Chapter 1: Death in the Concrete Jungle
The night air was heavy in the Bronx. Sirens echoed like wolves in the distance, and flickering streetlights painted the cracked pavement in ghostly amber. Santos Rodríguez, 17, pulled the hood of his jacket tighter, his breath puffing out in the cold.
He wasn't supposed to be here.
He was supposed to be at home, studying, maybe sneaking in a little time with his sketchbook. But when you owed money — and worse, when someone thought you snitched — choices stopped mattering.
He turned the corner into the alley behind the bodega. Three figures waited there. No faces, just shadows, brass knuckles glinting under moonlight.
"You shouldn't have talked, Santos," one said, voice distorted by the mask."I didn't," he muttered, fists clenched. "I don't even know what you're talking about."
But they came at him anyway.
Fists slammed into his ribs. A knee cracked into his jaw. He hit the ground hard, coughing blood. Concrete tasted like rust.
He tried to crawl away, reaching for the chain around his neck — a tribal necklace his abuela had given him years ago.
For protection, she'd whispered.
He didn't believe in that stuff. Not until that night.
Because the last thing he saw wasn't a fist — it was darkness. Swallowing the alley whole.
Chapter 2: Born of Shadow
Cold.
Not the kind that made your teeth chatter, but the kind that reached your bones.
Santos opened his eyes to a gray ceiling. He was lying on a thin mattress, the scent of antiseptic and old wood in the air. He sat up quickly, chest heaving — expecting bruises, blood, pain.
Nothing.
He looked down. His hands were smaller. Paler. Younger. The scars on his knuckles were gone.
The mirror above the sink confirmed it: he was a child. Maybe nine years old. Wide, confused brown eyes stared back. Same tribal necklace around his neck. Same soul behind the eyes.
But this wasn't New York.
The words on the calendar were in Japanese.
He spent the next few weeks in silence. The orphanage staff assumed he was traumatized. He didn't correct them.
Instead, he watched. Learned.
This world was different. People didn't just walk fast and talk loud — they flew. They breathed fire. They glowed. They had "quirks," abilities like something out of a comic book. Heroes patrolled the skies. Villains destroyed buildings like movie monsters.
And he?
He had darkness inside him.
One night, when fear gripped him and he couldn't sleep, he found a corner in the hallway with no lights. As he sat there, eyes closed, heart racing — his body began to fade.
His skin melted into the shadows.
His hands turned to mist.
He didn't scream. He just smiled.
For the first time since his death… Santos felt alive.
Chapter 3: The Orphanage of Quiet Boys
The orphanage was small, worn, and quiet — just like Santos. Run by a former nurse and her husband, it housed only eight children. They were good kids, mostly. Santos didn't talk much, but they didn't push him.
He was different. Everyone felt it.
Sometimes he disappeared for hours and came back from places he couldn't have accessed. Sometimes, shadows moved when he was angry. One boy swore he saw chains slither under his bed at night.
He made no friends.
Until the girl came.
Her name was Mika. Small, sharp eyes. Smart. Fierce. She didn't flinch when he vanished into a wall or reappeared in her room to return her stolen sketchbook.
"You're not scary," she told him one day. "You're just sad."
He didn't reply.
But he stopped avoiding her after that.
Chapter 4: Shadows That Listen
His power grew stronger over the years. By the time he was thirteen, Santos could slip through shadows like water — phasing through doors, traveling through narrow cracks in the wall. He could summon chains made of living blackness — thick, cold tendrils that moved like snakes.
But they weren't just tools.
They had a will.
If he lost control — if he let anger take over — the chains snapped, lashed, pulled without thought. One time, during a nightmare, he woke up with three beds torn to splinters and Mika crying in the hallway.
That's when he met him — Kurogane Daigo, an old man with silver hair, a cane, and a missing eye. Former Pro Hero. He lived two blocks from the orphanage and claimed he could "smell the abyss" on Santos.
