While what they talked about is part of what they both needed to, making things even more clear between them, but still without touching about Dabi, that given the reaction of the aforementioned, it is something that he will try to capitalize against them (or more specifically against Izuku, although I still expect that his Machiavellian plan, it eventually begin to fail, I do not know, leaving aside that he is an adversary, I dislike him, his attitude); and while Izuku reveals important part of himself, Shoko still maintains certain secrets

From the rest, they are basically the reactions of some nobles (and a little of the situations of each of them) such as Chisaki, Kaminari, Kirishima and Mina; And while some see opportunities, such as Denki and possibly Chisaki; others like Kirishima and especially Mina (who made a deal with the devil, er, Shoko), see danger and plan to react according to (that if they were going to ally with Monoma or attack them, being curious if Shoko would be aware of Kirishima's way of thinking, and from there, the help to Mina, thinking of using her as an ace under the sleeve - and hence, the terror that the pink girl feels, more then it does not seem that Kirishima is aware of that deal - if it became necessary, as it seems to be the case)

The surprise was that of Chisaki, who amazingly, despite having killed Eri's parents, he seems to be a decent father figure, more to see that he cares about her in his own way, and that she seeks his approval

Good luck and keep it up

Happy New Year

Intresting concept and great execution! Looking foward to more!

Well ill be damned this is a story that had me hooked the last 3 hours

You know, there is something funny in how the party opens, as we saw last chapter how Izuku thought this was a terrible idea when things were so tense, and it seems like everyone else thought the same as sure, any event with the nobles involved is never simple, but they at least can have some fun.

Here it was like they used the event as a blatant means to see where others would publicly stand, or in Izuku's case, gain the backing of two other great houses, adding several more bricks and archer towers to the domineering castle that is House Yagi.

Speaking of those two, from how Denki describes it, Kyoka turned him down not because she doesn't WANT to marry him, but because it would hurt his position and his house. She knows how nobles work and even if Ibara woul gladly break the engagement, her parents would surely see it as a slight and even if to preserve their standing, they'll retaliate.

A situation made all the dangerous considering the heightened tensions over the last few weeks with the death of Tensei, the Iida train attack, Monoma's main bank being torched with everyone inside and now Monoma(or Kendo who’s probably taken a leading role) trying to capture the heirs of several noble houses.

That same near convulsion to act, even when you KNOW it's a bad move is made apparent with Iida, who all but accuses Izuku of killing his brother without any evidence or even reason, as we have no hint that the Iida were any larger rivals to the Yagi then the rest of the minor great houses. Though I admit, I was expecting that when Tenya reminded Izuku that all present control private armies, that he would give a confident smile filled with hidden danger and tell him he’s crushed armies.

Though maybe that went unsaid as Tenya through the entire conversation sounded like a man that knew he was about to die and had accepted that, so while one could say their ‘demand’ for any information on Tensei’s killers was…well demanding, Izuku and Denki probably saw it for what it was, a surrender. They can’t ask for help, they’ll look work, nor can they just do nothing, and they certainly don’t want to do nothing-they do want their justice.

But with this offer, they’ll get the backing of the strongest house in Japan, and through them, protection from anyone that would impede them, even if they must bend the knee, it would be better then outright destruction.

With Denki already gravitating towards him and if he realises WHY Kyoka turned down his offer, Denki would totally convince his parents to bend the knee to Yagi as well to protect them from any blowback from insulting hosue Shiozaki by breaking their engagement so that he can marry a common woman.

In a way, it would be similar to what we saw Shoko managed with Mina, getting her married to the man she wanted and in return, bending the knees of her and her husband’s house to Todoroki. And I imagine that if one character noticed or will notice that, it would be Shoko, who would find it amusing, but also irritating that where she had to work to get Mina into her back pocket, Izuku manages to get two great houses under him without doing a damn thing-his character and power being more then enough to convince them vassalage was the better option.

Speaking of Tensei’s fate-the fact that they needed to use dental records tells us one of 3 things: 1) His body was too badly decomposed or damaged. 2) His body wasn’t in one piece. 3) And this is the one that I personally bank on, his body was torched, with not enough flesh or blood for a DNA test. I bank on that last one since who would probably be an expect at burning bodies? We even have a plausible reason why Tensei would have been the first Dabi targeted. Information and the pre-emptive removal of an unknown.

Info in that as the Iida heir, he would know their best kept secrets-including the route and schedule for a secret armoured train carrying sensitive cargo, the same train strike that was the first strike Dabi launched since Izuku’s return to Japan. And the latter in that as one of the older heirs, he would be more familiar with Toya so he would need to be eliminated before he could get suspicious and threaten his plans.

