Tti-ring
[The save data has been successfully uploaded.]
Izuku's vision went entirely black as he felt momentum pressing down on his body, like he was strapped into a rocket and shot into space. He wasn't sure how long that momentum lasted for, it could've been hours or minutes, or maybe even seconds. It didn't really matter though, all that mattered was what he saw when he stopped.
The light wasn't blinding, but compared to the darkness he had just experienced, it was like a supernova. And when he finally managed to blink away the painful difference, he mentally (?) gasped. He was floating several hundred feet off the ground, but that wasn't nearly the stunning part.
Villains, or rather, Chaos World inhabitants stretched across a city sized landscape below him. The ground was a perfect black, like an endless stretch of asphalt, and just under the surface, colorful veins of bright blue mana pulsed. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this wasn't earth, or any other planet in the solar system. For all he knew, this was an entirely different galaxy, populated by the Monarch's armies.
"This many Villains… Do the Monarchs really have all of this? If they do… Earth doesn't stand a chance as it is."
Mechanical silver beings with monstrous appearances, gray-skinned, red-eyed demons, too many Nomu to count, and even more insect-like Villains filled the landscape with their innumerable numbers.
The silver steel ones, Izuku reckoned, belonged to The Monarch of the Iron Body, Stellian. The Demons were probably Baran's, some of the elites had glowing white hair much like the hair that Dabi grew after being taken over. The insects were definitely Quaresha's, otherwise she wouldn't be named the Monarch of Insects. But then, who was the leader of the Nomu? They were very clearly separated from the rest of the armies, so they were their own unit, but Izuku wasn't able to pin down who they would belong to.
He racked his mind for a moment longer, but he decided it wasn't really important to focus on them anymore. Instead, he looked to the sky, where a very distinct cracking sound could be heard. It was the biggest Gate Izuku had ever seen. At least ten times the size of the massive Gate in South Korea, it was either going to spew out something very big, or a lot of smaller somethings.
Izuku was answered as the beasts on the ground gave an ear-deafening roar. He was unable to tell if it was from excitement, anger, or fear. The only thing that could be heard over their cries, was the opening of the Gate. With a massive shatter, it spewed forth droves upon droves of Angelic beings clad in varying degrees of silver armor.
Izuku would've called them generic had he not noticed the differences in each of their weapon and armor sets. Some Angels carried almost no armor on their bodies, instead carrying only sleek and futuristic rifles like what Momo had shown him after gaining Correnic's powers.
"So then just like the Monarchs, the Rulers have their own specialized forces."
There were also Angels about ten times larger than any human and decked out head to toe in armor, Angels that had claw-like hands as their only weapons and rage on their face, and Angels that were incredibly frail, but wielded spell tomes that contained immense amounts of Mana. In total, there seemed to be eight variants of Angels. Were these meant to be the entirety of the Ruler's forces? They seemed so small in comparison.
However, Izuku was pretty sure that the forces were matched evenly. The Angels seemed more powerful, but the Villains had the advantage of numbers. Then, all of that logic was thrown out the window as they clashed. Villains were thrown through the air and obliterated by the Angelic forces. Izuku was already privy to some pretty large battlegrounds in his life, but this was on a scale that no one could even imagine. It was like the inhabitants of several continents coming together to wage war in one condensed area.
"On average, Rulers are weaker than the Monarchs."
That line from the Architect ran through Izuku's mind as he realized that while the Monarchs themselves might outclass the Rulers on a one-on-one, it seemed that the same could not be said about their armies.
It would be a large and arduous battle, but Izuku couldn't see these Angels losing as they were. They were practically massacring the opposing forces. And yet, with mere moments left before the Villains were completely eradicated, the silver Angels backed up, their one or two sets of wings carrying them back into the sky.
Izuku watched with furrowed eyebrows. He couldn't imagine either side of the battle showing any mercy, especially so late in the fight, so why… Izuku's train of thought trailed off as he realized there was a shadow spreading on the ground, somehow even darker than the asphalt black surface of the planet. The Angel's didn't back up because they were merciful, they backed up out of fear. They were terrified of…
[Domain of the Monarch.]
From the shadow spreading on the ground, a pitch-black knight, riding a pitch-black horse rose from the inky darkness. Even from his spot, levitating above the battlefield, Izuku felt a chill run down his spine. This was true fear and every single combatant felt it, Villains and Angels alike. This was none other than the Shadow Monarch.
His hand became a claw, grasping at the sky as he uttered probably the most powerful word in the universe, "Arise."
