"Shut up and wait."
[Skill: Dominator's Touch has activated.]
Izuku flung the original Villain into a wall, completely breaking it as he flew through.
"Are you injured?" He asked his sister as tears built up in her eyes and she began crying into his hoodie. She didn't say anything, but Izuku could see her neck was already severely bruised.
"Beru, take care of my sister."
"Yes, my Liege." Beru walked over to the windows and punched, opening the entire wall with his insane strength. Then, ever so gently, he picked up Sakura and his wings lifted them outside as he lowered them from the third floor.
"The rest of you," Another seventeen Angel Knights appeared, "Take them down." They held a hand over their chest before grabbing each and every student, leaving just Izuku, his Shadows, and this Villain.
There were still over a hundred duplicates filling the room and the hallway, so Izuku called upon Igris, "I'll be borrowing your sword." Igris knelt, offering the Genesis Blade high above his head for Izuku to grab.
Wrapping his fingers around the white hilt, Izuku hauled the blade back as the duplicates began rushing forwards, realizing that they were about to be destroyed. But it was too late. With a single horizontal swipe, Izuku blanked the room in cleansing fire, burning every last copy into a pile of muddy sludge.
The original pulled himself back into the room from the hole in the blackboard, his bodysuit torn in a dozen different places. "Well, this is going well!" He looked over the room of mud, "No it's no- EUGH!"
Izuku snatched him by the neck with Dominator's Touch and yanked him over, right into his awaiting hand, choking him much like he had done to his sister. "Why did you do all of this?!" He shouted as his Sense Stat informed him of the dozens, if not hundreds of student bodies that laid dead on the floors of the school. "You're the one who imitated Uraraka weren't you?! WHY!" He roared as the Villain didn't answer.
"My… master…"
"WHO ARE THEY?!"
"The… most beautiful… school girl you could… imagine…"
Izuku scowled and tightened his grip, "I want a name! Are they a Monarch?!"
"She… told us… that she'd give us… a reward if we… took everyone… from you."
Izuku dropped him and swallowed nervously, "We?"
[Mana: 23562/32773]
His Mana had gone down again.
"She told us, that Ashborn was hers and hers alone, that she needed to-"
Izuku stabbed him through the chest with the massive broadsword.
[You have Leveled Up!]
Taking his Shadow as he began looking through the Shadows of his family and friends, Izuku felt a sudden bout of helplessness coursing through his veins. It wasn't just Nejire and Eri under attack, or Yaoyorozu and Miruko. It was Ryukyu, his mother, Endeavor. Anyone who Izuku had placed a Shadow on was under attack. This Villain who could create doubles was nothing more than the initial attack, a distraction to make him waste his Shadow Exchange. Now, there was another two hours before he could teleport again, and four different attacks going on simultaneously.
"IFRIT!" Izuku leapt out of the school's side, emerging into open air as the Fire God formed his Draconic Jet shape beneath him.
"My Liege!" Beru cried telepathically, "I will accomp-"
"No! Stay with Sakura! This could just be another distraction!"
"My Liege," Ifrit growled, "Where are we to go first?"
"I… I don't know."
Esil had been busy watching Nejire and Eri play with her toys when a man came crashing through their balcony windows, a long katana in one hand and a shorter one in the other. He had no nose and an extremely hunched posture.
Esil immediately emerged from Eri's Shadow and got between the two, her wings spreading wide as she summoned her new weapon.
[Item: Spear of Longinus.]
Item Class: S
Item Type: Spear
+222 Attack
A holy lance that can pierce any defense. Will return to the user's hand on command. Can only be wielded by Heavenly Beings.
Izuku had made this pure black spear for Esil after discovering the recipe hidden among the many materials he had obtained from killing Angels in the Heavenly Palace. It was perfect for someone like her, who had become adept with wielding spears.
The Villain seemed to be human, but his power was far above anything else Esil had felt before. Well, that wasn't exactly true.
"Are you… a Monarch?"
The man scowled, "No, the true Monarch has merely gifted me part of her power so that I could kill the trash in her way." Energy fizzled in his hands.
"If he has the power of a Monarch… does that mean he can kill us Shadows? Like what Stellian tried to do to Beru?" Esil returned his glare, her feathers falling away to form black daggers aimed at his face, "I refuse to allow that."
