! Okay everyone, spoiler time! This chapter will include big spoilers for the Light Novel of Solo Leveling! However, if you have been dying to know what Monarchs and Rulers and all that crap is about, well then get ready, cause here it is!
50 Minutes before Mirio is Defeated:
"Alright," Izuku said over the rushing wind, "Spill it. What's does being a Monarch mean? Who's Ashborn? And why do you look like… that? We've got about an hour before we reach Jeju, so tell me everything you know."
All Might sighed as he prepared for a long winded exposition. "At the beginning of time-"
"Wait… is this just gonna be some fairytale or a real thing?"
All Might pouted for a moment, "It's real! Considering what you've seen, does anything really seem that far-fetched?" Izuku shrugged. "Anyways, at the beginning of time, there was a being, an Absolute Being. Nowadays, people would call him God. But he was not the benevolent creator that most religions depict him as. He created all of the Universe and their many realms. The Earth, which houses humans, Heaven and Hell, which hold Angels and Demons respectively, the dark caverns from which all Nomu come from and many more. But he swiftly became bored, so he took the forces of Light and Dark and broke them up into eight pieces each, creating the Rulers of Light, whose goal was to safeguard existence no matter the cost and the Monarchs of Darkness, who were tasked with destroying all of the Universe however they could."
Izuku shifted uncomfortably from atop Karkinos's head, "So, I'm one of those Monarchs? I'm meant to destroy all of reality?"
All Might shook his head, "As the war between the Rulers and Monarchs waged on, the Rulers begged the Absolute Being for help in destroying the Monarchs. The Absolute Being refused and soon after, the Rulers learned that their gruesome and unending battle was just for the amusement of their "God." Seven of the eight Rulers banded together and rebelled against the Absolute Being with Ashborn being the only one to remain loyal."
"Okay, you've officially lost me. I'm a Monarch and some sort of reincarnation of Ashborn, who was a Ruler?"
"Ashborn, The Greatest Fragment of Brilliant Light was betrayed and "killed" by the other Rulers when he attempted to save his creator. But what no one, not even he, knew, was that the Absolute Being had implanted a failsafe in him, he had granted him the power of Death itself. Upon waking, his army destroyed by his once thought to be allies, Ashbron tore off his wings and forged an armor of pure Shadows. As he brought up a new armor of Shadow Soldiers, Ashborn joined the Monarchs, wishing for revenge against the Rulers." All Might looked sad for a moment, as if he had experienced it personally, "Of course, he wasn't safe with the Monarchs either and two of them betrayed him out of fear, the Rulers joining the fight against him. He nearly died, but once the two Monarchs were pushed away, four of the Rulers kneeled to him, asking for his forgiveness. Instead of accepting it, or denying it, Ashborn made a simple request. He asked for the Rulers to kill him. He had fought for both sides and been betrayed multiple times." Izuku felt a pang of sympathy for… well apparently himself. "Ashborn was not granted his request and instead decided to disappear, remaining neutral as the war waged on, now targeted at the subjugation of one particular planet."
"Earth." Izuku answered, "They want to kill us all."
"And they have. Seven times now."
"S-Seven?"
"Each time the Earth was destroyed by the Monarchs, the Rulers brought it back to life. This is the eighth war and the Rulers, in an attempt to save the Earth, gave us the Gates, imbuing humans with Mana and powers that we never would've had before. Some time after those wars began, Ashborn rejoined with the Monarchs and Antares, The Monarch of Destruction, welcomed him back. Since then, the Rulers and the Monarchs realized that in order to win over Earth and end the war between them, they would need hosts. The Monarchs, being the pure evil they were, decided that instead of granting their hosts power or assimilating with them, they would be taken over fully, prisoners inside their own bodies. Meanwhile, the Rulers went around, testing humans that could handle their power and were worthy of it."
"Does that mean… Ashborn will take me over one day?"
All Might was silent for a moment, "I'm… sorry. I have no idea. This was all the information that Aeic, the Ruler who granted me power, gave me."
Izuku nodded, doing his best not to panic with that information, "So if you're the host of Aeic, then how come you suddenly are all skinny?"
"I passed the power of Aeic onto someone I thought worthy, Mirio Togata, a classmate of yours. Since the beginning of the school year I've only been relying on the power that was leftover. It's for that reason that I couldn't sense your status as a Monarch until late. It takes a great deal of practice and skill to sense that specific type of power and I've been… distracted."
"Why'd you pass it on?"