A tidal wave of Shadows rose up, obscuring the battlefield in inky darkness. Much to Izuku's surprise however, as soon as the Villain side of the army obtained the advantage, two of their factions began retreating. Stellian and Quaresha's armies were definitely running away from the battle as the Shadows let loose roars that caused every single Angel's heart to painfully beat in fear.
But of course, these beautiful beings weren't simply going to give up. Their Rulers deemed their success imperative, so they wasted no time diving back into the fray, still using their overwhelming difference in strength to beat down the hordes. Now, however, the Angels didn't have any chance to permanently keep down these monsters. Soon, before they even knew it, they had been skewered from behind by a Shadow they thought they had destroyed. And then, even they joined the army of darkness.
The tide was swiftly turning once more in favor of the forces of evil.
"Who… who do I root for?" The Angels were clearly on the side of life, but Izuku was, in essence, a part of Ashborn and he was a part of him, so he couldn't help feeling delighted as he watched the Shadow Army tear apart the Angels.
Then, before he could make his mind up, Izuku felt his heart pounding faster in his chest, like there were two of them beating in intervals. A sense of unbelievable dread and anger ran through his body and it all came from the four super massive Gates that opened up behind Ashborn.
Stellian and Quaresha's forces moved through two of the Gates, returning to wherever they came from. The other two Gates, however, only spat out more Demons and Nomu. Unlike the Nomu from Jeju Island, these were all incredibly humanoid or beast-like, instead of insectoid. It made Izuku wonder if Quaresha and whoever the Monarch of the Nomu was, had done some sort of crossbreeding experiment to make their soldiers stronger.
Alongside the additional reinforcements, two very particular sources of Mana emerged from the Gates. The most noticeable was another Nomu, about as tall as a mountain, with a flattened and hooded face, as well as what looked like two rocket thrusters on its back. The other Mana signal was noticeable because they had so much Mana, but they were also noticeable because Izuku recognized the signature. It was Baran. The other one must've been the Monarch of the Nomu then.
Both Monarchs glared at the retreating forces with disgust and spat a few insults about shame at them. But Izuku was barely paying attention to their words, because as if they had a prior arrangement, the two armies of Demons and Nomus began assaulting the army of Shadows.
Izuku's and Ashborn's eyes widened simultaneously as they realized what this meant. "This is it, the memory of the Monarch's betrayal of Ashborn."
Ashborn instantly took action, diverting a smaller than half portion of his army to their rear, and joining them on his onyx steed. With each slash of his obsidian-like sword, he cut down thousands, bringing some of them back to his side, but Izuku could tell that the power's of the Shadow Monarch wouldn't be enough here.
The Shadow Soldiers, to any singular force, were an immortal force that could not be beaten. But against severely overwhelming odds, they would quickly wear down their Leige's Mana.
Eventually, enough Shadows were destroyed. Ashborn could no longer regenerate his Shadows or even call upon new ones. Every Shadow that was destroyed stayed that way, eternally restricted to the afterlife.
By now, only a couple thousand Villains remained, a couple hundred Shadows, and maybe a couple dozen Angels. It was a heavy loss for the Rulers, which is precisely why four of the six-winged beings emerged from the sky portal. Now, Ashborn had Higher Beings on either side, practically no Mana, and very few Shadows remaining. It was very clearly going to be his loss. And yet, he still continued to rage against the foes who had once been his allies and the foes who had always detested and feared his Ruler origins.
Izuku's view of the battle began zooming further and further away, "No! Wait! I wanna see what happens! You didn't give me an answer yet! Who do you want me to be! What side are you on?!"
As if the System could hear him, which it probably could, it stopped Izuku's movement and paused the memory below. It was now a world stuck in time, with Ashborn mere moments from defeat.
[Look.]
Izuku tilted his head at the System message for a moment, before it disappeared and he once more looked down at the divided land. Enemies on both sides. And suddenly, it dawned on Izuku, what the System and what Ashborn were trying to tell him. The Shadow Monarch belonged on neither side, he didn't belong anywhere in the world, no, the universe. It didn't matter to Ashborn what side Izuku chose. He just wanted him to…
"Do what you want."
Izuku looked around suddenly, his heart beating insanely fast as he could've sworn he heard a voice in his head. Actually, his heart was beating too fast now… shouldn't it have been dangerous for it to be going this fast?
Izuku tried to calm his breathing as he reached up to his chest, only to yank his hand away, there was, without a doubt, a second heartbeat from within his chest.
[Playback of the saved data has concluded.]
Izuku slowly pried open his eyes, finding himself resting on the same sacrificial altar he had been reborn on once before. In front of his eyes, there were several System messages, causing him to suddenly leap to his feet in remembrance of where he was and who he had been fighting earlier.