Nejire had already scooped up Eri and was making for the door when Esil came to a sudden realization, "This man has no wings. Even with Monarch strength, jumping this high into the air is almost impossible."
Just then, another Villain came crashing through the glass, getting between Nejire and her escape. His head was that of a wolf, though his body was humanoid. Massive feathery wings sprung from his back and huge talons erupted from his fingertips.
Now, there was a Villain on either side of them.
Nejire and Esil stood back to back, Eri doing her best to hold back her fear as she pressed her face up against Nejire's chest.
"On my mark, take her and run as fast as you can. She's our top priority," Esil whispered.
Nejire didn't like the idea of abandoning the Seraph, but she also couldn't imagine keeping Eri safe while fighting these guys off with her full power. "I'll come back for you."
"No… just go as far as you can. I'm not even sure if I can kill them." The two stalked closer, their respective weapons ready. "NOW!"
Esil spun on her heel, using her momentum from the turn to throw Longinus straight at the beast-man's chest. He leaned to the side at the last moment, saving his heart but taking the blow to his shoulder. At the same time, the man with the swords leapt at her back, katanas at the ready, but Esil's black daggers flew through the air, aiming to pierce him through. He met them head on with his sword, however, it was enough to throw him off to the side, leaving the hole in the windows completely unguarded.
Esil wrapped her arms around Nejire and Eri and threw them straight through that hole, into the open air.
To any outsider, it would've looked like Esil was trying to kill them both, but in reality, she was saving them. Nejire was an extremely adept flier and Esil wouldn't allow her to be chased.
"How foolish," The man with the swords said, "Throwing away your only help. It would've been smarter to let the kid die so you two could fight us together."
The beast-man grunted in pain as Esil called back her spear, pulling it out of his shoulder. "My job is to ensure their safety above all else, it is what my Liege wills. So… if I have to fight alone to protect them, then so be it… I'm enough on my own," She declared defiantly. And, with the threat of complete erasure at the hands of these Monarch boosted Villains, Esil steeled herself. She had been brought back to serve her eternal Liege, two Villains wouldn't take that away from her.
The beast-man roared as he charged alongside his partner, determined to destroy this impudent Shadow. Esil said nothing, and merely readied her weapons.
Inko Midoriya was thrown out of her small apartment's open window by a Shadow she hadn't even had the chance to see. She expected herself to hit the pavement any moment as she let out a shrill scream. But instead, her body slid down a perfectly made slide of ice.
She came to a calm stop right next to the sidewalk as passerbys looked on in confusement and swiftly helped her up from her prone position on the slide.
Just then, the wall of her apartment exploded outwards and a Shadow Elf wielding multiple floating icicles was flung outwards, chased by a woman with red hair. In fact, her hair was the most notable thing about her. Not because of its brilliance or color, but because it was shaped into long blades of crimson.
The Shadow Elf, Hyo, landed next to Inko and pointed to their nearby park. Thankfully, she got the idea pretty quickly. She was under attack and Hyo needed her to hide. The park was pretty massive and had plenty of lush forest-y areas to hide in.
As she got running, the woman called out to Hyo.
"Come now Shadow, let the woman die and I'll spare you. After all, my master merely wants those close to Ashborn dead. Compared to that Shadow Angel, you mean almost nothing to your master, so why not just le-"
Hyo shot forwards, slamming walls of ice and his many blades into the surrounding area in his rage. No one insulted his Liege and got away with it. Hyo knew that he wasn't his Liege's favorite, or strongest, but Izuku was not one to disregard his Shadows as nothing, he cared about them all.
The woman sliced through all of the attacks and smiled, "Fine, I like it better this way anyways."
Ryukyu and Endeavor got to spend about thirty seconds of peace as they strolled out of the hospital before Villains crashed down in front of them. It was two Nomu, both with four arms carrying blades of all types.
As Endeavor readied himself, he noticed a massive aura coming off of Ryukyu. It was pure rage, simple as that. Even the Angel Knights and Mages hiding in the Shadows were unsure if they would need to intervene; it was so strong.