"You're not the first to hold the dark," he said. "But you might be the last who can command it."
He trained Santos in secret. Taught him discipline, breathing, focus. Taught him that the shadow wasn't evil — it was untamed.
"Control the fear, or it'll control you," Daigo said. "Or worse — it'll turn you into a monster."
Chapter 5: Entrance Exam
Age fifteen. Santos stood at the gates of U.A. High School, Japan's top hero academy. His tribal necklace rested over a black compression shirt. His uniform: dark green cargo pants and black Air Forces — no costume, no gadgets.
His power was his armor.
The exam was chaos. Giant robots. Screaming students. Flashy quirks everywhere.
Santos said nothing. He slipped into shadows, moved across the field like a whisper. Chains snapped robot legs, dragged students from rubble, coiled around flying drones like whips.
And then came the Zero-Pointer.
Others ran.
He walked toward it.
The beast roared, shadowed by sun.
Santos closed his eyes. Every object, every building cast a line of shade. He stepped into one — and blinked out of existence.
He reappeared on the robot's head.
Then he became shadow — pure blackness — and flowed inside its chest like ink.
Five seconds later, it exploded.
When the dust cleared, Santos stood calmly, shadows dripping from his hands like blood.
Aizawa raised his brows.
"Interesting."
Chapter 6: The Watchers
News of the mysterious student who destroyed a Zero-Pointer spread fast. Rumors flowed like wildfire: a shadow-wielder, a living ghost, the first real underground hero in years.
Santos paid no attention.
Back at the orphanage, he waited quietly with Mika as the letter arrived. U.A. High had accepted him.
His name: Santos Rodríguez. Hero Department. Class 1-A.
Mika punched his arm. "Don't go getting all broody now. You got in. Be happy."
He offered the smallest smile. "I'll try."
But someone else was watching him. In a black-walled room, deep in a mountain bunker, Tomura Shigaraki stared at a replay of the Zero-Pointer explosion.
"I want him," Shigaraki rasped. "The shadows obey him. That power... would belong well to All For One."
Chapter 7: Class 1-A
Day one at U.A. was tense.
Santos entered the classroom and took a seat in the back without a word. Bakugou sneered. Midoriya gave him a nervous smile. Ochaco tried to greet him, but he simply nodded.
Only one person didn't treat him like a ghost.
Kyoka Jirou.
"Nice kicks," she said, pointing to his black Air Forces. "You a sneakerhead or just moody?"
"Both."
She laughed. "Cool."
The first lesson was Quirk Evaluation. Aizawa wasted no time. Baseball throws. Sprints. Power tests.
When Santos threw the ball, he wrapped it in a chain, hurled it into a shadow mid-air, and had it reappear behind the target dummy—smashing through it at full force.
"I don't need to see more," Aizawa said. "He knows control."
Bakugou growled. "Tch. Show-off."
Santos didn't react.
Chapter 8: Trial By Battle
Hero vs. Villain Training.
Santos was paired with Jirou against Midoriya and Iida. The setting: an indoor office complex.
They moved like shadows.
Jirou tapped the floor with her jacks, sending echoes through the walls. Santos emerged from the darkness behind Iida and wrapped him in a chain. Midoriya countered with a burst of One For All.
Santos melted into the shadows.
He reformed behind Midoriya and whispered, "Too loud."
Chains erupted from the floor.
"Heroes win."
All Might gave a slow nod. "That boy… isn't flashy, but he's efficient."
Jirou slapped Santos on the back. "You're terrifying. I like it."
Chapter 9: The Whispering Dark
That night, Santos couldn't sleep.
His dreams were haunted by whispers.
"You don't belong here."
"You're not a hero."
He sat up, breathing hard, shadows writhing around his bed like smoke. He gripped his necklace tight.
It pulsed.
Then he saw it—a brief vision of the alley in the Bronx, and a flicker of a face he didn't recognize. A man with a scar over one eye.