He looked around frantically, "Where did the architect go?" But he couldn't find any sign that he was there, or had even ever been there. In fact, every single Statue was missing, even the bodies of the ones Izuku killed.
[Alert: The Architect has fulfilled his role and will no longer oversee the System. From now onwards, the System will work autonomously.]
[Alert: System Basic code has been deleted, System Master code has been enabled. Your Skills have been upgraded to their final forms.]
[Alert: Title: Angel Hunter Requirements have been met.]
[Angel Hunter]
You have acquired the beating heart of a Higher Being.
Effects: +150,000 Mana
Izuku stared on in shock at these messages, not only because of the insane boost to his Mana Stat, but because of the other developments, most notably his Skills. He hadn't yet acquired the full powers of Ashborn, but this made him feel like he was truly the Shadow Monarch's chosen one.
[Bloodlust Lv. 2 - Shadow Pulse Lv. Max. Every targeted being will feel immense fear and most beings will have their Stats decreased by 75% Can only be used every 20 minutes and the effects wear off after 8 minutes.]
[Stealth Lv. 3 - Shadow Essence Lv. Max. Because of the User's inherent connection to the Shadows, their stealth knows no bounds and can fool every Low to Mid tier Being. Consumes 2000 Mana a minute.]
[Shadow Extraction Lv. 2 - Shadow Extraction Lv. Max. The amount of possible Extractions has tripled and the chances of successfully Extracting has been raised. Shadow Extraction Limit: 12056]
[Shadow Save Lv. 2 - Shadow Save Lv. Max. The amount of Shadows you can save has tripled. Save Shadow Limit: 8914]
[Domain of the Monarch Lv. 2 - Domain of the Monarch Lv. Max. The radius has increased to a full mile without any Mana cost, however, more Mana can be expended to increase the radius. All Shadows within the radius will have their Stats increased by 100% The Skill must be given five minutes build-up before it fully activates. The User can move, fight, and use other Skills during the time that the Skill is activating.]
[Shadow Exchange Lv. 2 - Shadow Exchange Lv. Max. The cooldown of the Skill has been reduced to 45 minutes.]
"Ei… Eight-thousand?!" Izuku was in awe, thanks to his drastic increase in Mana and the tripling of his Shadow Limit, he was now able to save just under nine-thousand and Extract twelve-thousand. Now, there was no doubt in his mind at all… he could fight the Monarchs as equals, or maybe even as a higher existence.
For around ten minutes, Izuku just sat there, attempting to take in everything he had just learned, but two rumblings shook his out of his thoughts. First and foremost, was the rumbling of the Dungeon, telling him that since the Raid Boss had been defeated, the Gate would close in 50 minutes. Well, technically, he hadn't defeated the Architect, but the Angel was no longer here, so there was nothing holding open the Dungeon. The second rumbling was much louder and much more intense. In fact, it blew down the doors to the Cartenon Temple.
Izuku flinched as Yaoyorozu's Ruler enhanced cannon blew a massive hole in the doors, forcing Izuku to dive to the side as the projectile soared through the air, crashing into the throne that the God Statue once called his own.
"Izuku!" The three girls managed to cry out in unison.
"I'm okay!" Then, realizing how this may have looked, he shouted, "It's still me!" Using Ruler's Authority, he dragged his telekinetic force through the air, clearing the smoke and revealing Yaoyorozu charging into his chest.
"What happened?!" She asked, her voice sounding nearly on the verge of tears.
"I… I think I just received Ashborn's Blessing."
"To do what?" Yaoyorozu looked up hopefully.
Izuku felt a huge weight lift off his shoulders and he smiled, "To do whatever I need to."
The three girls and Izuku made sure to pick up the other ten Raid members before making their escape from the Dungeon. For whatever reason, maybe the fact that they were weaker, the Heroes had yet to wake up.
Once outside, the manager of the Association balked at the four of them carrying limp bodies. It took a few minutes to convince them that they were all okay, but after that, they were finally free to return home.
Hyo, and Ifrit, who he had left home to safeguard Eri, his mother, and Sakura, were understandably freaking out once they arrived. After all, they had been cut off from their Liege and were unable to contact any of the other Shadows. They looked so relieved that Izuku was certain they were moments away from hugging him, so he rested a hand on each of their shoulders and assured them he was fine.
And now, Izuku felt a little directionless. He still had the key to the Dragon King's Lair inside the Disneyland Tokyo Instance Dungeon, and Korea still needed help dealing with all the new Gates popping up in the disaster zones, which was most of the country, but Izuku felt like putting off the Instance Dungeon for a few days since he felt like it wasn't all that important. If the Korean Gates weren't that important, he would've tried to ignore them as well, but they were substantial Gates that would eventually break and do even more damage to the lands.
