The beast was huge. My legs were shaking, my palms sweaty. My brain was going into overdrive to find a solution to my predicament. I quickly recalled the words that were written on the ground.

"Is that the thing we saw earlier!?" Kaminari exclaimed in shock at the familiar demon. Same goes with the other occupants. It was huge, probably as tall as a two-story house.

"That looks like a goddamned pig!" Bakugou exclaimed with a sneer.

"Bakugou," Aizawa glared at the angry Pomeranian. "I'll see you after class."

"Tch, whatever," Bakugou shrugged, Kirishima looking a little bit worried at the actions of said blonde.

RUN!

Before the huge beast could move, I quickly turned around, only to see the huge doors shut tight. Panicking, I ran and pressed my hands on the doors. The ground trembled, and I did not dare to turn my head around because of fear.

"Come on! Open! Open!" I shouted hysterically, my vision focused solely on the door.

"Rookie mistake…" Toshinor muttered under his breath.

"Indeed, a case of tunnel vision can be very disastrous in high-risk missions," Nezu agreed with a cheerful tone, although those who were close knew the grim thoughts behind it.

The heroes shivered.

I called upon all of my strength to pull, push, anything, but the doors stayed shut. Suddenly, the trembling of the ground increased in intensity, and I looked back.

The beast was in front of me, hammer raised above its head.

"RUN!" Almost everybody yelled inside the room.

My survival instincts kicked into overdrive and I jumped out of the way of the incoming giant hammer. The hammer landed, and the shockwave and the ground cracked, pieces of rock flying due to the shockwave.

I was also sent flying a few feet because of the shockwave, rocks pelleting my body with force enough to cause bleeding. One rock even got lucky to lodge itself inside my arm.

"That's gotta hurt," Jirou winced at the injury. Some other students did the same as well.

"Arrrggghhh!" I screamed. The pain was too much. My vision blurry due to the tears escaping my eyes. "Run… I need to run… Where…"

I crawled upwards, adrenaline pumping into my veins, negating an amount of pain from the injuries. The beast turned its vision towards me, causing my body to stiffen in return.

'Move! Why can't I move!?'

'Oh no…' all of the heroes thought the same.

"Of all the time to freeze in fear," Aizawa mumbled with grim eyes. There were many cases of heroes retiring early after all due to the same phenomena.

My body was stuck, refusing to listen to my brain to move and get the hell away from this giant beast. The beast wasted no time and swung the hammer towards me. My body lurched backwards on instinct again, causing me to land on my ass.

The hammer passed my face only inches away and crushed the pillar beside me, as well as some vases around it. Some shards found itself lodged in my side. I hissed, the pain was too much!

"Hrrkk…" Ochako paled at the state of Izuku in his memories. The other students recoiled at the thought of being punctured by those shards, while the heroes winced at the thought of one of their students going through this horrifying experience.

'I need to run! Run! RUN! RUN RUN!'

I quickly got up, ignoring the pain in my arms and my sides, blood leaking out of the wounds. The beast roared in rage, probably angry that I was still alive after its attacks. I didn't pay it any attention. All my focus was turned into one thing.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Survive.

I tried to find a door, a hole, anything just to escape this room. But since it is not that huge, the way was clear to me. An open passageway going down. Without any thought I ran towards it like a man possessed.

"Come on…" Ashido whimpered, familiar at the situation. She rubbed the stump of a horn on her head with a grimace.

It happened to her after all back at USJ.

'Run run run run run run!'

That was the only thoughts running through my mind. Sounds of rumbling, ground trembling, and a roar of anguish I heard behind me. I didn't care. I just ran. Don't care. Run. Just run. Faster! FASTER!

The door seemed like it was an eternity away, my body sluggish due to the injuries. But I didn't care.

RUN!

The door was close, but I heard it. The beast behind me was closer. Not knowing it was doing, I jumped towards the door. But it was farther than I thought.

"NO!" the whole room erupted into a panic at the sight of one of them dying.

'No! nonononononONONONONOONO!'

