Outside Japan's S-Rank Gate, Association Agents got a sudden chill down their spines. They had no idea why. The portal did not change color from blue to red. It did not grow bigger or glow brighter. What it did do was start putting off an intensely higher aura than before.

"G-Get the measurement device…"

"What?"

The Agent grabbed his underling by the scruff of his neck, "I said… Grab. The. Measurement. Device!"

The younger man nodded and went sprinting off, returning moments later with the machine, a purple crystal resting on top. His boss snatched away the device and held it up to the Gate, his face paling considerably.

"What? What did it say?!"

The Agent swallowed dryly, "It says… that this Gate is at least five times stronger than the Jeju Island Gate."


"Where'd that boy go?!" Endeavor shouted, launching pillars of flames at the dragon who had suddenly grown stronger. "This bastard must've been hiding its Mana to trick us!"

Compared to Kamish, this dragon was pretty small, about the same size as Ryukyu when she transformed, but like Kamish, its power was almost unfathomable. Dabi and Endeavor's flames together did next to nothing to hurt it and the dragon's own frost breath was enough to utterly obliterate their flames. Thankfully, Ryukyu was holding its attention for now with her equal size. Unfortunately, just because they were in the same weight class didn't mean they were in the same class.

Ryukyu slashed at the Villains neck as she saw an opening, her metal claws scraping against its scales, but doing nothing more than pushing its head to the side. When the dragon turned back to look at her, its eyes spoke volumes about the situation. It was like he was saying, "Really? That's all you have?"

A blur was Ryukyu's indication of an attack, followed by intense pain in her side. Looking over, she saw the frost dragon's claws buried into the space just under her wings.

"Hey! Asshole!" The dragon stumbled noticeably as Miruko's foot slammed into its head, delivering a far stronger impact over a smaller area than anything Ryukyu could do.

Edgeshot was busy doing his best to find a chink in the Villain's armor, but even when he found a gap in the scales on its back, his razor sharp Quirk couldn't penetrate it. "Turn up the heat you two! If we don't take this thing down, it'll kill Ryukyu!"

"Don't tell me what to do!"

Despite his shout of defiance, Dabi raised both hands to one of the legs, narrowing his eyes as more condensed flames began spewing from his palms. Endeavor did the same, aiming for relatively the same area. But before they could reach their target, the flames simply dispersed into nothing.

"What?!"

The frost dragon roared, its wings snapping out rapidly, catching Miruko and Edgeshot on the chin and sending them flying. Then, it suddenly charged forwards, slamming its chest into Ryukyu's. Her feet dug into the icy rock floor as her left side crashed into the wall and the dragon crashed into her right side, painfully pressing down on the claw wound. However, it didn't seem like he was going for a killing blow, instead intending on keeping her pinned there.

"Thank you, Frieg." An echoing voice said, emerging from seemingly nowhere.

Miruko pushed herself to her feet and spun around, looking for the source of a voice. Before she could find it, a massive hand wrapped around her skull, lifting her into the air, "Hmm, not you." The hand flung her to the edge of the room, right next to Ryukyu, strong enough to imbed her in the wall.

Edgeshot, Dabi, and Endeavor turned to face off with this new threat, their bodies practically quaking as they laid eyes on a demon with grey skin, glowing red eyes, two long ram-like horns, and an aura to surpass that of anything they had ever felt before. If Bakugo had been there to see it, he would say that it looked exactly like the demon in his dreams. The same demon that had called himself The Monarch of White Flames, Baran.


"What did you do to him?" Izuku asked cautiously, not taking his eyes off of Iruit.

The Frost Monarch looked down at Bakugo's comatose body, a hint of disgust entering his eyes, "He resisted." Shaking his head, practically in disbelief, "In all my millennia of taking hosts and mangling worlds, I've never seen someone deny a Monarch. We're pure energy, so it should be impossible, but this one… he fought so hard that he broke. He broke his own mind so that we could not take him over."

Izuku scowled, "Can they not take over a body that is comatose?" Then to Iruit, "I can't feel my Shadows hiding inside Miruko or any of the other S-Ranks. I assume that's your doing."

Iruit shook his head, "Baran has manifested his Spiritual Body. It'll drain him until he is forced to return to the gap between dimension, but for the next ten minutes, he is as strong as ever and he's decided to cut off that room from the rest of this world."