"Well… I don't actually have to do it myself…"
Laying on the couch, scrolling through his System messages while Eri sat on his lap watching cartoons, Izuku contacted Beru.
"Are you still in Korea?"
"Yes, my Great King! I have just finished repairing the Human girl's arm."
"Great King… wait… Human g… you mean Cha Hae-In?"
"Yes… was I wrong to take initiative, my Lord?"
Izuku separated his thoughts from Beru's for a moment, "Where are all of these new titles coming from?" Then reconnecting, "I think it's great! I'm just curious as to what prompted you to do that."
"...The words of wisdom you imparted onto myself and Ifrit were enlightening, I realized that I must do more to meet your expectations."
"Ah, that's it," Izuku realized as he recalled the talk he had with the two Shadows about their hate for humans. They held too much animosity for them, so Izuku asked them to, at the very least, turn it down a bit. Beru apparently took that to the extreme and decided to do charity work. "Well as a reward, I'm going to send Firnen over with a few more of our forces, they're going to have a gift for you!"
"My King!" Beru practically shouted in his mind, "I do not deserve such praise."
Izuku smiled, "I don't think these things would fit anyone but you, so if anything, you'd be doing me a favor by accepting them."
[Item: Storm Claws.]
Item Class: SS
Item Type: Claws
+400 Attack
Made out of the condensed Air Magic and Talons of Aeolus, these claws, worn over the user's fingers, are capable of slashing through the air itself, negating any wind resistance and increasing the user's speed.
"Then I shall wear them with pride!"
"I know you will. Now, I have a task for you and the other Shadows I'm going to send over. I want you to get a list of all the Gates from Association President Go Gun-Hee and do your best to clear the ones that are the closest to opening. After that, the six Shadow Magicians I'm sending your way will summon as many Shadow Infantry as needed, they'll drag the bodies out of the Gates and prepare them for me to Extract, I just need you and the stronger Shadows to clear the Gates and their Bosses."
Izuku could feel Beru essentially bow, "It shall be done my Liege. I will await your gracious gift and my reinforcements. Until then, would you like to speak to that old man?"
"Is Gun-Hee there with you?!"
"Indeed, the male human is watching me heal the girl."
Izuku activated Sensory Share with Beru and nearly laughed out loud at the man's face.
"A Summon this powerful also has the healing powers of an S-Rank?!"
Woo Jin-Chul was there as well, "Sir, your heart. Please be mindful of your emotions."
"Ah… of course."
"Would you mind if I spoke through you for now Beru?"
"I could never have any qualms about your requests, my Great King."
"Mister Gun-Hee," Izuku's voice came through Beru's mandibles as he looked around, spotting Hae-In in her hospital bed, gazing in awe at her arm. Before Beru regenerated it, the wound was still healing, so there had been time to bring it back to full health, but she had no fantasies about recovering it, so she was basically sitting there in stunned silence. Sung Jin-Woo was there as well. It seemed he had become Hae-In's bodyguard of sorts.
The President lurched backwards in surprise and he nearly grasped at his chest, reminding of Izuku's own condition with his heart, or rather hearts. As far as he could tell, it wasn't physically there. Yaoyorozu couldn't feel the beating, so instead of worrying her, Izuku decided to keep it low-key. "Hero Ashborn?"
"Sorry for startling you, Sir!" Izuku swiftly apologized, before quickly launching into a proposition of what his Shadows would do.
"Of course, the corpses will be all yours, materials, cores and such. As you know, I just want them for my Summons."
"I…" Gun-Hee trailed off for a moment as he gathered his composure once more, "I could not imagine a world in which I would ever wish to decline such generosity. You have Korea's full support to do whatever you deem necessary."
Most Heroes of S-Rank would take that to its extreme and begin flaunting their power like a king, but Gun-Hee fully trusted Izuku to not take such a declaration to that state.
Sung Jin-Woo on the other hand, still seemed wary of the Shadow and Izuku's voice. So, Izuku addressed him with confidence, feeling certain that he could now say this.
"I have permission from Ashborn to use my powers however I see fit. He cares not which side I'm on and I don't think he has any intention of trying to sway me one way or the other. I believe he truly wishes for me to take whatever path I wish to. I will stand for humanity."
Jin-Woo's eyes narrowed as the rest of the room looked on in confusion, "How did you get this sudden permission?"
"I saw into his memories," Izuku said bluntly, causing surprise to sweep across Jin-Woo's face. "Still, I know you may not trust me, but-"
"WHAT?!" Miruko blurted from the kitchen back in Izuku's apartment.
