"Come on, Madam Selner," The hulking man that was Thomas Andre said, laughing, "You seriously expect me to believe that?"
The dark skinned woman in more traditional clothing frowned and went to open her mouth, but Thomas interrupted her, raising his hand, "I'll always respect you and you will always be welcome in my home. As an upgrader, you've done a lot for me, and if I'm being totally honest, you're pretty interesting to be around… But… to tell me that there's some sort of mythical beings after me, ones that are stronger than myself, I just can't fathom such a thing, especially when it comes from one of your "visions,"" Thomas said with air quotes. It was rather rude considering he had essentially just called her a friend, but as a National-Rank Hero, it wasn't like anyone could do anything about it.
Madam Selner, an Awakened who could enhance the abilities of anyone she deemed worthy a couple of times a year, frowned as the man next to her fidgeted. Adam White, the American Hero Association's relations manager, was simply here as Madam Selner's escort and served much the same purpose as Woo Jin-Chul or Tsukauchi would've. The only difference was that he didn't have an Awakening or a combat Quirk. All he had was the power to understand any language, which was an important skill as a man in his position, but he wasn't actually strong enough to do… well really anything.
"My past has nothing to do with this!" She insisted, "I may have been a fortune teller once upon a time, but as soon as I found my Awakening, I threw it aside! Two days ago, I received… a vision… that beings stronger than even Kamish, much stronger in fact, would come after the world's strongest Heroes. All of the National Ranks are in trouble!"
"If that's the case," Thomas smirked, "Why aren't you hidden away in a bunker already?" It was… somewhat of a well kept secret that Madam Selner was deemed more important than even the president and would be prioritized over the man himself. It was considered "somewhat" well kept because Thomas Andre knew, and Thomas Andre said what he wanted to.
"Because this isn't set in stone! Contact the Hero Ashborn and ask for his protection."
"Izuku?" Thomas sat up straight, now somewhat invested, "Why him? Have you met him? Did you give him the power to defeat those Titans?"
"No… I've never met him before… that power is all his own."
"So then why him?" Thomas repeated.
"I… I can't be certain. But in my vision… when I looked at the National-Rank Heroes, I saw a dim glimmer of light. The girl who stands next to Ashborn, she shone like a sun."
"Wait wait, I thought we were talking about Ashborn, not his girl."
Madam Selner had her hands neatly folded in her lap, but anyone could tell she was starting to get annoyed, "I was using her as comparison. She clearly has more power than even the National-Ranks, and yet, I could barely make out her light when she stood next to Izuku Midoriya. He is an endless void that can absorb any light, he is the only one capable of protecting the National-Ranks left."
"Left?"
"Just today, Christopher Reed's body was found inside his mansion, a massive hole in his chest. He didn't take the warning seriously either."
Thomas nonchalantly scratched at his chin, "Well, it's certainly an interesting headline, but I think you've forgotten something. Reed was strong… I'm stronger."
"You cannot act like this! It is goin-"
"I said I respected you though. The International Hero Conference is in two weeks, I'll be meeting the kid there. If he's stronger than me, I might just take you seriously." He rose, "Now, if you two don't mind, I do have some business to attend to."
"Well then," Madam Selner said, resigning herself to this outcome, "I pray that you are not found during that time."
As soon as they had gone, Thomas's eyebrows scrunched up. "She sees a dim light inside me and a bright light inside the girl? Is that just her way of measuring power… or does the light mean something?"
"We've got a high A-Rank in downtown Roppongi," Camie reported to Izuku, "Shoto, Miruko, and Aizawa are out on another assignment so we don't have the necessary manpower to take it down."
Izuku nodded, "Igris and nine Angel Mages." The Shadows rose up from the floor. "Direct these guys to the high A-Rank, let the rest of our resources deal with other matters."
"Copy that Boss!"
"Did Bakugo come in today?"
"Nope!" Camie gave a sly smile, "Somehow he managed to figure out what days you come in and what days you let the girls handle it."
Izuku shook his head, "Of course he did." Apparently, during his time in the Dragon Dungeon, Bakugo had come back to Thanatos and agreed to work on his own schedule, coming in whenever he could, which meant he was free to avoid Izuku whenever possible. Although, Izuku didn't really mind it. He was showing up after all. That showed some sort of chance for change. It was small, but considering who was taking those steps, Izuku was fine with minimal progress at first.
