Fanfic / He Who Fights Monsters

Saizo: So, you like being a wimpy human?
Tsukune: It's why we come here, right?
Saizo: We should just kill them all… One day we will. When that day comes, will you remember which side you're on?
Tsukune: I'll never forget that.

He Who Fights Monsters is a Rosario + Vampire fanfic written by Hawker 748.

The story is about what might have happened to Tsukune if Moka had not crashed into him on the first day of Youkai Academy. While other fanfics generally try and keep the fanservice, comedy and flirting, this one is based around the horror side of the series, asking exactly how far someone would go to survive in an environment where the slightest flaw means weakness, followed shortly thereafter by painful death.

This story is complete.

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He Who Fights Monsters provides examples of:

• Abhorrent Admirer: Keito has one.
• Accidental Pervert: Tsukune mistakenly gropes Moka and accidentally removes her Rosario in chapter eight. What happens next is a massive shock for everyone.
• Adults Are Useless:
  • Tsukune points out that if the goal of the school is for humans and monsters to learn to coexist, and that they can be friends, they fail catastrophically. Students murder each other and look down on humans all the time, and are so insanely violent that the only way a human was able to last in the school was to become even worse than the monsters.
  • Tsukune also mentions how adults in his old human school look the other way when his old bully Hikaru does his usual torment due to his baseball talent.
• Aerosol Flamethrower: Tsukune's first weapon of choice.
• Anyone Can Die: Even main cast members from the series are not safe in this story, as demonstrated by Inner Moka, Ruby, and (implicitly) Kurumu.
• Armor-Piercing Question: "Are you sure you're human?"
• Ascended Extra: Keito was a minor villain who only appeared for one episode in the original series. Here her role has increased to main character and Tsukune's girlfriend.
• Asshole Victim: While Tsukune has quickly decided that turning to murdering anyone he fights is the best way to solve his problems, with the debatable exception of Inner Moka, pretty much everyone else he has fought did deserve what's coming to them due to the fact that they attacked Tsukune for little to unjustified reasons.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Tsukune briefly considers getting a gun. Then he realizes that even if he miraculously acquired one (Japan has extremely strict gun control laws), it would only be an equalizer until he ran out of bullets.
• Ax-Crazy: Tsukune becomes this and acknowledges when speaking to Headmaster.
• Badass Normal: Tsukune is a human who kills monsters.
• Battle Trophy: When Tsukune realizes he still has Moka's Rosario, Keito suggests keeping it and her panties as trophies, claiming he "fucked them both". He keeps the panties but throws away the Rosario.
• Black-and-Grey Morality: Averted, which is a little surprising for such a dark story.
• Break the Haughty: Figuratively and literally as Tsukune's old bully Hikaru was an incredibly smug and arrogant prick when he saw Tsukune again thinking that it's going to be usual same thing when he tries to bully him again only then to later be reduced to an anguished broken mess in the end when Tsukune proved to be no longer his favored victim he used to torment.
• Breaking Speech: Tsukune uses this on on the Headmaster by calling him out on his neglect and the stupidity of his plan for human-monster peace.
• Bring My Brown Pants: Tsukune accidentally makes a girl piss herself in fear when he almost kills her boyfriend, Hikaru, who is also his old bully.
• Bullying a Dragon: Tsukune's third fight opens up with what is essentially this. Though Tsukune is just a normal human, he's made it clear to the school population that he's more than willing to ruthlessly take someone out if he needs to do so. The person bullying him is aware of this.
• Chick Magnet: To Tsukune's confusion/dismay he gets more fangirls each time he kills someone.
• Combat Pragmatist: Tsukune, oh so much.
• Covered with Scars: Tsukune realizes this when Keito asks him where each came from.
• Crazy-Prepared: Tsukune spends all of his free time making himself ready for a potential life-or-death fight. He has multiple weapon caches in his room.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: All of them.