"Excuse me, I have to go. I leave Beru and my forces in your hands, Sir," Izuku said to Gun-Hee before cutting off the Sensory Sharing.
Eri was already off his lap and running to the kitchen where Miruko was storming from, her cell phone up to her ear.
"I just got a call from All Might. Those bas…" Miruko trailed off as she realized Eri was looking up at her, "Those dummies at the Association have yet to release Uraraka."
"WHAT?!" Izuku repeated.
"It's apparently the Monitoring Divison's jurisdiction and since they're connected to the justice system, All Might can't do anything about it."
"I thought that Twice attacking my sister was enough to convince them that someone was after those around me?"
"They apparently didn't consider it concrete proof."
Izuku scowled, "Then let's go convince them."
For the fifth time this week, Uraraka was in the interrogation room, being grilled about her involvement with the terrorist attack on UA. She was exhausted, and felt just like giving up and telling them she actually was a part of it just so she could get some rest, but she knew that was exactly what they wanted her to do.
The Hero Nighteye walked into the room, "Miss Uraraka. Out of all of the possible futures of yours that I saw three days ago, almost all of them involved you living quite luxuriously, which convinces me that you did indeed take some sort of pay-off."
"I-It's because I'm going to be working for Izuku… I'm sure I'll be a great Hero there," She slurred out, her eyelids heavy.
"Yes well, you must understand, that in no way convinces me that you were not involved. In fact-" He shuddered as the room went cold and two forms rose from Uraraka's Shadow. Izuku Midoriya, and Miruko. "Y-You can't be in he-!"
[Skill: Shadow Pulse has activated.]
Nighteye fell to his knees as fear assailed his heart from every direction. He couldn't speak, he could barely breathe, and he couldn't drag his eyes away from the rage building in Izuku's eyes.
Izuku quickly handed Uraraka a stamina recovery potion before turning to Nighteye and grabbing him by the collar, lifting him off the floor as other Association Agents rushed into the room, only to be stopped by Shadow Soldiers.
"You will clear Ochako Uraraka of all charges, you will get on your knees and apologize to her for wrongfully keeping her here, and you will never, ever, even get near her ever again. Do you understand me?" Izuku felt kinda bad acting like a Villain, but he wanted to get his point across, and even he couldn't deny that he was a little pissed about one of his employees and friends being kept like this.
Nighteye could only nod his head in understanding, after all, this was just slightly weaker than the power that had assailed the hearts of entire armies of Angels. Izuku let go of him and disabled the effect. Nighteye dropped back to his knees and lowered his head to the floor.
"P-P-Please forgive myself and my department for our mistakes. I will clear her of all charges and leave her alone." It felt more directed at Izuku than Uraraka, who now felt fully rested thanks to the potion, but no one really cared. They could tell it was sincere and Izuku knew that with the fear he had put in him, there was no way he'd go back on his word.
"Good." Izuku snapped Uraraka's Mana constraining shackles and helped her to her feet, "In that case, I think we'll just leave then." And just like that, Izuku and Miruko guided the girl out of the Association headquarters, completing what felt like one of Izuku's last quests.
Scavenger Agency: New York
A man that could be defined as mountainous looked over the report from Korea on a plush couch. "Thirty-one of 'em ay?" His blonde assistant nodded, "And this Izuku Midoriya killed all of 'em?"
"All but one that escaped into the ocean. Though it was reported that the massive one in Seoul and one of the smaller ones seemed to give up, allowing him to easily kill them."
The man scoffed, "Still, it only took two days to deal with such a threat." He stood, walking over to his desk and picking up his phone, "I think I'd like to meet this Ashborn."
"The World Hero Conference is only in a few weeks, Sir. You could always invite the Thanatos Guild as Japan's representative."
Thomas Andre smirked, "Oh I think I will. I'm just itching for a fight with a Hero like that."
Izuku Midoriya:
Level: 156
Strength: 405
Vitality: 302
Agility: 333
Intelligence: 441
Sense: 301
[Mana: 200362/200362]
[HP: 72051/72051]
[Shadows able to be extracted: 12056]
[Shadows able to be saved: 1515/8914]
Skills:
[Shadow Pulse Lv. Max]
[Quicksilver Lv. Max]
[Infinite Strength Lv. Max]
[Shadow Essence Lv. Max]
[Ruler's Authority Lv. Max]
[Longevity Lv. Max]
[Shadow Extraction Lv. Max]
[Shadow Save Lv. Max]
[Domain of the Monarch Lv. Max]
[Shadow Exchange Lv. Max]