Izuku caught the hidden implication in that sentence, if he didn't find a host in those five S-Ranks, he'd likely kill them all out of spite before returning to the gap between dimensions, otherwise, he'd remain permanently, as the fourth Monarch to earn a host. "Then… I guess I have no choice but to kill you to get to them."

Ifrit, Igris, and Beru began spreading out, flanking the Monarch from all sides within the wide room. Iruit scowled, unbeknownst to Izuku, he was actually helping Baran maintain his form and as such, was expending far too much energy to freeze and bind Izuku's Shadows like before.

"Fine… I'll hold your interest until this is all over." Dozens of razor sharp, magically reinforced icicles formed in the air, aiming straight for Izuku.

Hyo jumped from Izuku's Shadow, turning about a fourth of them into nothing, Ifrit sprayed them with his flames, getting another half of them, and Izuku bashed aside the remaining ones with ease.

"If that Stellian friend of yours isn't here, hiding in wait to strike, then you've underestimated me. Without any physical-type guards, a Mage is helpless."

Iruit growled, "You dare?! You DARE?!" His body began glowing with magical energy, "SO LONG AS I AM A MONARCH, I WILL NEVER BE HELPLESS IN FRONT OF A LESSER SPECIES LIKE YOU!" Triggering his own Spiritual Body Manifestation, Iruit cut down both his and Baran's time to five minutes, but without it, he knew this human would be able to kill him, "DAMN YOU ASHBORN! IF I HAVE TO KILL THIS HUMAN HOST OF YOURS, THEN I WILL!" Grasping tendrils of mist spread out and hundreds of icicles formed above his head.


Endeavor and Dabi shot another stream of flames at the Monarch, but like before, they dissipated into thin air.

Baran laughed maniacally, "I'm the Monarch of White Flames. Your puny candle flames can't harm me."

Edgeshot launched forwards, his body separating into a dozen sharp points. All of them glanced off of Baran's demonic and silver armor. His hand snapped out, grabbing multiple of Edgeshot's strings and somehow suddenly holding him by the head, the same way he had thrown Miruko aside. "Hmm, not you either."

Edgeshot went flying, but unlike Miruko, he was able to slow himself using his Quirk, stopping completely unharmed. He continued launching his string points at Baran, desperately praying for some sort of breakthrough. Baran simply smiled and turned around to face him once more. "Disappear."

Baran's jaw unhinged and a purely concentrated blast of white flames blasted outwards, making Endeavor and Dabi's indeed look like candles.

Edgeshot tried to pull away before it was too late, but the attack was too wide and moving too fast. The bottom half of his body was obliterated in seconds and he fell to the ground, bleeding profusely.

Baran turned back to the remaining three possibilities, surprised to see one of them soaring through the air, intending to completely crush him with her massive body.

Seeing that her comrades were helpless against the new threat, Ryukyu had stopped struggling against the frost dragon and shrunk down to her human form, escaping under the Villain's legs as she ran for the Monarch, leaping high, transforming to her dragon form as she came crashing down on him. Or at least, she thought she would crash down on him. Instead, the Monarch caught her with one hand, causing the wind to rush out of her lungs as she lost focus and shrunk back down to human.

Baran snatched her up and sneered, "A being tainted by the mark of the Rulers. I'll make sure to kill you slowly." He threw her next to Miruko and, realizing that he was expending energy far quicker than before, exerted his full strength, darting forwards to Endeavor, sneering once more, "You as well?!" His fist was driven into the gut of the fiery Hero, a blast of fire digging a hole into his stomach.

Then, he finally turned his attention to Dabi, smiling, "I detest your physical appearance… but your mind… very impure. Perfect for discouraging a Ruler."

To the credit of Dabi, he stopped trying to throw flames at the Monarch and rushed forwards, his fist cocked back. Baran obviously caught the punch and pulled the Hero closer to him, this time, convinced that he was a compatible host. Grabbing him by the shoulder, he gently pressed his wrinkled and awful forehead to Dabi's. The S-Rank's eyes went blank and he felt himself drawn to a dark place, the world around him disappearing.

Before long, the only thing Dabi could see was darkness. Nothing, not even Baran stood in that darkness with him. "Where… Where is this?"