  • A dendroid is burnt to death with an Aerosol Flamethrower.
  • A golem is washed down the drain with a fire hose.
  • An unknown monster has his skull caved in with a desk.
  • Saizo's eyes are gouged out then he's tricked into running off a cliff.
  • Moka is partially drowned then impaled.
  • Ruby and her master burned to death when a fire got out of control.
  • Kanou Nagare is tricked into assuming his monster slug form then dehydrated by Tsukune dumping bags of salt on him.
• Cruel Mercy: After brutally breaking his old human bully Hikaru's arm and leg Tsukune chooses not to kill Hikaru, but not out of any noble intent, rather because he would get in trouble for killing a human and just leaves his former broken tormentor to his deserved fate of being crippled and unable to ever play Baseball destroyed being a fate that is most likely worse than death for Hikaru.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Tsukune's fight with Harunobu is this to the point its almost painful to read.
• Curiosity Killed the Cast: Saizo falls victim to this when he's curious about Tsukune's true form and attacks him to see what it is.
• Darker and Edgier: It's Rosario + Vampire without the fanservice and comedy.
• Dating Catwoman: Tsukune and Keito's relationship is something like this.
• Death by Adaptation: Inner Moka. And the last we see of Kurumu is her being taken to Keito's office for "punishment".
  • Not exactly the last thing so far. Tsukune finds Kurumu's hairband and bra in Keito's Enforcer office. It's all but implied, yet it makes one wonder what really happened to Kurumu there.
  • Ruby has recently joined them.
• Death by Childbirth: Keito claims she never knew her father, and her mother died soon after giving birth to her. Now consider she's a Jorōgumo. Anyone who knows the basics of some spider reproduction habits should realize this strongly implies that Keito's mother ate her father, and then Keito devoured her mother soon after hatching. It's no wonder she advises against she and Tsukune having children.
• Deconstruction Fic: The story is about what Tsukune would be like if he did not have Moka to protect him and what an ordinary human like him would have to do to survive in a place were everyone is much bigger, stronger and faster than he is.
• Defiant to the End: Tsukune, when he thinks he's about to die. Specifically, trapped and with his humanity revealed, Tsukune's grimly refuses to beg for his life when given the opportunity and decides to focus on working up enough saliva to spit in Keito's eyes before he dies.
• Demoted to Extra: Mizore's only appearance is a brief glare at Tsukune after his first murder. In fact, most of the main cast has gotten this treatment. The ones still alive that is.
• Disney Villain Death: Saizo is blinded then tricked into running off a cliff.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Many students fear Tsukune practices this. He quickly calls out Ichiro for deliberately running slower than him (whereas before Tsukune worked his ass off to run the fastest).
  • Averted with Tsukune for the most part- while he does kill practically everyone who fights him, it's often because that's the most practical solution.
  • The sole reason why Tsukune's old bully Hikaru went after him when Hikaru saw him again was simply because Tsukune was being a smartass to him and so Hikaru tries to put him in place.
• Distant Finale: The penultimate scene is only halfway through Tsukune's first year but the finale/epilogue implies that Tsukune has been a teacher at Youkai for several years.
• The Dog Bites Back: Tsukune does this to his old bully Hikaru when the latter bullies him when he comes back to the human world for vacation via breaking the bones in his right arm and leg.
• Don't Tell Mama: Tsukune's parents have no idea whatsoever about the things he's getting up to at school.
• The Dreaded: Tsukune as of chapter 9.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Ruby and Oyataka died when a fire started as a controlled burn to clear the field got out of control. Surprisingly, Tsukune had nothing to do with this one.
• Epic Fail: Tsukune's attempts to make Keito less interested in him (showing up late for their date, not complimenting her looks, taking her to see German Existential films) have the exact opposite effect.
• Evil Feels Good: While not evil per say, Tsukune felt a sliver of dark satisfaction after brutalizing his old bully and tormentor Hikaru despite saying he didn't want to do it.
