Path, which teaches Adaptation magic.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Courtesy of All Might, Izuku ends in Class 1-B so not to be with Bakugo. However, the classes are much more mixed than usual, with Momo, Eijiro, Mina and several others ending in 1-B while 1-A welcomes instead Tetsutetsu, Kuroiro, and Shishida among others. As such, relationships are much different from cannon.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Class 1-A may have its pride but, if it gets Izuku to use the Ritual of Life's Spiral to heal Tensei, Tenya has no problem kowtowing to him.
- Always in Class One: Averted. This time, Izuku is in Class 1-B, along with Neito Monoma and Itsuka Kendo. However, since the classes were more shuffled than in canon, 1-A characters like Eijiro Kirishima and Momo Yaoyorozu are also in 1-B.
- An Arm and a Leg: Izuku cuts both of the Nomu's arms before dealing it the final blow by beheading it with the Strength sword, fittingly powered by the Queen of Hearts. Naturally, he had to quote Alice in Wonderland.
- And There Was Much Rejoicing: After Hitoshi finally ousts Bakugo from the arena, everyone in the stadium cheers him on, especially Class 1-B. Hitoshi, being unused to this kind of response, finds it mildly uncomfortable.
- Back-to-Back Badasses: During the USJ Incident, Vlad King and Eraserhead team up to fight the thugs while Thirteen and the students escape, taking dozens in the blink of an eye. Their teamwork is so seamless the students take a moment to appreciate the show.
- Background Magic Field: Each Sphere of magic focuses on the manipulation of a form of energy generated by four places that act as such. However, said energy is naturally too diluted to use, so mages have to use a catalyst made of the appropriate focusing material to harness it.
- The Nethereal Sphere draws from the energy originating from other dimensions and is focused by bone.
- The Celestial Sphere draws from the energy of the stars and celestial bodies and is focused by metal.
- The Natural Sphere draws from the energy generated by Earth's biosphere and is focused by wood.
- The Elemental Sphere draws from the energy generated by Earth's geosphere and is focused by mineral.
- Bad Powers, Good People: Blood Magic is generally considered evil, barring a handful of exceptions. Izuku's use of the magic involves mutilation with a bone scalpel, yet he is a kind teenager aiming to become a Hero.
- Bar Brawl: Inko once got into one... and beat half the patrons with her Quirk and some good Deadly Dodging. It was so impressive All Might bought her a drink and, one thing leading to another, they unknowingly conceived Izuku.
- Barrier Warrior: The World, from the Major Arcana, generates a forcefield. Izuku combines it with the King of Hearts to generate a protective barrier to shield Kirishima from the Zero Pointer.
- Better Than New: courtesy of the Ritual of Life's Spiral, Eraserhead's recovery goes beyond mere wound-mending and body purification. His scars also disappear - all of them - and he feels as energized as if he'd received a full night of sleep and ate a complete meal. To top it off, the lingering Nethereal energy is still acting according to the Ritual's instruction. His wounds heal so fast they don't have time to bleed.
- Blood from the Mouth: When the Nomu punches Izuku, it breaks his ribs and one of them punctures his lung, causing blood to flow in his airways.
- Blood Magic: Naturally. However, Izuku uses Defensive Blood magic, which revolves around healing and enhancement by carving Enochian sigils on the target's skin.
- Book Dumb: in canon, Eijiro isn't very bright. In the story, it is Justified in that he suffers from surface dyslexia... and his head injuries have worsened it, which makes him pretty much unable to read without the words blurring. He outright calls himself illiterate during the Sport Festival.
- Borrowed Biometric Bypass: Downplayed. Blood binding is the magical equivalent of gene-based biometric locking so, even though the margin of error is a 50% genetic match - understand, first degree relatives - borrowing or replicating genes is difficult without a Quirk, and those who can use blood-bound items outside their owner are naturally limited in number.
- Cards of Power: Cardinal magic lets the user cast spells by randomly drawing cards from the Major and Minor Arcana and combining them for a variety of effects.