All Might lifted his baggy shirt, showing off a gruesome scar over his stomach. "I got in a fight with Antares myself and… well. I could no longer handle Aeic's power like I used to be able to."
"How many Rulers and Monarchs have hosts then?"
"For the Rulers. Well, they take longer to choose more suitable hosts, so right now, if we count you as a Ruler, then we have three. You, Mirio, and Tsukauchi."
"Tsukauchi?!"
"Ah right… you were inside the Gate when he acted. It appears that he's become the host to the Weakest Fragment of Brilliant Light: Pulra."
"And the Monarchs?"
"There's no way to be certain. I did some pretty substantial damage to Antares as he did to me, which leads me to believe that Tomura Shigaraki, the one who invaded the USJ, is to be his future host. Kurogiri, their teleporter, appears to be the Monarch of Frost: Iruit. Other than that… the other six could either already have their forms and are in hiding, or any number of them have yet to find hosts." All Might shook his head, "There's too much that is unknown."
Izuku let out a heavy sigh, digesting all the information. "Oh!" He said, remembering a much more normal topic, "How'd you know that I would be needed at Jeju Island? You told me Mirio was already part of the Raid team, right? If that's the case and he's as strong, or stronger than me, then why are we running over there?"
All Might's eyes narrowed, "I… had a vision of sorts. I cannot be sure what caused it, or what I saw in it, but… I'm certain that whatever is happening there now… it's nothing good."
"Damn," Endeavor muttered, gazing down at the torn apart bodies of Crust, Best Jeanist, and Fat Gum. All of them were powerful fighters, no normal Nomu could kill them.
"Endeavor." A voice buzzed in his ear, not one of the people on the island
"Matsumoto," Endeavor responded to the official who was overseeing the Japanese's involvement with Jeju Island. "It appears we've suffered some casualties."
"Hmm, that's a shame. Oh well, are the Koreans engaging the Queen?"
Endeavor nodded, "I believe so, sir. A little while back, the jamming signal seemed to fail and all the Nomu went rushing back towards their Queen."
"Well, what are the chances the Koreans, Miruko, and that boy will survive the coming storm?"
Endeavor thought for a moment, "I've seen all of the Koreans in practice matches and I know Miruko's strength from experience. If it was just them, I'd say they'd have a zero-percent chance to survive, but that Mirio boy, he has insane potential. With him there, I can't be certain."
"That's no issue at all, as the live broadcast from inside the Nomu nest just showed off the boy getting killed."
"Then all is going according to plan," Endeavor said.
"Correct. As soon as we are certain of the Koreans' deaths, then we will send in the rest of our forces and eliminate the threat, declaring you a National-Rank Hero and ridding ourselves of Korea's strongest. It's a shame we have to waste Miruko though. She seemed so promising."
"Perfect," Endeavor replied, ending the call abruptly and turning to Gang Orca, "For now, we just have to wait until the live feeds catch-" He spun around as a massive pressure assailed his body. Creating a wall of flames, he deflected whatever blow had been sent his way, sending it crashing into Gang Orca instead and destroying his entire upper body.
"Are you… the king?" The attacker asked as the flames cleared, revealing an ant-like Nomu.
Endeavor, clad in the strongest armor money could buy, smirked as the ant asked this question, "Am I the king?" He chuckled, flames exploding from his body as his aura expanded, "Why yes… I am the king."
"Keekeekeek," The ant chirped, releasing everything he had been holding back, freezing Endeavor in place with his power.
It was at that moment, that Endeavor realized just how utterly screwed he was. He was one of the strongest in Japan, but only All Might had ever come close to this. Of course, that was only the power All Might had let him feel. Just this aura from the ant felt like it was enough to shatter his armor.
It moved fast enough to be a blur even to Endeavor and he knew that his life was about to end, but before it could make contact, a shape dropped down from the sky.
Crashing heavily into the ground in front of Endeavor, Izuku allowed his Olympian Armor to appear on his body, making him decidedly more intimidating with its white brilliance and gold accents. Unfortunately, manifesting it did not give him any buff like the Shadowsteel Armor did, but he decided that he didn't need them.
In each of his gauntleted hands he held a mace. One dark, one light.
[Item: Daybringer]
Item Class: S
Item Type: Mace
+200 Attack
When equipped alongside Nightbringer, Daybringer will have a chance to inflict bonus Burn damage.
[Item: Nightbringer]
Item Class: S
Item Type: Mace
+200 Attack
When equipped alongside Daybringer, Nightbringer will have a chance to inflict bonus Frost damage.