The ground began to tremble as Ryukyu transformed, growing larger and larger, until Endeavor had to begin taking steps back. "Could she always grow this big?"
While, before now she could grow to maybe fifteen feet, she was now easily clearing thirty feet.
"W-Where did this power come from?"
Ryukyu roared loud enough to shatter glass as she charged the two Nomu, who were now completely outmatched by the dragon lady.
"Where the hell did these assholes come from?!" Miruko asked as she drop-kicked another of the Demons that was attempting to assault her Agency.
With their grey or red skin, deformed bodies, and bone protrusions they had appeared en masse in front of the gymnasium's doors. Some walked upright, some walked on all fours, and some dive-bombed with bat-like wings.
Each one of the several hundred was around B to A-Rank. Their numbers alone would've made it a difficult battle… had their Agency not just recruited 30 of Japan's brightest and had two Lava Titans not been resting in the Shadows of Yaoyorozu and Miruko.
As it stood, Miruko and Yaoyorozu likely had the safest predicaments. With Miruko able to kick away several of the Demons with one blow and Yaoyorozu able to shear through their numbers with her anti-material rifle, as well as Todoroki's wide range ice and fire attacks, the Demons stood no chance. Even the much larger ones, which bordered on S-Rank, were slapped aside or crushed underfoot with ease by the Lava Titans.
If anything, this was merely an opening test for the Thanatos Agency.
Esil's spear batted aside the would-be assassin's katana as the beast-man went to full body tackle her. At the last minute, her wings opened up and lurched her backwards, the beast-man stumbling through the space where she used to be.
He swiftly regained his balance, but kept charging, heading for the windows. "I'll hold this one off, Chimera! You get those other brats!"
[Esil is using Skill: Heavenly Barrage.]
As Esil used her spear like a staff, deflecting each and every blow as she telekinetically sent her razor sharp feathers into the side of the assassin, piercing his side and shoving him away from Esil just long enough for her to dart forwards.
Noticing that Chimera was on the edge of the balcony, some sort of energy building up in his throat, Esil realized he was aiming for Nejire. With her own wings extended, she sped up slamming her entire body into Chimera and knocking them both off of the balcony.
As they began falling through the air, Esil could've opened up her wings and safely drifted back to the ground, but she wanted to kill this Villain good and proper.
He flexed the muscles on his back and sprouted wings once more. Unfortunately for him, Esil wasn't in a merciful mood. The tip of her spear flashed forwards, completely severing the membrane of his left wing.
Now with barely any maneuverability mid air and mere moments from hitting the ground, Chimera could only watch as Esil hauled back her arm, ready to throw her spear at him once more. This time, it wouldn't just hit his shoulder.
Her wings fanned out, catching the wind and providing her the leverage needed to throw the Heavenly Lance. But when she went to throw it, Esil found that there was only a stump in place of where her arm should've been. "Wha-" Someone slammed their feet into her back, causing her to lose all stability and slam into the ground right next to where Chimera had landed.
The beast-man, having already recovered from the fall stomped over to where Esil lay, her non-damaged arm outstretched, Longinus flying into her grasp. Unfortunately, she didn't get the chance to use it, as Chimera released a red beam of energy from his mouth, burning her arm into nothingness.
Esil's wings flapped violently, lifting her away from the magical attack just in time to be sheared off her back by the assassin's katana. It had been him who landed on Esil's back and cut off her arm, saving his partner.
Esil fell back into the center of the road just outside their apartment building, wings and arms gone. "They're not regenerating fast enough! Why am I not regenerating faster?!" Shadows felt pain, but not in the same way humans did, so Esil was able to retain some of her clear thinking. "It must be the powers their Monarch gifted them…" Esil scowled and began sprinting away, surprising the two Villains, who leapt forwards, over cars and pedestrians alike.
"I just need to wait until my arms or wings are back, then I can keep fighting!"
The Villains had no plans of letting that happen and the assassin flung over half a dozen daggers at her legs, stabbing into various spots and tripping her up, sending her crashing face first into the sidewalk's pavement. Her arm was now back to about wrist length, but her hand had yet to form.
"Too late little Angel." Chimera said, grabbing the Shadow by the head and lifting her off the ground, "Time for you to die!" He began pouring insane amounts of Mana into her frame, slowly dissolving her from the legs up.