- Centipede's Dilemma: Neito runs into this after studying optics. Now, he has to think about the light's wavelength and other details and it makes his manpulations rather clumsy.
- Children Forced to Kill: Izuku's prediction concerning the USJ included casualties. He was right. Though the students only suffered varrying degrees of injuries, the Villain side lost over one hundred men, with Shiozaki killing at least twenty and Todoroki's freezing of the Flood Zone causing thirty-five certified deaths, with five more rescued and one not expected to survive.
- Combat Medic: Izuku picked Defensive Blood magic specifically because it could be used for healing. However, he is perfectly willing and able to hit back if he has to.
- Commonality Connection: Fumikage Tokoyami and Reiko Yanagi bond over their fondness for gloomy and scary stories. Neito and Izuku, meanwhile, bond over their fondness for understanding Quirks.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Because of the nature of his Quirk, any duel involving Hitoshi is over the moment he gets his opponent under his thrall. During the Sport Festival, it results in some really short fights.
- Cuteness Proximity: The very first thing Setsuna tells Izuku when she sees him is that he's cute.
- Determinator: Izuku is stubborn. It didn't matter that he couldn't use his magic in Aldera, he still stood between Bakugo and his targets. In U.A, he takes a brutal beating from his bully, asks him if he's done, then uses Blood Magic to heal himself like nothing happened. His earns him the respect of his entire class.
- The mere fact that Izuku is a mage is due to this. Being the Last of His Kind, Izuku has no one to teach him. This means that all his skills with Blood and Cardinal magic are entirely self-taught by necessity. Izuku persistantly trained a brand new kind of power for the sole reason he wasn't born with one and refused to remain powerless if given a chance.
- Didn't Think This Through: Shigaraki and Kurogiri were smart enough to scatter the students across the various Disaster Zones. They were less so to pay no mind to their Quirks. End result: Shoto Todoroki is sent to the Flood Zone and freezes it with a finger snap, Katsuki Bakugo is sent to the Conflagration Zone and the heat massively amplifies his blasts and Fumikage Tokoyami ends in the Downpour Zone, where the ambiant darkness massively empowers Dark Shadow. Curb-Stomp Battle ensues.
- Dishing Out Dirt: After discovering he has an affinity for the Elemental Sphere, Eijiro chooses to walk its Empyreal Path, which teaches Earth magic.
- Distracted by the Sexy: When faced with Momo and Itsuka during the Battle Trial, Mineta is distracted by the pair's looks, allowing them to easily defeat him.
- Dual Wielding: Izuku owns a bone knife and scalpel and Strength from the Major Arcana generates a sword of raw magic. Izuku wields a combination of them on occasion.
- Dungeon Bypass: Thanks to Softening and Izuku's buffs, Neito has enough strength to scale the wall of the building during the Battle Trial, allowing the pair to avoid Bakugo and quickly reach the bomb.
- Easy Amnesia: Averted, the symptoms are played realistically. Eijiro suffers from partial amnesia following his beating by the Nomu, but Mina quotes Recovery Girl on how the injuries are specifically located in the part of his brain that processes memories, and they may return as he heals.
- Fastball Special: How do you deal with long-range fighters when your Quirk is Anti-Gravity and your teammate's Quirk is Steel? Step one: make your teammate weightless. Step two: toss him.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Kirishima befriends and defends Izuku after Izuku saved him from the Zero Pointer.
- Godzilla Threshold:
- Even though they know Vlad King will not be happy with them learning magic, Neito and Setsuna still decide to use it during the USJ, deeming the situation bad enough they have to pull all stops. After the fight, he gives them short detention for learning it, but makes a point to clarify that he is not punishing them for using it in the battle.
- Vlad gave the students permission to fight and authorized lethal force, because after all, Izuku's prediction did include casualties.
- Handicapped Badass: even though it is a mental disability, dyslexia still counts as a handicap - and a nasty one. It doesn't stop Eijiro from trying to be a Hero.