Square boxes began appearing, each showing a memory of Dabi's like a television broadcasting the news. Private moments, like when he cried for the first time in years after learning that his brother had been killed, or his gentler moments with Ryukyu like their nights of passion.

Baran's voice suddenly emerged from all directions in the darkness, "You are a softer being than I thought." Another square appeared. This one was bigger than the others. It showed an urban house on fire.

"One of Antares dragonewts broke free of a Gate… this was… Skeld?"

A Dabi, unmarked by scars stood next to his father, Endeavor who stared at the burning building with a complete lack of empathy.

Dabi tugged at his arm, "Come on! We've gotta help them!"

Endeavor scowled down at his son and showed him his singed palm. "This was from merely touching that beast. Those flames will cook us alive. We'll need to wait for the water Mages to clear this."

"They'll all be dead by then!"

"As a Hero, it is important to know when you are beaten."

Dabi looked up at his father in disbelief. He knew he was a cruel man, only taking his son on patrol with him to see if he was worthy of joining his Agency, but he also thought him to be a real Hero. He always did his best to save people… didn't he?

Endeavor turned away from the building and the screams coming from it. At that motion, resolve hardened in the younger, more naive Dabi's eyes and he sprinted away from his father, charging into the fire before he could second guess himself.

The Dabi in the present looked away as his younger self screamed out in pain, his flesh being seared by the flames as he pulled that young boy out of the house, using all of his magical energy to shield the boy instead of himself.

"Ah… so that is why you are so repulsive to look at." Baran muttered.

"Look who's talking!" Dabi shot back, "You look like a-"

Baran manifested himself in front of Dabi, who had already gathered that this was some sort of mental mindscape, "Scars are the most disgusting attribute of any living creature, they show off their weakness, their inability to recover from a simple wound."

Dabi smirked, "Ryukyu says they're beautiful, and my girlfriend outranks anything you say in my mind."

"What a wonderful sentiment," Baran said sarcastically, "They are still a concern of yours… are they not?"

"I don't think they're beautiful. They're ugly marks on my skin," Baran nodded, satisfied, but Dabi didn't stop, "But I don't regret them at all." Dabi's hands burst into flames, "They're my mark of pride, thanks to them, I'll never forget the face of that boy I saved and how grateful his parents looked when I carried him out of that house. After that act, I didn't do much good with my life… up until Ryukyu convinced me to be me again. I don't think they're beautiful, but I love them."

Baran frowned deeply, his own hands catching alight with flames. "Then I'll take those marks of pride away from you!" His hands wrapped around Dabi's throat and threw him to the ground. Even in his own mind, it seemed that he was weaker.

"You can try… but they'll always be here. Scars don't heal. They'll remain right here, until the day I die," Dabi pointed at his head.

"You can't win this fight!" Baran shouted, as if he was trying to reinforce his own belief.

"I know, but Ryukyu says I'm a stubborn pain in the ass. You'll never erase me from my own mind. I'll stay here, bugging the crap outta you until someone comes along and kills us."

Baran's white light began eclipsing the world of darkness as he succeeded in taking over Dabi's body. "The Monarchs are destruction incarnate! Nothing will stop us!"

Dabi shrugged, "I don't know about that… after all… that one kid seems pretty strong."

"He'll die just like the rest of your pitiful race!"

"We'll see…" As the white light finally filled up the entire space, Dabi shook his head, "Ah jeez… I'm sorry… for leaving you so soon, Kyu."


Iruit felt his energy wane and knew that if he tried to keep up his Spiritual Body Manifestation any longer, he would be caught helpless in front of this human. Of course, while he now felt the urge to kill this human, he knew he would not be disheartened retreating at this point, after all, they had succeeded.

His glowing body wrapped mist around all the Shadows and slammed them into the ground, a Gate forming behind him, "Know this, Ashborn. The next time you or your host oppose us, we will not hesitate to strike it down!"

"You can try," Izuku knew that Iruit was not speaking directly to him, but he couldn't help but respond to such a brazen threat.

Iruit said nothing more and slipped into the depths of his Gate, disappearing from this icy world. Once Izuku was certain he was gone, he turned around, seeing that the tunnel was now open. "Grab him!" Izuku shouted to Igris, pointing at Bakugo's limp body as he went sprinting off, Beru and Ifrit close behind.

