The seven-day mark had finally been reached and Bakugo was still nowhere to be found. By now, it was likely that Baran had broken through the gap between dimensions and entered the realm of Earth. Izuku wasn't sure what the process was for a Monarch taking over their host, but he doubted that it would be something that a human could resist.
The hunt spanned across most of the country, with Heroes across Japan searching for the perpetrators. It included hundreds of law enforcement agents, every Hero that wasn't occupied with a Gate and most of Izuku's 668 Shadow Soldiers. And yet, despite being one of the most exhaustive rescue missions in Japan's history, they turned up exactly nothing. Every lead they had disappeared like a puff of smoke into the night sky.
And then, as the seventh day passed, two Gates appeared in the world.
In Japan, what was estimated to be a low S-Rank portal appeared in a popular public park. The S-Ranks currently searching for Bakugo were recalled in order to handle the potential disaster. Meanwhile, in Korea, despair echoed throughout the hearts of their citizens. A Gate the size of a skyscraper popped into existence, covering half of Seoul with its Shadow. When measured, it was estimated to be one of the highest Ranking Gates ever seen.
It felt like a slap in the face to Korea. They had finally defeated the S-Rank Raid of Jeju Island, a Raid that came at a heavy cost and once again, they were beset by something they could not face alone.
Unfortunately, while Japan still owed them for Endeavor's betrayal, Korea couldn't just ask for help, as they were facing their own S-Rank Gate troubles. The other countries of the world would begin looking down on them if they tried to relocate Japan's S-Ranks away from their own S-Rank problems. They had beef with their Heroes, not their citizens and no matter how much they disliked each other, they'd never wish for a repeat of Jeju Island anywhere.
To the shock of no one, Izuku was requested at this S-Rank Gate.
Located at a green and luscious park, the Gate appeared surprisingly small. In fact, it looked just barely wide enough to accommodate someone above six foot, like Endeavor.
As the S-Ranks gathered, most, if not all of them, shot Endeavor glares of disdain. Miruko, Ryukyu, Dabi, and Edgeshot disapprovingly gazed at their fellow S-Rank, who despite his normally composed demeanor was beginning to grow uncomfortable in the environment. Izuku was the only one too distracted to be busy glaring at him.
[Item: Evolution Core.]
Item Class: SSS
Item Type: Magic Item
Triples the strength of all magic abilities. If this item is held while the Shadow Monarch uses Shadow Extraction there is a 100% chance that the target will evolve into its next species Rank.
Ingredients:
1x portion of Seraph's Blessed Ashes
1x portion of Ifrit's Blood
Malleable Obsidian
Lava Heart
World Tree's Fragment
Orb of Avarice
Shadowsteel Fragments
"Shadowsteel Fragments…" Izuku shook his head, "The only items I had that were made out of Shadowsteel crumbled to dust months ago. And I haven't seen anything of the same material since then."
"Midoriya," Ryukyu said, strutting over to him, "Thank you for agreeing to come along."
He waved away her concern, "No problem. This is my job after all," He joked lightly, trying to distract himself from the overwhelming anxiety that another Monarch had been birthed into the world.
"We'll be starting now," Endeavor declared to the group. He may have been publicly outed, but he was still the highest Ranking Hero there, so by default, he was considered "in charge." Of course, that didn't mean that everyone would so easily go along with his commands though.
Dabi bumped into his father as he proceeded past him, purposely making sure to put an extra amount of force behind it, "Like I'll listen to anything you have to say, old man."
Ryukyu and Edgeshot nodded, "You may be appointed by the Association by default, but while we're in there, we'll take orders from anyone but you."
"Eh, I'm just not taking orders," Miruko joked with her trademark smirk.
Izuku couldn't help but smile at that and looked to the crowds behind them. The first line of which was waves of A-Ranks, basically anyone they could scrounge together in the event that the S-Ranks failed, even Yaoyorozu and Nejire were there. Behind them stood hundreds of reporters and even civilians.