- History Repeats: All Might looks at Izuku and Mirio - a muscular blonde with One for All and a brainy green-haired teen - and can't help but compare them to himself with Sir Nighteye.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Usually, Todoroki freezing an entire building is instant-win for his team. When it freezes the maze of thorn Shiozaki grew after she and Awase put the bomb in the next floor, it becomes a much bigger problem. Because he refuses to use his flames, Shoto and his teammate lose by time-out.
- How Do I Shot Web?: After receiving One for All, Mirio has trouble using it, and needs Izuku's analysis and advice to master it and combine it with Permeation.
- I Take Offense to That Last One: Shoto doesn't mind Endeavor being called a "pyromaniac abuser". This one's pretty spot-on. But calling his mother a "hysterical nutjob"? Absolutely not!
- Language of Magic: Enochian serves this purpose, especially written. Power Loader outright calls it a programming language for magical energy.
- Laser Blade: The Strength Arcana generates a sword of pure magic. Depending which Minor Arcana powers it, it can be bigger than Izuku, or he can wield two at once with more hovering in his back when the first break.
- Last of His Kind: As far as Izuku knows, he is the only mage on Earth. When he visits the Library, the Librarian tells him they haven't had visitors in two centuries. Later Averted when Neito Monoma and Setsuna Tokage decide to disobey Vlad King and learn magic as well. Then, after several days of observation and experimentation, Nezu decides to let Hero students study it in earnest once workplace studies are over.
- Light 'em Up: After discovering he has an affinity for the Celestial Sphere, Neito decides to walk its Primal Path, which teaches Light magic.
- Made of Iron: Between Bakugo's beatings and his self-mutilation to use Blood Magic, Izuku is incredibly tough for someone without a Durability Quirk.
- Mage Marksman: When combining Strength, which generates a Laser Blade and the Clubs suite, which increases reach, Izuku gets a bone bow that fires energy arrows. He uses it to shoot down the winged Nomu, who was flying away with Shoto.
- The Magic Comes Back: The plot revolves around Izuku rediscovering magic in a world where it had faded from use, with others eventually following.
- Magic Missile Storm: The Diamond Suite multiplies the effect of the Major Arcana. Combining it with offensive cards such as The Devil, The Moon or The Fool generates several elemental blasts at once.
- Magically Inept Fighter: Mirio and All Might have close to no affinity at all for magic, with the Ritual of Affinity barely lighting up. Given they both have One for All, this isn't a problem and Mirio outright says he doesn't need magic. All Might, on the other hand, is slightly disappointed. Between being naturally Quirkless and One for All fading, knowing magic would have helped...
- Muggles Do It Better: Izuku surmises this is why people stopped using magic. Over the years, technology caught up with it and rendered it obsolete until it completely vanished.
- Never Bring a Knife to a Fist Fight: Inverted twice:
- A sword has a greater reach than a knife, and Mirio cannot phase through this one. This makes disarming Izuku a much bigger problem... and god help him when the Minor Arcana is the Diamond Suite and his kohai generates several of them.
- Happens in the USJ incident. Normally, Shigaraki's Decay should rot away any knife he touches, including Izuku's bone knife. But the weapon is enchanted and Decay doesn't eat through all the enhancements in time. Izuku proceeds to injure both of his hands, stab him and nearly open his throat, much to Shigaraki's shock.
- The Nicknamer: As in canon, Ibara calls the people she knows according to Biblical and religious motifs. Izuku's self-sacrificing nature and use of Blood Magic earns him the title of Lamb of God while Shoto's mastery of ice gets him labeled as the Horseman of Famine. Because Awase offered her his sweater in the frozen building, Ibara compares him to Saint Martin while Bakugo's brutality earns him the label of the Horseman of War.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Courtesy of Bakugo, Izuku suffers from more than a few and actually uses them to train Blood Magic. His classmates are horrified to learn it.
- Not the Intended Use: Adaptation magic is meant to be used to alter the body in order to make it more resilient. Setsuna realizes that she can use the base principle of Adaptation to heal someone - by altering Thirteen's skin so it is back to uninjured.
- No-Sell: Thanks to his use of Blood Magic, Izuku is able to overpower Stain's Quirk, to his and Shoto's surprise. He does it by using the Nethereal energy to cleanse himself of the Quirk.