As he neared the dragon's chamber, his Sense Stat picked up on one word uttered weakly by Ryukyu, "no…"

Emerging into the huge circular room, Izuku was beset by two rather horrific sights. Four of the five S-Ranks were on the ground, either unconscious and bleeding out, or heavily wounded and barely awake. The fifth of those S-Ranks, Dabi, was the only one standing, but as everyone deduced almost immediately, it was no longer Dabi.

The large and grotesque burn marks on his body faded to nothing and were replaced by perfectly smooth skin. His hair grew longer, turning from its deep black to a literally glowing white. And finally, he was overtaken by a silver and demonic armor, completing his transformation into The Monarch of White Flames, Baran.

"Ahhhh…" Baran sighed, "It's good to be back in a physical body." The frost dragon walked away from the other Heroes, going to stand behind the Monarch. "I suppose I owe Iruit quite a debt for this. He even loaned me the Marshal of his army."

Mustering the last of her strength, Ryukyu pushed herself up to her knees, "You… bastard… I'll kill you… No matter what it takes… to tear you out of that body… I'll do it… and I'll kill you."

Baran chuckled happily, "A human defeating a Monarch? That's a rich concept."

[Skill: Infinite Strength has activated.]

Izuku swung Nightbringer with both hands, aiming to knock Baran's head right off his shoulder.

"NO!" Ryukyu shouted.

[Monarch of White Flames, Baran is activating Skill: White Flames of Hell.]

Nightbringer and the immense amount of Mana pouring from Baran's mouth clashed, spreading out the impact so that it didn't hit Izuku, only push him backwards, far out of melee range.

Then, as if he could read Izuku's mind, the Monarch smiled, "I may be the weakest Monarch… but I still am a Monarch!" Energies began swirling behind him, the signature sign of a Gate being formed, "For today, however, I am weary of this encounter and your friends fare far worse, so I'll take my leave and allow Frieg to keep you company."

Izuku wanted to leap forwards and take advantage of his apparent weakness, but he knew that if he tried it, there was a high chance that Baran's wide range flame attack would kill everyone else there. So, Izuku waited, glaring at the back of Baran's head as he strode under the legs of the Frost Dragon, disappearing just as Iruit had.

"Beru, Igris, get everyone on Karkinos and get them out of here. Heal who you can." Then facing off with the Frost Dragon, who Izuku could've sworn was wearing a smile, he called upon the rest of his army, causing Freig to balk. He hadn't expected the Shadow Monarch to already have so many forces after such a short time on Earth. Especially not a General and Commander Grade.

Perched on the head of Karkinos, his hands over the dying Heroes, Beru shouted, "I will return as soon as possible, my Liege." Igris hauled Bakugo onto the wyrm before joining Ifrit at Izuku's side.

"I wouldn't worry about it Beru… after all," He addressed the dragon, "How long do you think you can last against an army?"

Frieg shoved down his fear, he was a dragon dammit! The humans were supposed to fear him, not the other way around. He opened his maw, intending to roar what could possibly be his very last battle cry, but the Shadow Soldiers wouldn't even give him that.

Fire from Tusk's magic, Ifrit's dragon breath, and Igris's Genesis Blade poured down his throat, scorching the flesh meant for handling extreme cold. He stumbled back, coughing and choking as Izuku leapt for his head, swinging both of his maces like wrecking balls, denting the dragon's skull.

Frieg desperately tried conjuring up that same devastating frost breath that had turned him into the Marshal of Iruit's army, but nothing would escape his burning lungs. He had no chance to formulate a physical response either, as mere moments after Izuku's attacks, the Lava Titans, at least twice as tall as him, dog-piled him, tearing off his wings and pinning him down as the Knights, Angels, Nomu, and dozens of other Shadow Soldiers stabbed into him and tore away at his flesh.

[You have slain the Dungeon Boss.]


Thanks for reading! Last chapter I made the mistake of assuming Ryukyu wasn't bothered by the cold because she was cold-blooded... not sure why I thought that made sense, but... that's what I put down, so thanks to some of the readers for pointing that out to me, it's been fixed as of yesterday!