"You better be careful in there," Yaoyorozu said, herself and Esil walking up to him, Eri walking beside them, "I'm gonna be hard-pressed to find another father for this one."
He chuckled, "It's got a lower Mana measurement than what Jeju had, so I'm sure there'll be no problems."
"Don't jinx it!"
"Let's do this already!" Miruko shouted, wrapping her arm around Ryukyu's shoulders and dragging her through the portal with her.
"One last thing," Izuku said as Yaoyorozu prepared to escort Eri back to safety, "Why'd you invite Miruko to that dinner? I thought you said you wouldn't let her win?"
A twinkle of mischief hid itself in her dark irises, "I didn't say I was going to win with underhanded tactics. If she wants to try for your love, then I'll face her head on and win."
Izuku was speechless for a moment, a grin stretching across his face, "Love you."
"See? I'm already winning," She jested.
"Come on, kid! Stop being lovey-dovey and help us get this shit over with!" Dabi called out.
Izuku nodded, "Yeah, let's finish this." Behind him, an army waited in his Shadows, desperate to be let loose.
The first thing Izuku noticed was that it was cold as hell. Snowcovered the ground of the mountainous terrain, reminding him quite a bit of his first experience with a Red Gate. Almost immediately, a bevy of roars assaulted their ears.
Miruko sniffed the air and stuck out her tongue, "Smells like Yeti."
Izuku triggered his armor, covering him in its warm embrace. Dabi and Endeavor turned up their heat, Miruko began hopping in place, getting her blood flowing, Ryukyu was cold-blooded so she was forced to lean closer to Dabi, and Edgeshot just stood there, his ninja stoicism showing no concern for the elements.
"Come Forth."
All 668 Shadows emerged onto the snowy mountaintop, each broken into their respective squads. They kneeled in unison, creating a clank as their knees hit the rocky terrain.
"My Liege," Beru and Ifrit said in unison next to the other generals, Igris, Hyo, and Tusk, who were all silent.
"It's a simple Raid. Take your five squads and kill everything in sight. Preserve the corpses and if you find any particularly strong ones… bring them to me."
"Yes, my Liege."
"All Shadows with fire potential, you're gonna be the heavy hitters here, so feel free to turn up the heat."
Ifrit nodded, "It would be my pleasure." The army rose to its feet as the God of Fire shapeshifted to what looked like a massive tiger mixed with elements of a shark and dragonic wings.
They moved out with scary efficiency, brushing past the other five S-Ranks, who stared in wonder. This was the very first time they had seen his full army working at full tilt.
"Well, we could wait here until they've cleared out everything but the Boss room, but something tells me-"
Dabi cut off Izuku, "Tch. As if we'd let some Summons show us up."
Izuku smirked, he knew that they would absolutely show them up. After all, he'd gotten another 24 Stat Points over the past few days for his Daily Quest and he plugged it all into Intelligence.
Level: 108
Strength: 262
Vitality: 199
Agility: 250
Intelligence: 338
Sense: 176
[Mana: 32773/29473]
[HP: 48145/47395]
[Shadows able to be extracted: 1338]
[Shadows able to be saved: 669/836]
Though Izuku typically used the number 668 to define his number of troops, he also had Esil, but she was on family guard duty, so he rarely counted her in his estimates. "That exponential growth is really starting to kick in now. I can have 836 saved Shadows in total! Hmm, maybe I should spend some more time Leveling Up my other Stats from here on out. Everything else has begun falling behind."
Like Miruko expected, the mountain was filled with Yetis and other Ice-type Villains, such as Golems, White Foxes, the occasional Ice Elf, and so on.
While the five S-Ranks did their best to keep up with the Shadows, they barely had anything to prey on, as the army was far too perfect in its execution of… well everything. There were barely any Villains to worry about.
"Why were we worried about an S-Rank Gate again?" Ryukyu asked herself, in awe of Karkinos flying through the sky and blasting the mountain with AOE beams.
"I asked it on that Destroyer as a joke, but seriously, do I need to worry about that dragon becoming my romantic rival," Dabi said, tracking her enraptured gaze to the dragon. She elbowed him in the side.