So, Dabi nabs him, tortures him for all he knows, probably threatening to do the same to Tenya if Tensei doesn’t comply-then kills him when he’s done and torches the body to remove any evidence of torture.

Back to Shoko and their conversation, she probably suspects he knows more about her brother’s fate then he told her, but there’s no way she would suspect he was involved in his death. If anything, she probably has it in her head that they were close and that he died fighting alongside him, NOT against him.

That said, she isn’t pushing it, probably because she doesn’t want the rather unsavoury details as she is many things, but she’s not completely gone-she does care for her siblings, as much as she can in this situation, and hearing whatever tragedy befall her brother is sure to hurt.

Especially as I can envision in parallel to Izuku, it was Enji’s idea for Toya to ship off to America to be a mercenary, maybe to get rid of him-maybe for him to get experience fighting without relying on his quirk so much-either way, it would have been his idea and therefore, Toya’s death would partly be on Enji’s dead and she already hates her father for what he did to her mother. But that just means that the ticking time bomb that is her finding out that it was Izuku, the person she’s growing close to that killed her-all the greater as it won’t be pretty when he learns the truth, that much is clear.

With that ending…well, that was a tense one as we already knew Shoko doesn’t have friends, but damn was that a brutal burn from Itsuka about her mother as she probably knows she’s a messed-up person, that she thinks and acts in ways that aren’t normal and would disgust and frighten her younger self-after all, she become everything her father wanted her to be-but that doesn’t mean she likes it.

She has a heart, she tries to not become disconnected with again, how she cares for her siblings, so for someone she associates with to disregard that and basically call her Enji is the greatest insult you could give her.

Kaina always finds herself doing stuff she hates, in canon she's a hitman posing as a hero till she snaps, and here she's a mercenarythat hates the very idea of a mercenary. That said, she does seem like to be the closest thing to a lieutenant that Dabi has as we know that Mirko and Rappa would just follow orders and are more interested in fighting and killing them having discussins about the why they're even doing this with Dabi.

Case in point, she can realise the genius of Dabi just burning the records as they could never carry them all out, because it serves their purposes in such a beuatuful way as they don't know what secrets those documents, bank statements and files held, and thanks to Dabi-no one ever willl. But house Monoma won't know that and they'll react in what they think is the appropriate way in trying to take out any rival that would of had a reason to do this, as they could never know that the reason Dabi knows so much about how they operate is because he used to be part of the nobility.

On the flip side, Kaina can see just how horrible that would be as Dabi's ploy will make them overreact, starting a way that yes, will wipe out noble houses, might even bring the entire system crashing down-but it won't just be the nobles that suffer. Much like their strike at that bank, sure they'll kill a few Monoma employees and enforcers, but the bulk of the blood shed and suffering faced will fall on commoners who have no stake in this.

With Izuku, yeah, he's in some deep shit with this as how do you tell someone that you killed thier brother? Of course, there is reason for it, but it's a cruel one as you liked one another, you were friends. The only reason things turned out the way they did was because you unknowingly accepted opposing contacts and both were too stubborn to just pull back when they realised that. In a way, that's a mindset that would fit nobles pretty well, as any friends outside one's own family are just potential enemies, but that same mindset was why Izuku left Japan to begin with, only for him to end up living by it for years.

The only...somewhat bright side is that while she could easily call off their courtship, she can't demand retribution as Touya was no longer house Todoroki's heir, and he was killed in combat unlike Tensei who was murdered. It's a small distinction, but a distinction nonetheless. Even if she wanted to duel him for it, she would lose and they both probably know that so all that would really change is the rivalvy from their fathers would pass to them.

Then there's also the fact that they'll both be forced to get back into the dating game and Izuku is an danger junkie at this point, he'll be drawn to her even if she told him she hated his guts just because she's the most dangerous woman in Japan.

But there is tension is other places and if there was any doubt that the nobles are the ones that run Japan, Yagi being able to do half what he's done would disprove. Besides, at no point during this meeting did anyone even bring up civil or military authority like 'What would the governor or Prime Minister think' because they're either in their pocket all ready, or as toothless as the rest society.

Also, how funny is is that Nighteye got it right and not a single person realised that. Yes, no house assets had anything to do with this. Yes, it was carried out by mercencaries who slaughter for money or fun. Yes, those same mercenacaries are working with a member of the nobility(Touya probably stepped down or was stripped of the title of heir, but never stripped of his name). The only issue here is that Nighteye only thinks Izuku could be in a position to do that.

Alright, what the fuck is this actually supposed to be?