She struggled valiantly, punching Chimera in the face with her stump of an arm, but it barely fazed him. The assassin caught up and stabbed his blade into her sternum, pouring in his own Mana and increasing the speed of the process.
"Is… is this it? My true death?" She smiled, "Oh well… I did my best to serve him."
[Karkinos has activated Skill: Divine Retribution.]
A beam large enough to swallow a semi-truck passed just above Esil's head, slamming into the upper half of Chimera's body, searing his flesh to a crisp as he dropped Esil. Karkinos cut off his breath attack as a form jumped from its head and sliced at the assassin, whose blade was still in Esil, forcing him to let go of the katana as he lurched backwards, just narrowly avoiding Igris cutting off his arms with the Genesis Blade.
As Esil fell backwards, Igris caught her, pulling the sword and daggers out of her body, finally allowing her to recover. Her wings were still missing, but now she had use of her arms again. With the speed of a bullet, her spear flew back into her hands and suddenly, the odds had shifted in their favor.
Chimera was still screaming, clutching at his burning flesh and the assassin had used up many of his blades. Esil, Igris, and Karkinos on the other hand, were pain free, and incapable of feeling exhaustion.
Esil gave a sigh of relief as she smiled up at the taller Knight, "I owe you one." Karkinos roared as if feeling left out, causing Esil to chuckle lightly, "You too."
Igris nodded solemnly before facing off with his opponents once more, leveling the Genesis Blade in their direction. His message was clear, "No mercy."
Hyo was beginning to struggle. Not with defending himself, but defending Inko as she ran through the tree cover.
The woman, who declared herself as Slice, completely ignored the Shadow and instead raced forwards, dead set on killing Inko.
No matter how many barrages of ice he threw at her, her hair sliced it away without even looking. Even trying to directly freeze her failed, as if she was simply too warm. Hyo took this to mean that some sort of power was protecting her from his strongest method of incapacitation.
So, without many other options, Hyo formed two ice longswords in his hands and rushed Slice. Running across the grass, he began forming small steps of ice beneath him, elevating him above Slice. With all his might he swung both swords down at her head, his entire weight falling through the air.
Before he could reach her, however, an extra long piece of hair snapped out, cutting him straight down the middle, his two halves falling to either side of her as she stepped over him and continued her pursuit.
Unlike those who attacked Esil, Slice was apparently lacking in the ability to slow his regeneration and within moments, Hyo was up again, attacking her with ice, but she only continued to get closer and closer to Inko. Eventually, Slice was in striking range and her hair whipped forwards to sever her head from her body.
Hyo knew that his ice wasn't strong enough to stop the blow, so instead, he did the only thing he could, he tripped Inko over a piece of ice.
Her foot stubbed against the chunk in her path and she fell forwards, the blade of hair just barely passing overhead, allowing Hyo just enough time to tackle Slice away.
She growled, slicing him up as she threw him off. "You damn Summon! You've thoroughly managed to annoy me, so I think I'll kill you first!" Slice went to move forwards, but only managed to take a single step before a chilly aura began assaulting her and it wasn't coming from Hyo.
"You're not killing anyone."
Slice spun around, her wrist caught in a grip that was too tight for any human, S-Rank or otherwise, to produce. She looked up from the hand wrapped around her arm, landing on two eyes glowing with murderous intent.
"The only one dying here today… is you!"
Thanks for reading! Sorry this chapter took a bit longer than my usual pace to get out, I got a little distracted! Real quick, I've got a few questions I wanted to answer.
Q: Will you be doing Smut?
A: I think I'm just gonna do a few one-shots here and there, nothing that would start becoming interwoven with the story.
Q:If your favorite anime out right now is sword art online are you going to write another story focusing on that at some point?
A: After this fic ends, it's unlikely that I'll actually come back to writing fanfiction. I get too focused on one thing and it impedes my ability to write other projects. I want to focus more on my original work and my own stuff as a writer, so I can't say that I'll write any fanfiction after this one.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and I'll see you next time! If you have any other questions feel free to join my Discord! discord . gg/DeFqz5F (Sorry about the spaces, Fanfiction doesn't really like links!)