- Now, Let Me Carry You: During the Entrance Exam, Izuku shields Kirishima from the Zero Pointer. During the Quirk Assessment Test, Bakugo beats Izuku, who uses Blood Magic to heal himself. When his bully goes for Round Two, Kirishima steps between them with these words:"During the Entrance Exam, you summoned a barrier to protect me. My turn to be your shield."
- Off with His Head!: Izuku cuts both of the Nomu's arms before dealing it the final blow by beheading it with the Strength sword, fittingly powered by the Queen of Hearts. Naturally, he had to quote Alice in Wonderland.
- No-Sell: Mirio cannot phase through energy. When Izuku uses the Strength magic sword, Mirio quickly finds himself in trouble.
- Post-Modern Magik: Nezu's goal and the reason he allows magic to be studied in UA. Observing the mechanisms behind Izuku's magic allowed everyone to figure several points, namely that magic is an energy coming from a Background Magic Field, that Enochian functions as the source code of Reality - to the point Power Loader compares its sigils to computer coding - that Blood Magic functions by transmuting Nethereal energy into nutrients and oxygen to boost the body and Celestial energy affects electromagnetism when used for Light magic. The mages of UA are thus treating magic like a science rather than an art.
- Power-Strain Blackout: though the Ritual of Life's Spiral successfully heals Eraserhead, is proves too draining for Izuku, who passes from the strain. A later medical checkup reveals he looks like he fasted for several days despite performing the Ritual in decent health.
- Punctuated Pounding: Bakugo against Neito has the copycat not only blow his opponent with his own explosions, but also make a point of telling him the Extreme Mêlée Revenge is payback for bullying Izuku by punctuating the words with exploding punches.
- Reality Warper: Magic is explicitly said to be the art of "telling Reality how to behave." More exactly, it cheats the laws of physics.
- Scientifically Understandable Sorcery: study of Nethereal energy following the Ritual of Life's Spiral reveals that magical energy still follows the laws of physics to an extend. The Healing Factor comes from the energy boosting the cells' activities and transmuting into what nutrients they need to work. Also, coming from a different dimension, Nethereal energy is naturally stored within the mage's (Izuku's) body and overusing it leaves the body drained as it acts as a conduit between the different dimensions.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: compared to Aizawa, Vlad King looks much more reasonable. When punishing Neito and Setsuna, he pointedly doesn't punish them for studying magic but for breaking his rules, and uses the occasion to give them a lesson on the pros and cons of rule-breaking. He is also on board with Nezu's plan to use Izuku, Neito, Setsuna and whichever of their students decides to study Elemental Sphere to further their knowledge of magic. Finally, when Eijiro turns to suffer from aggravated surface dyslexia, he quickly points how arrangements can be made to accomodate him.
- Nezu shows both logic and caution when handling magic. Between his carefulness toward the spreading of its knowledge and his consideration of the Ritual of Life's Spiral's drawbacks, his attitude gets praise from Tenma Iida, Tenya and Tensei's father.
- Related in the Adaptation: in cannon, Juzo Honenuki and Ectoplasm only have (that we know) a lipless mouth in common. In story, Juzo is Ectoplasm's nephew. More importantly, All Might turns to be Izuku's biological father. However, given Izuku is the result of a one-night-stand, neither knew they were related and they only figured it when All Might successfully used Izuku's gene-locked tools, indicating the two of them are at least first-degree relatives.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- When Izuku's Tarot prediction for the USJ training gives all but the first Arcana reversed - which means their signification is harmful - and especially after Izuku gives them the signification of said Arcana, the entirety of Class 1-B seriously considers outright skipping the class, and only agree to go after Vlad King reassures them he will inform Nezu of the prediction and personally take several safety measures. Even then, Manga Fukidashi decides to skip by faking illness.
- Faced with a fully-healed Izuku who just beheaded the Nomu and a newcomer who looks way too much like All Might for comfort, Shigaraki and Kurogiri decide to hightail it, abandoning the rest of the thugs to their fate.