"Who are you?" he whispered.
No answer.
Chapter 10: The Blade in the Dark
The class went on a city observation field trip. But on the way back, the bus was ambushed.
A villain with a light-based Quirk tried to blind them all. Panic erupted.
Santos dropped low, touched the underside of the bus—and vanished.
He reappeared in the villain's shadow, driving a chain into his chest and dragging him underground.
When he emerged, the villain was unconscious and bound.
"That was brutal," Kaminari muttered.
"That was effective," Jirou said.
Santos said nothing. But in the distance, on a rooftop, a pair of red eyes watched him.
Twice. Smiling.
"Boss is gonna love this kid."
Chapter 11: A Test of Trust
After the ambush, Nezu and Aizawa called Santos in for questioning. Not about what he did—but about how.
"Your quirk has infiltration and subversion potential," Nezu said, tapping his paws together. "You understand how that could be misused?"
"Yes," Santos said.
"And you still acted alone?"
"There was no time."
Aizawa leaned forward. "We need to know we can trust you. Not just to save lives, but to follow protocol."
Santos nodded, but his eyes stayed shadowed.
"Understood."
But in truth, a part of him didn't trust them.
Chapter 12: Bonds in the Dark
Jirou dragged him to lunch.
"You always brood in corners. Time to stop. Come sit with us."
At the table, Kirishima, Mina, and Tokoyami offered hesitant nods. Santos sat, silent, until Mina asked:
"Is your quirk, like, alive?"
He blinked. "I think so. Sometimes I hear it. Not in words. Just... urges."
Tokoyami looked intrigued. "We must compare techniques sometime. Shadow to shadow."
That night, Santos felt something strange: not loneliness. Not emptiness.
Warmth.
Chapter 13: The First Rescue Drill
The class was taken to the USJ facility.
Everything went smoothly—until it didn't.
The League of Villains attacked.
Portals. Chaos. Screams. Smoke.
Santos fought instinctively, dragging injured students into cover, chaining villains to walls, and shadow-leaping across zones to rescue Jirou.
Then he saw it—a Nomu.
It locked eyes with him and grinned.
It knew him.
"Shadow. The Doctor said you'd be here."
Before he could respond, it lunged.
Chapter 14: Blood and Ink
The Nomu was fast—too fast.
Santos barely phased into darkness before it struck. Chains lashed out, but it snapped them like twigs.
He teleported through three shadows in a row, but the Nomu followed, relentless.
A blast from Todoroki and a punch from Midoriya knocked it back. Santos dropped to his knees, chest heaving.
"It knew me," he said. "It knew me."
Later, while unconscious, he dreamed of the man with the scar—smiling.
"Welcome home, my vessel."
Chapter 15: Debrief and Decisions
In the aftermath, U.A. was locked down.
Aizawa called Santos into his office.
"That Nomu targeted you. That's not random. Talk."
Santos stared at the shadows on the wall.
"I think... I wasn't born here. Not really. I died once. In another world. I think someone brought me here. For a reason."
Silence.
Then Aizawa nodded slowly. "We don't know what you are. But for now, you're a student of U.A. Don't forget that."
Santos stood.
"I won't."
But inside, the darkness whispered:
You were never meant to be one of them.
Chapter 16: The Sports Festival Begins
Despite the recent attack, U.A. moved forward with its annual Sports Festival.
Santos wasn't excited.
Crowds. Lights. Attention. Everything his Quirk hated. But he knew it wasn't optional.
This was where heroes proved themselves.
He stood tall in the stadium, tribal necklace gleaming under the sun. His usual outfit — dark green cargo pants and black Air Forces — stood out like a bruise among the custom hero gear.
Jirou gave him a fist bump.
"You got this, Shadowboy."
He almost smiled. Almost.
Midoriya approached. "You okay?"
"No. But I will be."
From the stands, thousands of eyes watched.
And in the deepest shadow beneath the arena stage, something else watched too.