Currently, Izuku, Yaoyorozu, Miruko, and Nejire were alternating the days they spent at home so that Eri had someone to always be with… someone that wasn't a Shadow. Today, Yaoyorozu and Nejire were home. Esil did a fine job being a stand-in mother, but it wasn't exactly ideal and Izuku didn't really want his own mother raising the girl herself. One thing that was weird about the whole situation was Nejire. Izuku wasn't even sure when it started, but she started spending the nights at Izuku's place. Eri and her were already attached at the hip, so there was no way to separate them, and if he was being honest, Izuku didn't see a problem with Nejire staying with him and the others, they had plenty of room.
"Send Tetsutetsu, Kirishima, Midnight, Kamakiri, Jurota, Snatch, Mina, Tokoyami, Setsuna, and Kaminari to that B-Rank in Asakusa. It's only a few days from breaking." Izuku may have been young, but thanks to his Shadow powers, he was not inexperienced. Directing hundreds of Soldiers had already conditioned him to be a leader, this was nothing new to him. The paperwork and financial aspects, however, he left to people smarter than him, like Yaoyorozu, Camie, or even Aizawa, who volunteered to help out every now and again.
"Well, that's most of our manpower, we only have about three Heroes left."
Izuku nodded, "Tell them sorry, but they're on inventory duty today. Take stock of any new drops, weapons, armor, etc. You know the drill."
"Knowing Iida, he'll probably be happy to be given that task. Uraraka and Jiro on the other hand…" She trailed off, letting the implication speak for themselves.
Izuku pursed his lips, "Hopefully she doesn't mind doing the menial labor on her first day."
"First days aren't for diving in headfirst."
It had been two days since breaking Uraraka out of the Association, but Izuku asked her to take a few days to rest. Even if she had fully recovered with the Stamina potion, he thought it prudent to give her a few days. Regardless, she was back rather quickly all things considered.
"Can you hold down the fort for like… forty-five minutes?"
"I think I can handle an almost empty Agency, Boss."
Izuku smirked, "If anything happens, call me."
Camie jokingly saluted as Izuku activated Shadow Exchange, switching places with one of the basic Shadow Infantry that had been helping Beru with the busy work.
As soon as he emerged from the Shadows in the ruined landscape of South Korea, his eyes bulged out. "Wow… you guys… work fast."
[Shadows able to be saved: 2043/8914]
It seemed that the Shadow Magicians had been perfectly justified in summoning an extra five-hundred Shadow Infantry. In fact, Izuku was pretty sure that it was necessary, because in front of him… well, some would call it a graveyard.
"How many are there?" He asked, turning to Beru.
"My King, we have gathered two-thousand, one hundred, and fifty-nine bodies for you to use."
"Two-thousand," Izuku whistled as his gaze drifted, eyes widening as they settled on the pile of weapons, armor, and Magic Cores. It was enough to fund a small country.
"Some of our warriors took a few weapons, as they were lacking proper tools."
Izuku nodded, "Normally I'd leave the armor and weapons for Korea, but… since we have an Agency of our own to arm, I'll be taking the rest of it back. The Magic Cores will still be left for Korea. It'll be enough to make them richer than ever."
"My King, we believe that the difficulty of Gates has been increasing. Ever since Legia's body was destroyed, immense amounts of Mana have been leaking out into the world."
Izuku nodded once more, "Well, there's nothing to be done about that. I'll call Go Gun-Hee for… I guess a dump truck. He'll send someone to pick up the Cores. You guys just keep doing what you're doing."
Beru bowed, a hand over his chest, "As you command, my Great King. And if I may add, your gift is truly a blessing, I feel faster than ever before and not even the toughest armor could stop my claws."
"I'm glad to hear it!" Izuku felt like cringing at such a cheesy title, but Beru had been doing such good work here that he figured he should be a bit lenient with him. He walked over to the pile of armor, scooping it into his inventory by the ton with his Ruler's Authority. "It's a shame that I haven't been gaining any experience because I'm so far away," As Izuku recently learned, the farther he was from his Shadows, the less experience he earned for their kills, "But I guess it's okay if Beru is taking all that for himself. He's nearly at the Max Level and I can finally Rank him up to see what the next Grade is."
Before Izuku had even finished clearing the pile of loot, all of his Shadows were gone, disappearing to destroy the rest of the Korean Gates. It left him alone, with two-thousand corpses that he was to bring back to life. "It's a lot, but Ashborn called up tens of thousands at a time in that memory. I shouldn't need to worry about success rates much."
"Arise." Izuku's voice echoed across the barren wasteland of concrete and rubble, tickling the ears of his servants to be.