• Exact Words: Tsukune assures Saizo that he'll "never forget" which side he's on.
• Eye Scream: Tsukune does this to Saizo.
• Face Death with Dignity: Tsukune's reaction to Keito learning that he's human.
• For Want Of A Nail: The whole story is kicked off by Tsukune not getting hit by Moka on her bike.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Tsukune sees this is the path he's on, and freaks out when called on it. The students and even the Enforcers agree, with Kuyou himself stepping out of Tsukune's way.
• For the Evulz: The simple reason of why Hikaru (Tsukune's old bully) loves making life hard for others including Tsukune is because he could and can get away with it, according to Tsukune.
• Genre Deconstruction: The fic's premise is based around the vicious acts a human would have to commit to stay safe in a population of monsters who hate humans and view murder and rape as acceptable.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: The Headmaster wanted a human who would bring peace between humans and monsters. He got Tsukune instead.
  • Or rather, thanks in part to his total lack of intervention or attempting to curb the insanely hostile population of the school, the only way a human could survive such an environment is to a) make alliances or friends with monsters, and through experiences, teaching them that humans are not so bad, or b) the human adapts to become even more hostile than the environment he was thrown into. Canon Tsukune was put on the former route, and this story's Tsukune went the latter.
• Groin Attack: Tsukune uses one of these to incapacitate Harunobu.
• Happily Married: Going by the epilogue, Tsukune and Keito.
• Hope Spot: In Chapter Eight, Moka approaches Tsukune, and is heavily implied to have been working up the courage to say that she likes him. There is even accidental groping, and the story has a moment where it just might turn out alright. They do not. Oh, God, they do not.
• He Who Fights Monsters: The whole basis of the plot is Tsukune slowly becoming this trope. Heck, it is the name of the story.
• Hero Killer: Tsukune is an Inverted version of this trope taken up a notch. He's the main protagonist but fits all of the qualifications from being The Dreaded, to having a high bodycount and killing a main character.
• Heroic BSoD: Tsukune has a breakdown after killing a fellow student for the first time.
• Hidden Depths: Keito LOVES German Existential films.
• Humans Are Bastards: Moka seems to hold this view, despite the multiple grisly murders that monsters inflict on each other all the time, and that Tsukune kills at least five people before killing her and all he gets from it is admiration. Hikaru, Tsukune's old bully fits this trope.
• Humans Are Warriors: Tsukune has quickly proven himself to be the most lethal student on campus so far, deadlier than even Inner Moka, who he kills. Tsukune even points out to his fellow students, after having killed two monsters, that humans are experts at fighting dirty.
• I Choose to Stay: Tsukune is finally given his transfer papers but immediately rips them up, telling the Headmaster that he's not getting rid of Tsukune that easily and that he no longer belongs among humans. He also does it to spite the Headmaster.
  • As of the final chapter, Tsukune has become a teacher at Yokai Academy.
• Improbable Weapon User: Tsukune has used hairspray and a lighter, a fire hose, a desk, a sharpened butter-knife, a chair leg, and several bags of salt to kill six students, including Inner Moka (not all at the same time; the challengers come one at a time), while defending himself.
• Improvised Weapon: Most of Tsukune's weapons are random objects he grabs in a fight.
• Interplay of Sex and Violence: After being sucker punched by his former bully, Tsukune notes that his girlfriend does worse during sex.
• Ironic Echo: Tsukune's old bully Hikaru taunts him with "You forgot your place." after sucker punching him, but becomes completely offguarded when Tsukune not only fights back by grabbing his attacking arm but brutally breaking it in response while he was forced down to the ground, the now anguished and pale milky Hikaru questioned how his old victim was able to do something like that with Tsukune responding with this:
  Tsukune: I'm afraid I may know my place...
• Ironic Name: Hikaru means "Light, Radiance", however, Hikaru is a monstrous bully who reveled in tormenting others including Tsukune and raped several girls.