Chapter 17: The Obstacle Course
The starting gun echoed.
Santos didn't run. He vanished.
He reappeared a few meters ahead, then again, phasing through an abandoned bot shell. His teleportation wasn't long-range, but it was fast and nearly undetectable.
Robots fell. Mines detonated.
He conjured a chain, embedded it in a beam above, and swung like a pendulum across a collapsing bridge.
He passed Sero and Yaoyorozu, then slid under Todoroki's spreading glacier by diving into a shadow.
But Bakugou and Todoroki surged ahead. Fire and ice outpaced stealth.
Santos placed fourth.
The crowd murmured. His silence unnerved them.
The commentators gave him a name:
"The Silent Specter."
He walked off the field, shadows trailing.
Chapter 18: Cavalry Battle
Nobody wanted to team with him. Rumors painted him as unstable.
Except for Jirou and Tokoyami.
"Shadow team?" Jirou grinned. "Let's give them nightmares."
Santos nodded. "I like nightmares."
With Tokoyami on defense, Jirou managing sonic scans, and Santos creating movement traps with his chains, they became a ghostly unit.
Santos even tried something new: fusing his chain with Dark Shadow.
The result was terrifying—a pulsing, animated beast of living blackness with jagged links as bones.
They dodged every ambush, stealing a headband from Todoroki in the final seconds.
Second place.
Jirou shouted. Tokoyami bowed. Santos just breathed, feeling something close to pride.
Chapter 19: One-on-One Battles
Round one: Santos vs. Kaminari.
Kaminari tried to start strong, charging static through the ground.
But Santos stepped into his shadow.
A chain wrapped his torso mid-sentence.
Midnight blinked. "...Match over."
Round two: Santos vs. Ibara.
Her vines moved like living tentacles, but Santos was faster. He vanished into a patch of shadow beneath her feet and reappeared behind her.
She spun, blocking with thorned vines, scratching his arm.
He didn't win with force. He won with patience.
When her vines began to tangle themselves from overuse, he struck. One chain. Gentle restraint.
She bowed respectfully. "Your shadows move with grace."
He bowed back.
Chapter 20: Santos vs. Todoroki
The crowd fell quiet.
Shadow versus ice and fire.
They circled. Todoroki launched a freezing wave. Santos shadow-stepped over it.
Then came fire. Hot. Blinding.
Santos ducked, chains lashing upward. Todoroki blocked with ice.
Santos teleported again, trying to keep close. But Todoroki widened the field with a dome of frost, forcing Santos into the open.
Sweat beaded on his neck. Heat from one side, cold from the other. No shadows left.
He dove into Todoroki's own shadow. A risky move.
But Todoroki expected it. Flames blasted downward as Santos emerged.
He took the hit—not fatal, but harsh. Burned.
The match was called.
Todoroki ran over, offering a hand.
"You made me go all out. That means something."
Santos took the hand, breathing heavily.
"Next time... I won't hold back."
Chapter 21: Whispers in the Arena
After the Sports Festival, Santos sat beneath a tree on campus, watching the replay of his match against Todoroki. Burn marks still lingered on his arms.
His expression didn't change. But he watched every movement. Every flaw.
Mika messaged him: You made it to the semifinals. That's huge.
He replied: Not enough.
The video glitched for a split second.
And then he heard it.
"They're watching you now. All of them."
It wasn't in his ears. It was in his mind. The voice pulsed from his necklace.
He gripped it.
The darkness inside stirred.
Chapter 22: Internship Offers
After the festival, hero agencies sent their offers.
Santos received more than expected. Most were underground pros. A few were controversial names, operating in gray areas.
One stood out:
Pro Hero: Hound Dog — Specialty: Search & Containment.
Santos accepted.
Hound Dog met him with a growl. "Quiet type, huh? You'll learn more from silence than shouting. Come."
Their first mission: a warehouse bust on the outskirts of Mustafu. Illegal quirk trafficking.