- Shout-Out: Izuku's new card-shuffling device looks a lot like a Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Disk, only without the board. Naturally, Setsuna lampshades it.
- So Proud of You: He will never say it to his face because he used his ice, but Endeavor finds Shoto flash-freezing the entirety of the Flood Zone genuinely impressive and even has a picture of it.
- Squishy Wizard: Shigaraki's big mistake against Izuku was thinking this trope was Played Straight. Unfortunately, as one reviewer said, Izuku double-classed and is more physically-inclined than your average spellcaster.
- Stealth Expert: The Hermit, from the Major Arcana, generates a Perception Filter Izuku uses to avoid detection.
- Strategy Versus Tactics: Neito and Izuku. Because Cardinal magic is random, Izuku learned to adapt and make plans on the fly. Neito, on the other hand, is adept at using the tools (Quirks) at his disposition to make lasting plans to fullfil his objectives. When the pair is teamed during the Battle Trial, Izuku supplies the tools while Neito comes up with the winning strategy.
- Tarot Motifs: Izuku uses the Major and Minor Arcana as Cards of Power, but also to predict the future. Naturally, some characters come to be associated with specific arcanas.
- Izuku is the Magician. Thanks to him, The Magic Comes Back, and he is youthful and curious with a hidden talent.
- Eraserhead is the Hanged Man. Not only is he wearing a capture scarf around his neck, he is also lazy and quick to punish, and his healing from the Nomu's injuries required Izuku to sacrifice some of his health.
- Therapy Is for the Weak: At least, Endeavor believes so. Shoto disagrees and is seeing Hound Dog behind his back.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: after recovering from hjs injuries, Izuku uses Cardinal magic to get rid of the Nomu. His draw? First the Wheel of Fortune, which lets him draw more cards. The five cards he then gets are Justice, The Tower, The Moon, The Sun and The Star. Cue an onslaught of spells that would have demonished anyone... except the Nomu, who manages to survive.
- These Hands Have Killed: Ibara is deeply distraught about the lives she took and is regularly praying to be forgiven. Her uncle, a priest, comforts her.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Everyone agrees that The Tower, Strength, The Devil, The Hanged Man and The Nameless Arcana together mean something really bad will happen regardless how you read the cards, and they better be ready when it comes.
- True Companions: Class 1-B is much closer-knit than Class 1-A. During the Sport Festival, they work together through the Obstacle Course and Cavalry Battle, deciding between themselves who gets to fight in the duels and splitting the headbands accordingly. While the Pros in attendance disapprove to varrying degrees, Present Mic points that teamwork is a vital part of Pro Heroism - and Class 1-B demonstrates how effective it can be.
- Villainous Respect: Even though Izuku's definition of Heroism differs from Stain's, the Hero Killer nonetheless respects his reasons for becoming a Hero - that is, to not let another suffer as he did - and the fact he made The Magic Comes Back to compensate for his Quirklessness.
- White Mage: Izuku evokes this picture with his focus on healing and enhancement and his costumes which, except for the triangles being green instead of red, reminds of the Final Fantasy Job Class. Funnily enough, the magic he harnesses is technically considered Black Magic and his fighting style makes him closer to the Red Mage.
- Willfully Weak: In order to keep people from learning about magic, Vlad King instructs Neito, Setsuna and Eijiro to not use it during the Sport Festival, forcing them to rely exclusively on their Quirks. Sadly, it also means Izuku is outright forbidden from participating since his Quicklessness would make the Festival unfair.
- Wrong Context Magic: In a world where eighty percent of the population has a Quirk, Izuku is the only one using magic. However, magic existed before and simply faded over the ages, and Izuku is merely rediscovering it.
- Your Mom: Trapped in Todoroki's glacier during the finale of the Sport Festival, Hitoshi decides to play one last card... and insults Shoto's parents. Shoto doesn't appreciate his mother being called a "hysterical nutjob" and answers - which allows Hitoshi to use his Quirk to walk him out and win. In Hitoshi's defense, he does apologize afterward and promises to not do it again.