• It Gets Easier: Tsukune initially feels guilty and disgusted when he is forced to kill an opponent. However, by the time he makes his fifth kill, he's barely able to restrain himself from murdering Yukari in cold blood when she gets angry at him for killing Moka. This line from chapter 11 highlights it nicely after he nearly killed his old bully Hikaru.
  Tsukune: When I have a problem with someone, my first thought isn't how to reason it out, it's about where to find the sharpest object and how much force it would take to get it through a ribcage!
• Jerk Jock: Tsukune's old bully Hikaru Takada is this as while he is not good academically he is said to be a gifted athlete in baseball and that is the reason why he is able to get away with making other people's lives miserable.
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: Tsukune first only kills when he has no other choice. In the final chapter he preempts an attack and kills the one plotting against him ahead of time.
• Karma Houdini: Tsukune sure feels like one. It's more a case of Blue-and-Orange Morality at work, since he has been protecting himself...
• Karma Houdini Warranty: According to Tsukune, his old bully Hikaru was able to get away with all of his atrocities and torment because of his talent in Baseball, so the adults tend to look the other way, leaving lots of people including Tsukune, his favorite target traumatized. However, a recently different Tsukune made sure that Hikaru actually suffers the consequences for trying to bully him again that results in Hikaru physically being crippled and unable to play Baseball anymore and his own group including his now ex-girlfriend abandoning him shortly afterwards.
• Kill It with Fire: Tsukune kills his first monster this way. Which leads to him...
• Kill It with Water: ...killing his second monster this way.
• Kirk Summation: The Headmaster tries to use one on Tsukune. He starts off by explaining that Tsukune has been a "disappointment". Tsukune tells him to shove it and counters with a Breaking Speech.
• Look Behind You: Tsukune starts his third fight by staring behind his opponent and saying, "What the hell?".
• Made of Iron: Tsukune.
• Meaningful Name: A slightly meta example. Chapter Eight is titled 'Rubicon,' and the phrase 'Crossing the Rubicon' is used to describe passing a point of no return. Chapter Eight is when Tsukune kills Moka.
• Memetic Badass: In-universe example. Over the course of the story, people come to believe Tsukune can and will kill anyone who even slightly annoys him, which he has to call out the rest of the cross-country team on - they were so afraid he would kill them if they passed him that all of them were going way slower than him, which to Tsukune defeats the purpose of the race.
  • A student asks if he really killed two vampires after jumping out a 10th story window. This was just the legend getting out of hand- it was one Vampire, Inner Moka, and it was the second story, not the tenth.
• Mugging the Monster: Hikaru (Tsukune's old bully) attempted to bully Tsukune upon seeing him again, however unfortunately for Hikaru, he is unaware of how different and hardened Tsukune is from his experiences at Yokai Academy and didn't realize that tormenting him would be Hikaru's biggest (and almost last) mistake of his life.
• Murder Is the Best Solution: This soon becomes Tsukune's default thought process. Every time he meets someone his first thought is how he can most efficiently kill them if it comes down to a fight. This is why he chooses to stay at Youkai Academy.
• My God, What Have I Done?: In the final chapter, Kasumi Aono breaks down after learning just what Tsukune has gone through, and that he endured all that hell and has been irrevocably changed because he did not want to disappoint her.
• My Greatest Failure: Tsukune is hellbent on becoming this for the Headmaster just out of spite.
• Mythology Gag: While not word for word, Hikaru tells Tsukune to "know his place."
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Headmaster intended Tsukune to show the school that humans and monsters can live together in peace. His lack of interference in Tsukune's life and utter lack of protection turned Tsukune into the most feared person in the school, to the point that even Enforcers are afraid of him, and proved the assumption of "Humans Are Bastards" utterly correct.