Santos moved like ink, slipping through cracks, ambushing targets without sound.
When it ended, five traffickers were bound in shadow chains, and Hound Dog just stared.
"Kid... I think you were made for this."
Chapter 23: Chain of Conscience
In the last room of the warehouse, Santos found something unexpected.
A boy.
Young. Barely nine. His arms were bound in iron cuffs, glowing with suppression tech.
He looked up with wide, glowing yellow eyes.
"Are you a villain?" he asked, voice shaking.
Santos paused. Then knelt.
"No. I'm what villains fear."
He broke the cuffs with a chain made of pure shadow.
Later, Hound Dog approached him on a rooftop.
"You weren't just saving that boy. You saw yourself in him. Didn't you?"
Santos stared at the city below.
"Maybe."
He didn't say more.
He didn't need to.
Chapter 24: Return to U.A.
When he came back to U.A., the others noticed.
His hair was slightly longer. His expression more distant. His steps more precise.
He wasn't just quiet. He was... trained now.
Bakugou gave him a side-eye but said nothing.
Jirou jogged up beside him. "You're different."
"So's the world."
Rumors were everywhere. Villain activity was spiking. Even Aizawa looked tense.
All Might stopped him in the hallway.
"Your power... it reminds me of something dangerous."
Santos looked him in the eye.
"Dangerous doesn't mean evil."
All Might didn't smile.
But he nodded.
Chapter 25: Night Watch
That night, Santos woke in his dorm.
He wasn't sure why. But something felt wrong.
He stepped outside. The moon was full. A breeze stirred the grass.
Then he saw it.
A shadow moved—independently. Not his own.
Twice stood by the garden, hands in his pockets, mask tilted. "Hey, Shadow-kid. Relax. I'm not here to fight. Just talk."
Santos summoned chains immediately.
"You and us? We're not so different," Twice said. "You move in darkness. So do we. Why fight it?"
"Because I chose the light."
The chains rose. The wind stopped.
Twice bowed mockingly. "You'll see. The world will force you to choose again."
Then he vanished into the dark.
Santos stood still for a long time, watching the spot where he disappeared.
Then he walked back inside.
And whispered to his own shadow:
"He's wrong."
Chapter 31: Shadows in the Library
The U.A. library was mostly empty at this hour, the hum of fluorescent lights blending with the soft rustle of pages.
Santos sat alone at a long wooden table, a pile of books spread before him—texts on quirk theory, shadow manipulation, and even ancient folklore about darkness.
His dark green cargo pants were tucked beneath the table, his black Air Forces kicked aside as he leaned forward, studying diagrams of shadow absorption.
Beside him, Kyoka Jirou watched quietly, guitar resting on her lap.
"You ever take a break?" she asked, breaking the silence.
He glanced up, eyes shadowed but intense. "Not when the darkness feels like it's... growing."
Jirou raised an eyebrow. "You really think your quirk's alive?"
He nodded, fingers tracing a diagram. "Sometimes it's more than power. It's like a part of me, but not just mine."
Suddenly, the lights flickered twice, plunging the room into momentary darkness.
Santos tensed, shadows around him stretching unnaturally like fingers reaching out.
From the corner of the room, a faint ripple moved — a presence lurking in the darkness.
Jirou's fingers twitched near her earpiece.
"Someone's here," she whispered.
Santos slipped quietly into the shadows, melting into the blackness like smoke.
Chapter 32: Unexpected Encounter
From the shifting shadows, a figure emerged.
She was tall, with midnight-black hair that shimmered under the weak light.
Her eyes glowed faintly purple — as if absorbing every stray photon.
"I've been watching you, Santos Rodríguez," she said, her voice cold but smooth.
"My name is Kuroha."
She stepped closer, the darkness bending subtly around her like a cloak.
"You wield shadows not unlike mine. It's rare to find someone who understands their power... and survives."