On top of these top tier maces, his gauntlets boosted their attack by a full 25%, making their actual attack 250, a higher number than anything he'd ever wielded before.
"Esil, Igris. Make sure the Heroes inside the tunnels survive at all costs. Take all the Angel units with you."
Endeavor looked around in shock as one-hundred Shadow Soldiers manifested around him. He shouldn't have been in shock because he'd already seen this power at the Sport's Festival, right? In reality, Endeavor was shocked by the fact that the knight in front of him, Igris, had grown to such heights in just a week. It shouldn't have been able to grow at all and yet, here was a being that could likely solo several S-Ranks like they were newborn fawns, stumbling around his feet. If Izuku Midoriya controlled someone like him with ease, then just who the hell was this kid?
"Endeavor… you should run," Izuku said without turning his back, "But know that if you try to hide, I will find you and hold you accountable for what you have tried to achieve today."
"W-What?"
"I heard you, every last word. It seems that my Sense Stat has given my ears quite the upgrade."
"No… No one will believe you."
"Hmm, maybe not, but they might believe him," Izuku said, nodding his head backwards, causing Endeavor to realize not only that All Might was behind him, skeletal and all, but he was also riding atop a massive dragon made of shadows.
"This… this power… it's not natural!"
"Karkinos, do me a favor and keep All Might safe while you provide some air support."
Karkinos roared in understanding, swirling back into the sky as it prepared to eliminate any Nomu that left the cave.
"You… you are the king!" The ant screeched out, running up to and getting in Izuku's face, his mere presence enough to crack the very ground they stood on.
Izuku smirked, "That's right, I'm your king. So be a good peasant," He activated Dominator's Touch, forcing the ant to its hands and knees with the blue telekinetic energy, "And kneel before your Monarch."
"So… which one of you should I kill first?" Overhaul asked. He stepped over the bodies of the girls, "They're basically dead already, so that's no fun." Looking over to Choi and Lim, the ranged fighters he smiled, "You two look like you still have some fight left in you, unlike your physical fighters. I was hoping my perfect Nomu would leave you just alive enough to fight, but it appears he's stronger than I anticipated."
Choi flung a few weak bolts of fire and Lim attempted to draw his bow, but one arm was too weak, so he lifted the one he could, manifesting a few Mana missiles. Overhaul batted it aside with his upper arms, which looked to be completely black, like it was nothing. "Hmm, maybe he wasn't too strong… maybe you were all just too weak. Oh well, I'll just finish it. No point in playing with something too weak to play along."
"You… bastard… you killed Byung-Gyu," Baek weakly muttered from his position on the floor.
"I suppose I did," Overhaul crouched down to the shapeshifter, "But don't worry, you'll be joining him." His palm reached forwards, ready to touch Baek and turn him into nothing more than a blood splatter.
Igris couldn't let that slide, as allowing any of the Heroes to die would disappoint his Liege, so racing into the room, he chopped off Overhaul's arm at the shoulder. Before he could even realize what was happening and reach out another of his four arms to kill his target, Esil's spear shot through the air like a bullet, stabbing him through the chest and pinning him to the floor.
Just then, as Overhaul began screaming in rage and pain, the rest of the nest came to his aid. Hundreds of Nomu began appearing from every possible tunnel, surrounding the Heroes and two Shadows within moments.
"Shit…" Baek muttered, he realized that even if these two were powerful beyond belief, they couldn't protect all of the Heroes at once.
"Don't worry!" Esil said to the ones that were still conscious, "You're safe now!"
[Esil is using Skill: Heavenly Barrage.]
From her three sets of wings, dozens of feathers fell away, beginning to hover in the air as they shifted to dark blades. Most of them raced to kill the Nomu, but a few of them diverted, doing the best they could to gently gather up the Heroes and place them against a rounded alcove, allowing Esil and Igris to more easily defend all of them.
"They're going to get overwhelmed eventually," Ma Dong-Wook realized. He figured they'd survive and continue on killing, but it boded poorly for their ravaged group.
"Oh, we're not the only ones here to protect you," Esil said, smiling back at the group, "The others were just a bit slower."
As that last word left her mouth, a hundred separate Angel Shadows poured through the same tunnel Esil and Igris had come from. Baek's eyes widened as arrows and magic assailed the Nomu by the hundreds. The twenty or so actual sword-wielders somehow managed to do even more damage. All of them zipped around on wings that made them an equal match for any Nomu, flying or otherwise.