[You have Leveled-Up!]
"It seems like my generals are all reporting the same thing, they've cleared out most of the mountain."
"Already?! We've been here like an hour max!"
Izuku nodded as he noticed Ifrit walking back, bigger than before, with dozens of corpses slung over his back and carried under his wings. The Lava Golems and Titans were behind him as well, carrying just as many. It seemed that the Fire Squad had volunteered for corpse retrieval.
"Arise."
Aside from Endeavor, everyone already knew of Izuku's power to bring back the dead and both Endeavor and Izuku knew he could make the fiery Hero's life far worse than it already was, so Izuku didn't feel any apprehension in revealing the power to him.
"33 Knight Grade Yetis, 15 Knight Grade Ice Golems, and 6 Elite-Knight Grade Ice Foxes." Though Ice Foxes sounded considerably less intimidating than the other two species, they had considerable talent when it came to magic.
With those Extractions, Izuku's ranks had risen to 723. Not only that, but several of his Shadows were ready for Rank-ups.
Tusk, Tank, and Hyo stood before him.
[These Shadows have reached the required Level for a Promotion. The Shadows will be Promoted to Captain Grade if the Monarch's permission is given.]
"Permission granted."
And just like that, Shadows blanketed the area for a moment as Tusk, Tank, and Hyo's aura expanded rapidly, making them far stronger than any S-Rank in all of Asia, save for Izuku himself… and maybe one other.
"What… was th-"
Izuku interrupted the question from Edgeshot, whose unflappable expression was broken, "The only place my Shadows haven't cleared yet is a door to the inside of the mountain, it's almost certainly the Boss room. It's at the base of the mountain." They were near the peak of the mountain.
"Would you care for a ride, my Liege?" Ifrit lowered its tiger-like body to the ground, allowing Izuku to climb on its back. Dabi looked at him expectantly. "What? Didn't you say you weren't going to let my Shadows show you up? Let's go!" Ifrit leapt off the nearest cliff, his wings spreading wide.
Miruko leapt off after him, "Not so fast!" Her legs were capable of withstanding insane pressure, so jumping off a mountain was actually an acceptable strategy for her. Edgeshot and Endeavor were next. With Edgeshot's Quirk, which allowed him to make his body into incredibly thin and sharp string with elastic properties, he was able to leap from cliff to cliff. Endeavor just used his flames to slow himself down midair. That left only Dabi and Ryukyu at the top of the mountain.
"Okay I can't do that hover thing he does, so I'm gonna need a ride."
Ryukyu feigned a sigh, "Fine, but if you make any jokes about riding me, I'm gonna throw you off." Her body grew scaly and began enlarging to a ridiculous degree. Eventually, she was a fifteen-foot tall western style dragon that Dabi happily clambered onto. "Hold tight," Her voice had become deeper and gravely as she followed her "co-workers" off the cliff.
Dabi nearly lost his grip from the get go, as Ryukyu put them into a nearly straight down dive, quickly diving past Edgeshot and Endeavor. Within seconds, they were gaining on Miruko and Izuku.
Neither failed to notice this, causing Miruko to increase the distance between her jumps and Izuku to yell to Ifrit, "Let's show them a real dragon!"
"Yes, my Liege!"
Ifrit began morphing, mirroring Ryukyu's shape, it's wings large enough to blow away a sailboat. Diving more fiercely than before, Ifrit and his Liege accelerated nearly to terminal velocity, the base of the mountain coming up quickly. At the last moment, his wings snapped out, catching the wind just in time to slow their descent into a rather rough landing.
Miruko and Ryukyu landed in the same way, essentially at the exact same time and as soon as the dragon woman shrunk down, Miruko began arguing with her, attempting to claim the title of second place. As the two girls smiled and bantered back and forth, Ryukyu realized something shocking.