Santos regarded her warily, sensing both danger and something familiar.
"What do you want?" he asked, voice low.
"To help you control what you were born with... and to warn you."
She paused, eyes narrowing.
"The man with the scar — the one in your dreams? He's real. And he's coming for you."
Chapter 33: The Hidden Past
That night, Santos sat by his window, Kuroha beside him.
She told stories of a villain known only as "The Scarred Alchemist," a shadow manipulator who had vanished years ago after unethical experiments.
"His obsession was to bind darkness to himself — to become a living void," Kuroha explained.
"But his final experiment failed... and someone else inherited the power."
Santos's heart pounded.
"Why me?"
"Because your power is the legacy he left behind."
Kuroha's words stirred something dark inside him.
"I'm no one's pawn," Santos said firmly.
"You'll have to fight for that," Kuroha replied softly.
Chapter 34: Training in Darkness
For weeks, Kuroha guided Santos through grueling training.
They met under the cover of night in a secluded forest outside Mustafu.
She taught him to shape shadows into weapons with delicate precision — not just blunt chains, but blades and shields of darkness.
"You must listen to the shadows," Kuroha instructed, "not just command them."
Santos struggled at first, shadows flickering out of control.
But with each session, his control grew sharper.
He learned to mask his presence completely, becoming nearly invisible in darkness.
Yet, every use left a lingering chill in his soul.
One evening, Kuroha warned, "Your power can consume you if you're not careful. Darkness is a friend — but also a trap."
Chapter 35: The Threat Emerges
Returning to U.A., Santos sensed the tension thickening.
Villains had grown bolder, attacks more coordinated.
News reports detailed strikes near training facilities, kidnappings, and quirk theft.
One night, while alone in his dorm, his tribal necklace pulsed violently.
A chilling message appeared, etched in shadowy script across its surface:
Your darkness belongs to us.
Santos's breath caught.
The shadows whispered around him, darker and deeper than ever before.
The war for his soul, for his power, was only beginning.
Chapter 36: Shadows Stirring
The dorm room was cloaked in silence, broken only by the soft hum of the city outside.
Santos lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, the faint glow from his tribal necklace casting dancing shadows on the walls.
His mind refused to rest.
The message on his necklace replayed over and over in his thoughts: Your darkness belongs to us.
His quirk had always been a part of him, a strange companion from another life, but lately, it felt less like a tool and more like a living force.
The shadows beneath his bed writhed, stretching and curling like smoke caught in a breeze.
Suddenly, the darkness deepened unnaturally, swirling into a vortex of black smoke that hovered above the floor.
From its depths came a voice—distorted, echoing as if from a cavern.
"You cannot hide, Santos."
The words echoed through the room, sending a chill down his spine.
"The darkness is ours, and you will serve its master."
His heart pounded violently.
Was this a hallucination?
Or a sinister promise?
He gripped his necklace tightly, feeling its pulse synchronize with his racing heartbeat.
Chapter 37: The Warning
The next morning, Santos found himself summoned to Aizawa's office.
The usually weary teacher sat upright, eyes sharp and alert.
"We've intercepted chatter," Aizawa said without preamble.
"The League of Villains is increasing their operations. They know about you, Santos."
Santos met his gaze steadily.
"I expected as much."
Aizawa leaned forward.
"This isn't just about combat ability anymore. It's about survival. You have to stay vigilant — trust only those within U.A."
The weight of the warning settled heavily on Santos's shoulders.
He nodded silently, but inwardly, he was preparing.
The darkness inside him was no longer just his strength.
It was a battleground.
Chapter 38: Bonds of Light
At lunch, Santos sat alone, picking at his food.
Jirou approached first, sliding into the seat beside him, her fingers lightly tapping a rhythmic beat on the table.
"You're the talk of the school now," she said, smirking slightly.
Tokoyami followed, Dark Shadow's presence looming quietly.
"Looks like you've got enemies," Tokoyami said, his voice calm.