[400 Holy Knights Elite-Knight Grade have evolved into 400 Templar Paladins Captain Grade.]
[50 Sages Elite-Knight Grade have evolved into 50 Saints Captain Grade.]
[2 Saints Captain Grade have evolved into 2 Holy Beings General Rank.]
Izuku squinted his eyes, "Why were holy knights inside a Gate?" He almost immediately dismissed the thought as his attention was dragged to the Holy Beings. Their Grade had jumped all the way from Captain straight to General. It must've been quite the evolution.
[354 Ogres Knight Grade have evolved into 354 Kijin Elite-Knight Grade.]
[45 Kijin have evolved into 45 Oni Captain Grade.]
[5 Oni Captain Grade have evolved into 5 Disaster Oni Commander Grade.]
Much to Izuku's surprise, the Oni were not disgusting goblin-like demons, rather, they were, almost beautiful, humanoid warriors with huge reservoirs of power. They certainly seemed to be Mage-type fighters.
[700 Undead Warriors Knight Grade have evolved into 700 Death Knights Elite-Knight Grade.]
[100 Liches Elite-Knight Grade have evolved into 100 Arch Liches Captain Grade.]
[1 Arch Lich has evolved into Undead King Commander Grade.]
"Ha! A necromancer's army of necromancers. That's pretty ironic. Though, considering my power over death likely outweighs theirs, I'm not sure how useful they'll be." Izuku made a mental note to go over all the special Stats and abilities of his new Shadows later. For now, there was still one group of Shadows left to go over.
[433 Lesser Elemental Spirits Knight Grade have evolved into 433 Greater Elemental Spirits Elite-Knight Grade.]
[67 Greater Elemental Spirits Elite-Knight Grade have evolved into 67 Perfected Elemental Spirits Captain Grade.]
[2 Perfected Elemental Spirits Captain Grade have evolved into 2 Elemental God Spirits General Grade.]
[Shadows able to be saved: 4202/8914]
A/N: As we continue to get into higher and higher numbers, the likelihood that I mess up a calculation and mislabel how many Shadows Izuku has increases so I'd like to apologize in advance if I have or will end up messing up these numbers.
All at once, two-thousand Soldiers kneeled or in the Spirit's case, lowered themselves to the ground in respect. Izuku called forward the Commander or General Grade Beings.
"Holy Beings, you're renamed to Hinata and Tatsuya respectively. Disaster Oni, you will be Zeus, Hades, Posideon, Ares, and Artemis." He pointed at them in turn assigning Greek Gods somewhat at random. There was one female among them, which is why he went with Artemis. If Izuku was being perfectly honest, he was running out of ways to name these guys, so it was kinda just whatever popped into his head. Of course, the Shadows didn't mind this. As long as they got names, they were over the moon.
"Undead King, you can be… Kojin."
Finally, there were only the two God Spirits. Neither of them really had a form like Ifrit did. Instead, they were more like concentrated energy constructs, one golden, one silver. "So… what are you two the Gods of?"
"Oh Great Shadow Sovereign," The golden one began, causing Izuku to groan inwardly at the titles.
"Beru's somehow rubbing off on everyone without even being here!"
"I am the Spiritual God of Time."
"And I am the Spiritual God of Space," The silver one followed up.
"Woah woah woah," Izuku was taken aback, "You mean you can both completely control time and space?!"
"No, my Liege. Much like Firnen cannot control every aspect of air, or bend every last bit of oxygen on earth to her will, we are limited." The Time Spirit explained, "I can only affect myself in regards to my temporal control."
"And while I can create portals to most anywhere, I cannot manifest my control over Space into any combative potential."
"Ah…" Izuku tried not to sound disappointed by that fact, but realized that there was nothing to do about it. "Well then," He pointed to Time, "You can be Aurum," Then to Space, "And you can be Argentum."
At once, the newly named Shadows lowered their heads further and shouted, "Thank you, my Liege!"
A Maximum Security Prison For Quirked and Awakened Humans (America):
A guard with an enhanced hearing Quirk tilted his head, drawing an odd glance from the man standing next to him, "What?"
"I… I could've sworn I heard him talking to someone in there," He hitched his thumb at the massive cell behind him. It was large enough to be considered house-sized.
"Then you heard wrong," The other guard said, "That guy hasn't spoken in over two years."
"But… there was another voice. It sounded like a teenage girl's…"
The guard looked at his partner, "Are you okay, Omar? I know David and Melissa took you out for drinks the other night, but I didn't think you'd get that hammered."