Is this an Izuku who allegedly spent 8 fucking years surviving as a mercenary (possibily most mortally dangerous occupation) in an America that never got out of the Quirk Dark Ages and clawed his way to the top of the mercenary world of that kind of complete shithole to stand at its peak as the indusputed top animal - the kind of indisputed where he ends whole fucking wars just by someone learning he's got a contract with someone there...?

Or is he still the 15 year old, canon or this story's, spineless weakling who doesn't understand his worth, the power he holds, how much more dangerous and stronger he is than EVERYONE in his verse besides All bloody for flipping One (the fucking quirk stealing bastard, the main fucking villain, the centuries old ACTUAL Titan who had achieved far more than this Yagi ever did in this story in terms of sheer threat, reach and sheer motherfucking notoriety)?

Because this Izuku cannot realistically be anything close to the 2nd anymore if he's supposed to be the 1st. You do not just turn off and forget being someone like this mythical (and I suspect at this point nonexistent) Titan FOR EIGHT FUCKING YEARS and still be an awkward spineless fuck who can be oh so embarrassingly easily pushed around and manipulated by bloody fucking everyone with a functioning brain and ambition to match like a complete and utter fool despite what common sense should dictate to be the actual fucking case.

That does not just happen

Such a stark difference between alleged and actual character behaviour is not how humans work unless they got some serious mental disorders/damage (I'm talking straight up selective amnesia, split personality disorder, bipolarity and the list goes on)

Acting kinder, not immediately killing every single two bit retard who looks or talks to him wrong (Monoma and most of his similarily moronic ilk) and largely keeping to himself and a small circle of "friends" when he's not being actively bothered by everyone else who're foolishly thinking themselves a bigger threat than him and as being able to particularly sway him in any real direction? Yeah, sure, cuz that's just being civilised - whatever civilised passes for in this barely functioning version of noble society, anyways

But that's about it. If this Izuku was ever actually Titan - he should have a certain baseline amount of sheer confidence, self-countrol, unflappability and sheer fucking will to himself that should not have stood for how hilariously bluntly he was fucked with the last chapter or two and ESPECIALLY this bloody mess of a chapter during the Todoriki mansion visit.

This Izuku, terrified by Shoko, who while certainly trained by her father not to be a complete fucking weakling, has not tasted anything remotely like the kind of combat and fucking WAR this supposed "Titan" has? What? Have we not been quite literally beat over the head that he has fought this world's version of Dabi before at least once?

If he actually has, comparing the two should be akin to having a young adult dragon who's had her fair share of conquests despite her young age but who has not fought anyone actually strong or dangerous VS an old, legendary, fucking spine chillingly dangerous dragon who has been making the relevant parts of the world his fucking bitch and playground for the equivalent of fucking centuries and who only has a single Knight who'd proved himself stronger.

And if Izuku really was this metaphorical knight of myth and legend - Shoko's little fireworks display should have been cute at best and not much else

Do you not actually understand the sheer level of power and threat difference here between the two, despite having built it up yourself? HOW?!

And by the way, I wonder how quickly Shoko would lose interest if she knew that all that's really motivating Izuku here is her being the finest piece of arse he's laid on eyes (something I find highly doubtful, but I digress) and that the only reason he ain't folding is that 8 years of mercenery life have forced him to have the bare minimum self-control required to survive the mercenary world despite the unknown Higher Power doing it's damned best to take even that away (despite having placed it there themselves? Though, I suppose that's on track for higher powers, I guess)?

What in the name of fuck?

And that's not even the worst, actually. The above? It could have been waved away, justified somehow to not completely fuck up all the hype this supposed "Titan" has been getting and chuck it down the flliping drain. All rationalised one way or another, certainly

But the meeting between Izuku and Enji? That complete shit heap of a discussion?

So, we have Titan, the guy who's supposed to have reached the top of a Quirk Dark Age country, the husk of the once leading superpower of a land, by killing an trampling over his enemies there like the bugs they're supposed to be to a fully realised One for All user (and who SHOULD be stronger than Yagi by a great deal if the Quirk still works the way it does?) and becoming the indisputed strongest motherfucker around there...not just being directly attacked and threatened by his supposed HOST but also essentially just taking it laying down beyond the initial bare minimum riposte?! And with that attacker having the gall to blatantly act like he allowed Titan to overpower him?!

And with that attacker being a flame user who while still a formidable and old dragon in his own right, has fuck all on the other old dragon?!

With this supposed TITAN then just turning around and leaving with his metaphorical tail between his legs like a literal little fucking bitch?!

What utter insanity did I just fucking read and witness?!