  • Interestingly, Tsukune does provide an excellent example of why this school exists - sure, humans might not be capable of clinging to walls, punch through solid rock, swim underwater endlessly, or any other sort of superpower, but there's always the chance that the person you're picking on will be like Tsukune, and there's seven billion of them... and in a fight, it is likely that they will not be a scrappy, unarmed high-school student, it'll be trained soldiers with actual weapons.
• Never My Fault: An interesting example where it does not come from the victim (Hikaru) but from Hikaru's soon to be ex girlfriend who had quite the audacity to call out Tsukune for ruining Hikaru's life by destroying his ability to play baseball completely forgetting that Hikaru started the whole mess first by sucker punching him when Tsukune refuses to give him what he wants which Tsukune does point out to her.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Tsukune is once again a heroic version of this trope. All Youkai like to grandstand, gloat about their superiority and power, and follow shounen fighting tropes. Tsukune just kills you without a word.
• Not Hyperbole: Tsukune when he tells Hikaru's girlfriend that Keito would kill her for trying to seduce him.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Keito tells Tsukune that he's like every other student in the school: a monster pretending to be human.
• Prematurely Grey-Haired: By the end of his first semester, Tsukune sports obviously greying hair despite being only fifteen due to the stress of living at Youkai Academy.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Tsukune does not normally do this but he does give a awesome one liner to the first monster he kills.
  "Fire needs three things to exist: Heat, oxygen, and a source of fuel. Guess which you are!"
• Properly Paranoid: Tsukune of course.
• Rage Against the Mentor: What happens when Tsukune discovers the Headmaster's original plans for him.
• Relationship Upgrade: The end of chapter 8 and all of chapter 9 centers around Tsukune and Keito going through this.
• Sanity Slippage: As of chapter 11, Tsukune has become aware that this is probably happening to him.
• Scar Survey: Keito asks Tsukune about each of his, leading to his realizing just how many he has.
• Shut Up, Kirk!: The Headmaster's attempt to call Tsukune out gets turned around into this.
• Sickening "Crunch!": Described exactly word for word when Tsukune savagely forces Hikaru's (his old bully) attacking arm behind his back while twisting it like a branch, causing the downed Hikaru to shriek in agony from the tremendous amount of pain he feels from it.
• Spanner in the Works: Tsukune's killing Moka and throwing away her rosary both completely derail Fairy Tale's plans. Not that we see any of this.
  • Tsukune's increasingly violent string of murders throws one into the headmaster's plans for human and monster coexistence.
• Stranger in a Familiar Land: Tsukune recognizes that his experiences changed him into someone who is too violent to fit into any civilized human school. Notably, while on vacation, Tsukune can barely recognize a picture of himself that's only a few months old. This is even much more prevalent as he almost killed his old human bully Hikaru.
• Super Window Jump: Tsukune does this when Moka keeps blocking his attempts to flee via the stairs. It then deconstructs this, because you are jumping through a solid barrier that suddenly transforms from a very, very hard material into a wall of flying, razor-sharp blades.
• Teacher/Student Romance: Nekomone seems to have feelings for Tsukune.
• Too Dumb to Live: Kanou Nagare (a Monster of the Week from canon) tries to kill Tsukune even after Tsukune has killed Moka in her vampire form. It ends exactly as expected.
• Trickster Mentor: Deconstructed with the Headmaster. His 'teaching style' created the monster known as Tsukune much to his fear and horror.
• We Can Rule Together: Kuyou tries to do this to Tsukune by extending multiple offers to him to join The Enforcers. It does not work.
• Wham Episode: Tsukune killing Inner Moka in chapter eight came out of nowhere.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: A Lamia offers to be Tsukune's mistress in chapter 10.
• Yandere: Being a Jorōgumo, Keito is naturally fiercely territorial regarding her boyfriend, Tsukune.
• Villainous Breakdown: While not evil, just neglectful, it is pretty obvious that the Headmaster is having a massive breakdown behind the scenes.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Tsukune feels ashamed and slightly guilty when Keito praises him for his ruthlessness.

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