"Are any of you healers?" Esil asked, crouching down next to Miruko and Cha Hae-In, "These two won't last much longer and it's too hectic to move them now, the trauma will kill them."
"We… We did…" Baek muttered, his eyes inexorably drawn to his friend's headless corpse.
Esil nodded, "Then for now, all we can do is hope they hold out while we clear the nest."
"You! You! YOU! YOU!" Overhaul finally got a good grip on the spear piercing his chest and destroyed it with his Quirk, freeing himself from the ground and allowing him to wrap his fingers around his severed arm, destroying the remainder of it and building it back up to what it once was. "You're ruining-!"
Igris cut Overhaul in half with a flick of his wrist, Cray's whip doing the rest.
"He… dealt with him just like that… what the hell are these things?"
Izuku made a show of holding down the ant with Dominator's Touch, but in reality, it was taking a hell of a lot of effort. Of course, from the ant's perspective, it didn't know this. All it knew was that Izuku's strength was equal to itself.
With a bout of strength, the ant shoved off the ground, breaking Izuku's hold on it as he kicked at his armor. It was such a small blow that Izuku was surprised to find himself skidding backwards as the ant's wings snapped out, carrying it quickly back into the caves it had come from.
"You're not getting away that easily!"
[Skill: Sprint Lv. 3 has activated.]
The tunnel was winding and sometimes it curved so sharply that Izuku had to run on the walls to take a turn and keep up with the ant. But what confused him the most was when he took the final turn, the pathway opening to the massive cavern that currently held the war between Shadows and Nomu. In that last turn, the ant had completely disappeared from view.
"Above you!" Baek weakly shouted, sending Izuku into a roll forwards, narrowly avoiding the ant as it dropped from the ceiling, crashing into the ground and sending shockwaves throughout the chamber.
Pulling himself to his feet, Izuku saw that the ant was simply staring at him as the world around them continued to devolve into chaos. More Nomu poured from the tunnels and more Shadows began emerging from Izuku.
"How about this," Izuku said over the din of battle, "Just you and me. No more tricks, no more running."
The ant seemed to tilt his head, as if considering the proposal before walking right up to Izuku, this time, calmly and when both stood chest to chest, neither made a move.
The A-Rank who was simply there as a cameraman was trying not to freak out, he'd never felt anything like this before, "W-Who is that? And what is he doing?"
"I… I think he wants to fight it head on, a fair one-on-one."
"Is he crazy?"
Choi shook his head, "No… I think he's just strong."
For a moment, the world seemed to go quiet as the two sized each other up fully. The ant stood a full head and a half taller and possessed considerably more mass, but Izuku was undaunted as it threw the first punch, slamming into the side of his head with the force of a bunker buster.
The wind forces it generated were enough to even buffet the Heroes being protected by Esil and they had to shield the two girls in order to keep them from becoming any more damaged.
By the standards of humanity, Izuku should've been a stain on a wall. Instead, when the dust cleared, Izuku stood tall, his head only turned slightly to accommodate the blow's power.
"So… is that all you can do?"
"Wha-"
"My turn."
[Skill: Overwhelming Strength Lv. 3 has activated.]
Swinging with all his might and then some, Izuku sent Daybringer crashing into the ant, a concussive blast hurtling out of his left side as it passed through the right. Like Izuku, the ant did not move from him spot, but unlike Izuku, his right side was cracked, bleeding, and steaming from his opponent's blow. It looked like Daybringer's Burn damage had kicked in.
But Izuku didn't stop there. As the ant stumbled from such a heavy blow, Izuku swept its legs, knocking it onto its side and while it was still in the air, perfectly horizontal, Izuku brought down Nightbringer on its chest.
[Skill: Overwhelming Strength Lv. 3 has activated.]
"This is… impossible. I was supposed to be the strongest," The ant thought to himself as the exoskeleton on his chest cracked loudly and he smashed into the rocky floor.
[Skill: Overwhelming Strength Lv. 3 has activated.]
[Skill: Overwhelming Strength Lv. 3 has activated.]
[Skill: Overwhelming Strength Lv. 3 has activated.]
Again and again Izuku slammed his maces down on the Nomu, continuing to damage his exoskeleton, but it seemed like it was never enough to fully break it off.
"Gotta finish this up, Miruko and that Korean girl won't last much longer in their condition and my potions can't heal someone that damaged." Izuku raised Daybringer for one last attack, aimed right for the head.