I...my fucking god

I do not remember when was the last time a chapter in a story that had started off so amazingly well and promising had dissapointed and pissed me off so badly at how hilariously badly it blundered and dropped the fucking ball.

Shit

I'm more pissed that I'm too deep into this now not to read at least a few chapters to see if I'd actually be proven wrong, even if the story cannot really recover from this mess of a chapter

At least for all that people bitch and moan about Villain Izuku fics, those things actually largely keep the bastard into being the complete and utter monster he'd turned himself into until the fucking end, instead of suddenly massively regressing him into his pitiful and (both metaphorically and literally) powerless self what should have been midway through his fucking journey.

Man Made of Thunder?

My fat fucking arse

More like Man Made of Hot Air and Jelly

Shit, how dearly I wish after this chapter that we'd just stayed in America and this alleged "Titan" got challenged some other way somewhere else in his world whereupon he ain't forcefully nerfed and dumbed down so damned hilariously hard to prevent him from just shrugging off the weak sauce attempts by anyone not named Toshinori Yagi (Which is what was supposed to have actually been going on here. Only Toshinori Yagi should have been able to push and lead by the nose this version of Izuku remotely close to what's been going on the past 10 chapters, no one else. Not even Inko, based off how fucked you've written her relationship to be with Izuku at this point) to steer and phase him in...any way at all, at least outside the other big names of the mercenary world like his old buddies or Dabi and his gang who are also in the country.

I hope that I'm proven wrong the next couple of chapters and I can just mentally rewrite in my head how this shitshow of a chapter went after the end of first third of it and continue on with the rest of this story pretending chapter 10 as it is right now doesn't exist. But I ain't got much hope about that

A final thing. Not sure if you've heard of the character or movie series, but let me ask you this...

Would a freshly retired John Wick who's not just the Baba Yaga, but who's also frighteningly smart in not just killing everyone who tries to moronically fuck with him but in just about all other areas that matter in his world, is preparing to become the head of not just one of the ruling families making up The Table but the greatest among them, has the full backing of that family and who is also a fucking supersoldier among supersoldiers, on giga steroids...be acting anything like this Izuku has been doing so far since he left America? A John Wick who, on top of all that, is still fully in his prime?

Because that's essentially the kind of baddass monster of a character you've been trying to sell this Izuku as supposedly being.

So

Would such a complete and utter monster have been acting remotely like this Izuku has been the past 10 chapters? Especially this one?

Hell yea. Great chapter.

Finally an update! This story is incredible and I’ve been following its progress since the second chapter. I can’t wait to see how Izuku handles Shoko finding out about Touya later in the story, and I’m hyped for the fight scenes where Izuku may get to cut loose and show everyone why he’s called “Titan”!

Besides seeing that Momo survived, although she is in a coma (and our protagonist's reaction to seeing her bestie in that state, wanting the blood of whoever did it), now it was Shoko's turn to meet Izuku's "acquaintances" (Bakugo and Ochako) and have a talk with Toshinori

In which she sees that in the power game that she believes dominates, there are levels still above her, and people like her father and Toshinori who are at said levels

Apart from hoping to see her get another surprise, because among the things that Toshinori suggests to them, in addition to an honest talk between them (which would give Izuku the opportunity to reveal to Shoko the truth about Touya, something that even Izuku's team, after learning of Touya's relationship with Shoko, believe it is vital to clarify once and for all and avoid unnecessary problems in the future), is that he takes her to meet Inko, which does not worry Shoko much, believing her to be an ordinary woman, but given Izuku's reaction and Inko marrying the most powerful man in Japan, it's understandable that she's more than what she appears to be and what Shoko expects, mwahahaha

As for the civil war, which has already started courtesy of the Monoma house that has attacked others, ugh, with the idiots making Dabi and the others' work much easier, too bad for Itsuka, let's see her reaction when she finds out that they were manipulated and fell into that.

Good luck and keep it up

Awesome

Hello, I hope you're doing well!

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Anime World

If anyone tries to call this a filler chapter they can literally fight me. There was more story in this one chapter than most 100,000 word plus stories. I'm always on the edge of my seat whenever a new chapter is posted!

First of all, great chapter, Second, bruh...

Heyya buddy, I hope you are doing good,

I just read your story Blood and Steel (Cannot Build A Home) and I loved it! I'm thinking about adapting it into my comic style and would be super excited to do so, and it will be a commission work, I think you'll really like the results, and maybe you'll even want to share it. by the way, I'm a digital artist open for commissions. I do all sorts of artwork and have some spots available. My rates are fair, and I always deliver high-quality work. If you're interested, let's talk more on Discord_

My Discord: yushishigawa

Hope to hear from you soon

What a chapter!