I was so close! I don't want to die! I don't want to die! I want to live! I want to see my mom! I don't want to die! idontwanttodiediediedieDIEDIELIVELIVELIVE!

'Holy shit…' Bakugou grimaced at the inner machinations of Izuku's mind during a life or death situation. He wondered what was going through Izuku's mind when he was still being bullied by him, which made him feel disgusted with himself.

"Never again…" Bakugou muttered, but Kirishima heard the mutter.

The hammer landed a few feet behind me, ant that was enough to push me through the door tumbling down the stairs. My wounds flared up in pain, as well as my whole body. A few more seconds later, I landed with a splash, and it just made my wounds hurt even more!

'I don't want to diiee…'

My vision blurry, my body sluggish. I brought the last of my strength to push my body above the water. Then I saw it…

A bonfire…

"… Warmth… Home…"

My voice weak, I crawled pathetically to the bonfire and reached my hands towards it. Tears dropping from my cheeks towards the ground. Then the bonfire was lit.

My wounds healed, my body recovered, and my mind refreshed.

The whole room that was silent finally made noise after everybody heaved a sigh of relief.

"AH!?" I stood up in shock, only to fall down back on the ground, trembling in fear. Tears once again dripping from my face.

"… I almost died…" I said weakly, my voice barely a whisper. Now that my body was at its peak again, I was able to process what happened.

"… This is bad…" I went through everything that happened, even if it had my body trembling. No, don't focus on the bad, focus on why my body reacted like that.

'Damn it…' I couldn't come to a conclusion on why my body reacted like that, but I knew I couldn't continue like that. And if absorbing souls is what it takes to fight against that feeling, then that's what I would do.

"Again… This is depressing to watch," Kaminari said, hoping to lessen the tension in the room.

"Not. The. Time." Jirou jabbed him with her earphone jack.

I stood up, gripping the broken sword tighter than ever. Scanning the room, I found myself inside another sewer. Some more words written just near another passageway. I looked towards the ascending staircase, and promptly ignored it.

I walked towards the written message and read it.

GRAB YOUR SHIELD

I looked around, there was nothing here, so I peeked towards corridor outside, only to be met with an arrow flying to my face. I quickly retracted my head and saw the arrow strike the water.

"Ranged weapons… This just got harder…" a few heroes muttered.

Peeking once again, I saw another hollow wielding a bow and arrow. A few seconds later, another arrow found itself heading towards me. I retracted my head once again, and once the arrow passed me, ran out quickly. I found an open cell just after exiting and quickly dived inside.

Inside, I saw another corpse, a shield on its arm. This was probably the shield the message was telling me about. I approached the corpse, and slowly, slowly yanked it out of its arm. I cringed in disgust. Blood was steel coating its handle, and the smell was horrible.

"Oh god…" I placed it on my off-hand. The shield was small, a protrusion on its center and 4 small circles littered corners of the protrusion.

Some students not used to icky, yucky, and plain disgusting things turned green at the sight.

"Small, not that good for blocking… For deflecting attacks maybe?" I reached into a solid conclusion about the shield. Not waiting for anything more, I headed back outside and sprinted towards that annoying hollow shooting arrows at me.

"Hm, good deduction," Nezu said with a sparkle in his eyes.

I brought the small shield in front and predicted the arrow's trajectory. The arrow was knocked loose, and clanged with my shield. The hollow then retreated once I got too close, while I chased.

While chasing however, I stumbled upon another corpse, this time, a dagger clasped in its hand. I plucked it out of its hand and continued chasing the hollow.

"Finally, a working weapon," Momo said with relief.

I chased it all the way towards a foggy door. Ignoring that fog for the moment, I lunged at the hollow and sliced its body with a sloppy slash. I made a large wound on its chest, but not that lethal, so I continued and slashed at its throat. This time, the sound of flesh and blood spurting from out of its neck, as well as its dying groans reached my ears.

I cringed in disgust once again.

The hollow fell limp and stopped moving. I stared at the body, stared…

'I'm becoming a monster…' I grimly thought as I approached the fog door.