Jirou glanced between them. "We're here. You don't have to face this alone."
For the first time in a long while, Santos felt a flicker of warmth.
The cold isolation the darkness often brought seemed to wane just a little.
He nodded quietly, the smallest hint of a smile touching his lips.
Chapter 39: The Ambush
Training in the forest outside Mustafu was supposed to be routine — a chance to practice shadow manipulation away from prying eyes.
But Santos sensed something wrong.
Eyes watching him from the tree line.
Suddenly, figures emerged from the shadows — cloaked villains wielding blinding light-based quirks.
Their bright attacks pierced through his shadows, burning and unraveling his chains.
Santos lashed out, forming new chains from the dimming light around him, but the villains were relentless.
A flash of searing light forced him to phase back into the deeper darkness of the woods, his body aching from the assault.
As he disappeared into the shadows, he realized this was no random attack.
They were hunting him.
Chapter 40: The Price of Power
Back in his dorm, Santos tended to his wounds, the aches and burns a painful reminder of the fight.
Each use of his quirk seemed to draw more than energy — it pulled at something deep within his soul.
Was this power a gift... or a curse?
His reflection in the dark window was faint, the tribal necklace glowing softly against the night.
The shadows whispered again, coaxing, calling.
You belong to us.
He clenched his fists.
No. I belong to myself.
But even as he vowed to resist, the weight of the darkness threatened to consume him.
hapter 41: Fractured Trust
The halls of U.A. felt colder.
Whispers followed Santos wherever he went—some subtle, some not.
Students glanced at him with suspicion, fingers pointing behind his back.
"Isn't his quirk dangerous?" one whispered.
"That power belongs to villains," another said.
Bakugou was blunt during training.
"You think you can walk around with those shadow chains and not raise alarms? It's like walking with a grenade strapped to your chest."
Santos didn't flinch.
He clenched his fists, shadow chains flickering around his wrists.
"I'm not your enemy."
His words hung in the charged air.
Jirou stepped forward, strumming her guitar softly.
"We fight together, or we don't fight at all."
For the first time since arriving, Santos felt the fragile warmth of allies forming around him—a small light against the dark storm gathering ahead.
Chapter 42: The Scarred Alchemist's Mark
While training near the forest, Santos noticed a strange symbol carved into an ancient tree.
The mark was jagged—a circle broken by intersecting lines that pulsed with a faint dark glow.
Kuroha's eyes widened.
"That's his mark," she whispered.
"The Scarred Alchemist's signature."
Memories flooded Santos's mind—visions of fire and smoke, twisted experiments, and that scarred man haunting his dreams.
His hands trembled, the shadows around him darkening in response.
"The Scarred Alchemist is closer than we thought," Kuroha warned.
"And he's coming for you."
Chapter 43: Secrets Beneath the Surface
Underneath the city, in an abandoned U.A. research wing, Santos and Kuroha unearthed forgotten archives.
Dusty files revealed experiments on quirk amplification, fusion, and suppression.
Among the records, one name appeared repeatedly: Dr. Kaito Arashi — a once-promising researcher turned rogue.
He'd vanished after unethical tests aimed at binding darkness quirks to willing subjects.
Lines blurred between hero and villain.
Santos stared at the files.
Was this man the Scarred Alchemist?
And was his own power the result of those twisted experiments?
Chapter 44: Into the Shadows
Kuroha's training sessions grew more intense.
Under moonlight, deep in the forest, she pushed Santos to meld into shadows so completely that he became invisible even to keen eyes.
His body blurred, senses heightened, every muscle tensed and ready.
But each session left him drained—not just physically, but mentally.
The darkness whispered sweet promises of power... and control.
Santos fought to hold on to himself, to remember who he was beneath the shadow's pull.
He was determined.
He would master the darkness — not be mastered by it.
Chapter 45: A Hero's Resolve
During a surprise visit, All Might observed Santos silently.