Omar's eyes went wide as he focus his hearing and placed his ear against the magically reinforced materials, "Run…"
"Huh?"
"R-!" He didn't get the chance to say anything, because an alarm cut him off.
"Prisoner 731 has broken his restraints! I repeat, Prisoner 731 has broken his restraints! Any personnel below S-Rank are to clear the area immediately!"
Omar was already sprinting down the halls, hoping and praying that he would pass by one of the many S-Rank Heroes staffing this prison before the Villain behind him broke out. The man who had been standing next to him was slower to react and because of that, he was crushed into a paste as the metal doors of the prison cell came down on him.
A roar echoed throughout the entire facility as a small girl with blonde hair up in buns giggled, "That's more like it Legia! This body suits you much better!"
Calmly, the massive beast strode out of his cell, passing a plate that had his name inscribed on it. 'Gigantomachia.'
Shadows: Total count: 4202
68 Lava Golems - Knight
49 Angel Archers - Knight
40 Obsidian Beetles - Knight
34 Greater Fire Spirits - Knight
33 Yetis - Knight
881 Shadow Infantry - Knight
15 Ice Golems - Knight
700 Death Knights - Elite-Knight
433 Greater Elemental Spirits - Elite-Knight
354 Kijin - Elite-Knight
282 Shadow Nomu - Elite-Knight
63 Shadow High Orcs - Elite-Knight
25 Shadow Bears - Elite-Knight
23 Stone Goliaths - Elite-Knight
21 Lava Titans - Elite-Knight
10 Amphitians - Elite-Knight
6 Ice Foxes - Elite-Knight
Stain (Human) - Elite-Knight
400 Templar Paladins - Captain
154 Shadow Wyverns - Captain
149 Dragon Knights - Captain
100 Arch Liches - Captain
67 Perfected Elemental Spirits - Captain
50 Saints - Captain
45 Oni - Captain
30 Angel Mages - Captain
30 Draconian Cannons - Captain
20 Earth Hydras - Captain
20 Quetzalcoatl - Captain
20 Angel Knights - Captain
20 Fire Serpents - Captain
6 Magicians - Captain
3 Shadow High Orc Bodyguards - Captain
Hawks (Human) - Captain
Crust (Human) - Captain
Yoroi Musha (Human) - Captain
Fat Gum (Human) - Captain
Best Jeanist (Human) - Captain
Gang Orca (Human) - Captain
Gipsy Danger (Earthen Behemoth) - Captain
Lucky Seven (Earthen Behemoth) - Captain
Cherno Alpha (Earthen Behemoth) - Captain
Romeo Blue (Earthen Behemoth) - Captain
Crimson Typhoon (Earthen Behemoth) - Captain
Smokey (Ice Bear) - Captain
Slice (Human) - Captain
Twice (Human) - Captain
Chimera (Human) - Captain
Tank (Nomu) - Captain
Esil (Seraph) - Captain
Zeus (Disaster Oni) - Commander
Poseidon (Disaster Oni) - Commander
Hades (Disaster Oni) - Commander
Ares (Disaster Oni) - Commander
Artemis (Disaster Oni) - Commander
Undead King - Commander
Striker Eureka (True Titan) - Commander
Hyo (Ice Elf) - Commander
Tusk (High Orc) - Commander
Karkinos (Angelic Wyrm) - Commander
Igris (Knight) - Commander
Ifrit (God of Fire/Spirit) - Commander
Pektra (Prime Draconian - Commander
Aurum (Spirit God of Time) - General
Argentum (Spirit God of Space) - General
Hinata (Holy Being) - General
Tatsuya (Holy Being) - General
Beru (High-End Nomu) - General
Glaedr (Dragon God) - General
Thorn (Dragon God) - General
Firnen (Dragon God) - General
Saphira (Dragon God) - General
Uramoth (Dragon God) - General
Shruikan (Dragon God) - General
Thanks for reading! I know not a whole lot happened this chapter, but it was fun to write and had some really interesting set-up for later! In case you didn't notice, this chapter and most of the Shadows involved were a huge nod to That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. Slime Tensura gave me the idea for the Evolution Core and a few Shadows already, so I felt like it was only a matter of time before I brought some of the creatures from that story into the fold, like Holy Knights and Oni's. I figured Izuku's got plenty of Shadow space so why not! On another note, you may have noticed something different with the Shadow list. Because I was putting so many unique names on the list, it felt like it would be smart to start putting the species name next to their actual name. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed!