"Am I… having fun? Inside an S-Rank Gate?!" She glanced over to Izuku who was dutifully waiting by the Boss room door for the others. "Is it because of him? Is it because I feel… safe now?" Unbeknownst to anyone, Ryukyu suffered from the same type of anxiety as Miruko. Thanks to her status as one of Japan's strongest, she felt the need to constantly be a calming force that her team could always rely on, she never felt like she had the luxury to relax. Even when she was with other S-Ranks, she couldn't loosen up the slightest amount. Yet, in Izuku's presence, it was like she felt that nothing could hurt her.
"Sorry for keeping you all waiting," Edgeshot said as himself and Endeavor lowered onto the ground.
"Does anyone need to take a break?" Ryukyu asked goodnaturedly, but she only received a couple of smirks. "Right…"
Izuku dismounted Ifrit and called out Igris, handing him the Genesis Blade. Igris then "holstered" his whip and Shadow Sword. Izuku decided that it was better for him to have them both in case he needed them, besides, it wasn't like Izuku had learned to use the whip yet.
Izuku then pulled out Day and Nightbringer as he approached the twenty-five-foot tall Boss room door. "Come F-"
"Actually," Ryukyu interrupted, "We've felt pretty useless since entering this Gate, if you don't mind… could we kill it?" Izuku tilted his head and Ryukyu immediately added on, "We'll still leave you the corpse for you to do your thing."
He relaxed noticeably and gestured towards the door, "It's all yours."
Ryukyu nodded gratefully and the five S-Ranks lined up in front of the door, pushing it open as Izuku hung back.
The circular room lit up as torches lining the side ignited with a blue flame one-by-one. Ryukyu gasped as the back was finally covered with light. Curled up on the floor was a bright blue dragon, its scales shimmering in the fire's radiance.
"The measurement of this Gate was relatively low for an S-Rank," Endeavor said, "So there's no way this thing is a proper dragon Boss."
No one had to ask what he meant by that. After the first S-Rank Gate had opened in America, releasing Kamish, an Ancient Dragon that was considered the worst of humanity's disasters, dragons became known for being exceptionally strong. After all, Kamish had destroyed the western half of America all by himself.
"My Liege," Beru said, his mandibles clicking as he emerged from Izuku's Shadow, "Do you sense that?"
"I've been trying to pin down exactly what it was since we entered this Gate. It… feels familiar… but I can't place that aura."
Beru sent a chill down his spine as he said, "It reminds me of that Monarch's presence… but far weaker… and more human."
"Oh shit…" At the same time, the dragon gave a massive roar, waking up as the five S-Ranks got closer.
Looking around the room, Izuku spotted a small tunnel, leading away from the Boss room. Activating Quicksilver, he rushed forwards, past the Heroes and dragon.
"W-Where are you going?!"
"To check something out! Be on your guard! That dragon might not be the real Boss after all!"
Diving into the darkness of the tunnel, Beru, Igris, and Ifrit behind him, he saw clear as day that there was some sort of light coming from the next turn. He picked up the pace, coming to the turn and gazing upon another, smaller chamber. However, in this one, instead of a dragon at the center, there was Bakugo's prone body. His eyes were glazed over and drool fell out of his mouth. He was comatose for certain.
Behind him, stood a misty figure. "Greetings Shadow Monarch."
"Iruit." Izuku raised his maces and his Shadows went to flank the Monarch.
He bowed, "It shall be my pleasure to keep you entertained until Baran can find a proper host in one of your friends." The wall behind Izuku slammed shut, rock harder than diamond cutting him off from the S-Ranks. "Don't worry… it won't take more than ten minutes."
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Since I have your attention I need to mention a few things. Last chapter, Momo had a typo. Instead of her saying, "I'll never hate you for that," I wrote it as, "I'll hate you for that," which is kind of a funny sentence in retrospect. I've fixed it, so it's now what I meant for it to be. Secondly, some people have been asking about why I added Grades and I suppose my author's notes weren't enough to specify. I'm adding Grades because I really like progression in gamer-like stories, such as Solo Leveling. But in Solo Leveling, there aren't that many Grades overall, so I wanted to have some more fun with it, it's really as simple as that, I wanted to expand the system a bit. See you next time!