His eyes were sharp, but heavy with concern.
"You walk a dangerous path," he said quietly, voice low enough that only Santos could hear.
"But remember: strength without heart is hollow."
Santos met the legendary hero's gaze without flinching.
"My darkness is mine to command," he said firmly.
"Not the other way around."
All Might's face softened into a rare, approving smile.
"The battle ahead will test you more than you know. Stay true to your heart."
Santos nodded, feeling the weight of that responsibility settle on his shoulders.
The shadows outside deepened.
But inside him, a fierce light was growing.
Chapter 46: Uneasy Alliances
The air was thick with tension as Santos met with Kaminari, Sero, and Iida in the cramped briefing room.
None of them fully trusted him — the silent boy with the quirk that belonged to shadows.
Kaminari broke the silence first, a nervous chuckle escaping his lips.
"So, uh... you really can turn into pure darkness? Like, disappear?"
Santos gave no answer, his gaze steady but unreadable.
Iida folded his arms, voice firm. "Regardless, we'll need to coordinate perfectly. This isn't just about power—it's about trust."
Their mission was to track and intercept a group of villains known for using shadow quirks illegally.
As they moved through the labyrinthine alleys of Mustafu, the low light seemed to pulse with an eerie heartbeat.
Santos melted into the darkness, chains coiling silently around his wrists.
When an ambush erupted—sharp light beams cutting through the shadows—his teammates scattered.
But Santos stayed calm, twisting the darkness into solid chains that struck with surgical precision.
Kaminari dodged and shouted, "Okay, okay! You're more useful than I thought."
By the end, a grudging respect had formed, even as unspoken questions lingered.
Chapter 47: The Shadow's Price
Exhaustion claimed Santos the moment he returned to his dorm.
His limbs felt heavy, his breathing shallow.
He flexed his fingers slowly, and beneath his skin, faint veins shimmered with a dark, almost liquid glow.
The warnings Kuroha gave echoed louder in his mind.
Every time you push, you take more than you think.
Sleep offered no refuge.
In dreams, he was submerged in an endless sea of darkness, drowning deeper with each breath.
He saw distorted faces — shadowy wraiths whispering promises of power and freedom, but also chains and control.
He woke suddenly, heart pounding, sweat chilling on his skin.
Chapter 48: The Festival's Eve
The city was alive with light and laughter as the Summer Festival approached.
Paper lanterns swayed in the warm breeze, and the scent of street food mingled with the distant boom of fireworks practice.
Jirou's voice came softly through the dorm hallway.
"Santos, you're coming with us tonight, right? It'll be fun — no pressure."
He hesitated.
The darkness inside warned him to stay away.
But the idea of laughter, music, and friendship was a rare beacon.
Later, beneath the lantern-lit sky, Santos stood among friends, eyes reflecting bursts of firework colors.
For a fleeting moment, the shadows retreated, and warmth spread through his chest.
Chapter 49: A New Threat
The fragile peace shattered with a message from Aizawa.
A new villain faction had emerged—self-proclaimed purifiers wielding blinding light quirks, determined to eradicate "all darkness" from the city.
The news rippled through U.A. like a cold wind.
Santos felt their gaze even before the official warnings.
The inevitable clash was coming.
Light against shadow.
Not just a battle for the city — but for the very soul of what it meant to be a hero.
Chapter 50: Embracing the Night
On the rooftop, under a canvas of stars, Santos stood alone.
His tribal necklace pulsed faintly, casting ethereal green light on his dark cargo pants and black Air Forces.
He summoned the shadows, feeling their cool embrace.
Chains of darkness spiraled, twisting and flowing like living energy—not cold and distant, but warm and familiar.
His breath slowed as the darkness became an extension of his will.
For the first time, he truly embraced it.
No longer a curse.
No longer a prison.
A gift.
He whispered into the night air, voice steady:
"I will walk this path. I will be the light that lives in darkness."