[Skill: Overwhelming Strength Lv. 3 has activated.]
The ant rolled to the side at the last second, a purple tongue-like protrusion jutting out from his mouth and scraping against Izuku's exposed cheek.
"Poison?" Izuku asked.
The ant took that to mean that he was scared, "How unfortunate human. It looks like I win!" He raised a fist to punch at the supposedly paralyzed Izuku.
"Why?" Izuku turned to the side, showing off that the poison that had tried creeping through his veins was already gone. And before the ant could change course, Izuku swung Daybringer, still charged up with the Skill, smacking him across the face and launching him away as Izuku remembered just why he had missed his gauntlets so much. The Overwhelming Strength Skill required that gauntlets were equipped to be used, but it never said anything about using weapons alongside the gauntlets.
Sprinting over to the space where the ant had crashed, Izuku was surprised to see it shoot out of the rubble, faster than it had been before.
"Hey!" Baek shouted suddenly, "Overhaul's running to the Queen's chambers! The girl's gotta be in there!"
Apparently, in all the commotion, Overhaul had reconstructed himself and escaped from his Shadows.
"Shit! Igris! Go get h-!" Izuku froze, there were razor sharp claws inches from his face, they would certainly hit him and they would certainly do too much damage.
[Reactive Skill: Guardian Angel has activated. Cooldown: 5 minutes.]
Transparent yellow wings appeared just in front of Izuku's face, the claws glancing off of it and the ant rushing past Izuku.
"Where did this sudden burst of speed come from?" He asked himself as his eyes did his best to track the flying Villain. When he finally caught a glimpse of it, he realized what had happened. Knowing that a battle of strength was impossible and that his poison didn't work, the ant decided to push everything he had into speed. His body mass shrunk, arms, legs, and torso thinning out to become insanely quick. Even his hands thinned out, making his claws longer with a smaller point, they were far sharper now.
Izuku threw his maces back into the Inventory as he leaned backwards, narrowly dodging another slash. "It's surprising, you're as strong as the Seraph, or maybe even stronger… but… you're still not stronger than me!"
[Sprint Lv. 3 has activated.]
Without the weight of his weapons, Izuku was beginning to catch up to the ant's speed. Trading blows with just his fists, Izuku found that the ant had made a grave mistake. It thought itself to be the fastest, an insurmountable force of speed, so it sacrificed its raw power, but without that strength, it could now stand up to Izuku's attacks even less than it could before.
[Skill: Overwhelming Strength Lv. 3 has activated.]
Izuku punched at the ant's head, but he sacrificed his arm to block it, the limb practically snapping off.
[Skill: Overwhelming Strength has been upgraded to its final form: Infinite Strength.]
"I… I must flee," The ant thought to itself, "I must survive. If I continue to eat… and grow… then maybe one day I can surpass him…"
"Did you think I'd let you leave?" Izuku asked, appearing just in front of the ant, his fist cocked back.
[Skill: Infinite Strength Lv. Max has activated.]
Overhaul sprinted through the tunnel with heavy shaking breaths. "Those things… they aren't normal… no Summon should ever be that strong." The tunnel once again opened up to a massive cavern, where the Nomu Queen, essentially just a giant mass of black matter, rested. Her royal guards remained vigilant, but they let Overhaul past. He didn't stop running though. The guards were strong, A to S-Ranks were needed to kill them, but they couldn't hold back what was coming.
Towards the back of the room, there was a small room Overhaul had formed with his quirk, blocked off by a rather large boulder. He lifted it like it was nothing, revealing the shivering form of a small girl with white hair curled up on a bed of greenery. Overhaul wasn't sure why, but the Nomu insisted on attempting to furnish the girls room. They gave her whatever they could to make her comfortable.
In truth, the Nomu did it because anyone that was allowed inside their nest freely was one of them and they took care of their own. Unfortunately, the girl was still there against her will and the Nomu certainly weren't going to do anything to save her after they themselves had kidnapped her.
Overhaul roughly took her in his arms and began making for the wall the Queen rested against. It was the closest to the outside and he needed to escape now. With the girl, he could continue his work, improving his creations and making Villains strong enough to even take down the Shadows that chased after him, or so he thought.
Upon opening the wall, creating a massive hole to the outside, Overhaul was beset by two disturbingly close sounds. One was the distinctive SHING of a blade tearing through flesh. The other… was a roar that could only be described as Godzilla-like and it was right outside the cave.
